Suwon café above a gacha shop: iced peach oolong at Diaz Cake

After a light lunch this Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) holiday, my wife and I stopped by Diaz again for cream cake, haha. This place is basically our go-to sparrow's mill — we can't pass it by.

The fourth floor is spacious and nice, but it's usually packed and feels a bit like a crowded market, so we headed up to the quiet second-floor boutique instead.

Since neither of us likes coffee, sipping tea and chatting on the second floor suits us much better anyway. Plus the teacups are so pretty they lift your mood — a real dessert gem.

Where is Diaz Cake Boutique, and what are its hours and parking?

• Location: 2nd floor of the gacha shop building on Nahyeoseok-geori, Ingye-ro 166beon-gil
• Hours: daily 10:00–21:00
• Cake orders: phone reservations available
• Parking: not available

How to choose from the Diaz Cake Boutique tea menu by caffeine level

The tea menu on the second floor lists caffeine content, so it's worth checking — the order runs black tea > rooibos > oolong, so we skipped black tea and picked from the rest. We went with No. 1 'peach oolong tea' and No. 6 'Christine Dartner Bonane.' Just say '1 and 6, please' when ordering.

The whole-cake showcase: holiday pickup orders at Diaz Cake Boutique

A family came in to pick up a whole cake, and I noticed it was topped with gold chocolate — probably meant to wish for good fortune ahead ^^

I snapped a shot of one piled high with all kinds of fruit and figs — you can tell right away the toppings here are next-level. Looking from above, there's barely any cream visible, it's that packed.

Once you order, you walk past the cake showcase and head inside.

Sure enough, another customer came in right after to pick up a whole cake. It seems like a lot of people would rather show family or relatives they haven't seen in a while a famous Suwon cream cake than just grab something from a Starbucks you can find anywhere in the country.

Hot tea comes as a teapot set, iced tea comes with a strainer

My wife ordered her tea hot and I got mine iced — hot orders come out in one of those pretty teapot sets, while iced orders come with the tea leaves in a strainer.

Dessert with coffee is great, but pairing it with unsweetened tea has its own charm too.

Every time I visit I wonder what pretty teapot set they'll bring out this time. The bold floral pattern is so striking it makes me think about buying one for our own house.

Lifting the lid a little, I found actual tea leaves instead of a teabag, so the true aroma really came through. The cinnamon scent in particular was strong, which I really liked.

Sipping tea like this makes me feel like I'm living the life of a Taoist immortal, haha. It brought back a bit of a memory from a tea ceremony class I took back in school ^^

Three minutes on the hourglass: what Christine Dartner Bonane tastes like

Oh right! The tea needs at least 3 minutes to steep, and the hourglass that comes with it is a 3-minute timer — once the sand runs out, it's ready to drink. It filled two full cups plus about half a cup more, and the bright orange note layered over the cinnamon made it a pleasant, easy-drinking tea.

Iced peach oolong tea, 8,900 won

It was still hot out since we visited at lunchtime, so I went with iced. I did briefly worry, 'surely they won't give me a teabag at this price (₩8,900)?' — but that turned out to be a needless worry.

Even with the oolong leaves just barely dipped in water, they steeped nicely. I'll admit — using the straw like a dropper to keep drizzling water in to brew it stronger is my little secret 😎. When I picked No. 1, I noticed marigold flowers listed on the menu and wondered if actual petals might be in there, but they weren't. A bright peach aroma layers subtly over the oolong flavor at the end.

A last-minute switch from peach to the fruit cream slice cake

I originally picked peach, then made a sudden U-turn to the fruit cake at the last moment. Honestly, switching was the right call!

I genuinely wondered how many kinds of fruit they packed in here — even between the cake layers it was loaded. Just counting the toppings on top: melon, fig, gold kiwi, orange, grapefruit, blueberry, and Shine Muscat grapes. It felt like eating a whole fruit platter ^^

After finishing the delicious cream cake with our tea, lifting the lid one last time felt like a bit of aromatherapy to close things out. I really feel like I got a proper dose of healing in Ingye-dong today before heading home. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday too ^^