Fritz Coffee Company Jeju Seongsan

A Fritz cafe on the Jeju coast

This is the fifth store in the Fritz Coffee Company chain, marked by the brand as 5th 성산, and the first the company opened outside the Seoul metropolitan area, in the Seongsan district of Seogwipo. It sits in Seongsan on Jeju, within sight of the coastal and volcanic scenery around Seongsan Ilchulbong, in the renovated Baengnok Hoegwan building, a former seafood house known for Jeju dishes such as sliced raw abalone, cutlassfish and red tilefish. That reuse gives the branch a local layer a new build would not have, and Fritz's retro visual identity, carried across interiors, posters and merchandise, reads differently in a tourist-area setting than it does in Seoul.

Windows onto Ilchulbong

The room is built for the view and for a stop either side of sightseeing: a retro-inspired interior looking out at the Ilchulbong tuff cone and the Jeju sea, scenery that holds up in most weather. Seating is deliberately varied, with mismatched tables and chairs, sofas, bar tables and corners that recall 1980s Korean dabang teahouses, in an open, wide space with bay windows and room to spread out. The surroundings shape the visit too: a walking trail leads from near the main entrance toward Seongsan Ilchulbong, and stairs drop down toward the beach. It is the kind of room where the view decides where you sit, and the seating has been chosen so that every sort of visit has somewhere to go.

Order the Seongsan blend, then a bake

The drinks reflect Fritz's wider coffee programme, which runs from single origins and blends to cold brew, drip bags, tea bags, capsules, quick coffee and decaf. On the bar here that becomes cafe americano, cappuccino, cafe latte, brewing coffee, cold brew and cold brew latte. The branch-specific reason to order carefully is Way of Life, an espresso blend available at the Seongsan store alone, fruity with a long-lasting sweetness.

Tea and non-espresso choices include Udo peanut oat milk, plain oat milk, lemon green tea and The Green Ray, a green tea drink. Food is central rather than incidental: scones, sandwiches, croissants, baguettes and donuts come out of the oven through the morning, so the bakery case is at its fullest well before the afternoon. Fritz's retro identity carries through to the merchandise on the shelf as much as to the cups, which is part of why the branch works as a destination rather than a refuelling stop.