Coffee Hanyakbang

Hand drip under bronze drippers

Filter coffee is the point of Coffee Hanyakbang. The beans are roasted in house, and the pour-over happens in full view at the counter through bronze-coloured drippers, so the brewing is part of what you are looking at while you wait. The special hand drip lets you pick the origin, with Kenya among the beans named on it.

The rest of the list is a classic Seoul coffee-house spread: latte, cappuccino, espresso, affogato and espresso con panna, sweeter milk builds in caramel, vanilla, maple and mocha, and dutch coffee for the cold end. The iced latte has become a favourite in its own right for how deep and complex the espresso reads through the milk. Beans and drip bags are sold to take away.

A medicine room down a narrow alley

The name refers to a hanyakbang, a traditional Korean medicine room, and the site connects to the former Hyeminseo, the Joseon dynasty’s main medicine office. The approach lives up to it: a tight Euljiro alley, dark and narrow, wide enough for one person at a time and unfit for vehicles. The entrance is easy to walk straight past, which is clearly the intention.

Inside, the medicine-room idea is carried through in objects rather than decoration. Antique furniture, old medicine bags, vintage water thermoses, a vintage telephone and old lamps fill the room, and an antique medicine cabinet does duty as the self-serve water and condiment station. The main counters carry lacquered mother-of-pearl inlay. The overall effect lands somewhere between old Shanghai and a Wong Kar-wai set.

Main-room seating is limited, but the place spreads further than it first appears: more space across the alley, seating upstairs, a second room with Korean lacquer cabinets, and balcony seating on the second floor looking down at the alley.

What to order, and what to eat with it

Start with filter coffee, the order most tied to the house. The special hand drip is the version worth taking, since choosing the origin is the whole point of the format. For espresso drinks, the iced latte is the strongest recommendation, with latte, cappuccino, affogato and espresso con panna behind it.

Food is secondary here, and the better plan is a two-stop visit. Sandwiches, cakes, cookies and chocolates have appeared at the counter, but the bakery across the alley, Hyemindang, is the fuller option: blueberry tart, chocolate croissant, chocolate chip cookie and cream cheese fig bread, with a refrigerated pastry case plus self-serve breads and cookies. Take a hand drip or an iced latte, add a pastry from across the alley, then find a seat in the antique rooms or on the balcony if one opens up.