Gwangjin Seoul café for mango bingsu and sticker photos: Wonz Coffee

Wonz Coffee, found walking from Guui Station to Achasan Station

After a filling dinner in Guui-dong, I said, “Let’s go get dessert!” and Ilangi looked flustered: “Uh, right now? I kind of... want to rest before eating more....” Hahahahahaha. No wonder she had eaten so much of that delicious food. Fine, since we had to take Line 5 anyway, how about walking toward Achasan Station and digesting as we go? So off we walked.

The walk from Guui Station to Achasan Station somehow felt like time travel. A street without tall buildings, where the sky opens right up before you! Why did that feel so new? It was truly charming. We even said we should move to a neighborhood like this next time.

After walking, we arrived at Wonz Coffee (원즈커피) in no time. What is this extraordinary quality certificate? Ah... but my husband and I never drink coffee after 3 p.m. -.-;; We can’t sleep... sob. We visited Wonz Coffee at 6 p.m., and it was giving off serious great-coffee-shop vibes, yet we couldn’t drink coffee... Such a shame. Still, newly released mango bingsu (Korean shaved ice) was absolutely possible. More than anything, it was the mango bingsu Ilangi wanted!

A Taegeukgi, bam!!!! A Korean flag that tugged at the heart of Ilangi, who is very serious about patriotism!!! Hahaha.

A space with a sticker camera and board games

There was chilled water, purified water, napkins, sweet syrup, and board games available. See that orange box over there? That is a camera. Oh my goodness. Wonz Coffee really seems serious about new experiences and fun. Thanks to that, we had such a delightful time at Wonz Coffee.

Oh, Chuseok is coming up, and they are selling such pretty gift packages. Ooh~

I have taken photos with a camera like this before, but it was my first time seeing one that produces stickers. Wow~ Wonz Coffee’s photos print as stickers, so you can slap them onto wherever you like.

They even provide little notebooks and pens. Oh, it is so nice. Honestly, when there are board games, these are essential, haha. You need to keep score~

Ah... I really wanted to try coffee here.... Looking at the coffee tasting notes made me want it even, even, even more. Next time, I am truly going to visit early in the morning and have two cups of coffee!!!!!

Coffee refills are available too

Wait. Coffee refills are possible? Is this for real.....

Wonz Coffee offers refills!

I thought coffee refills were a relic from 1997, so why did this feel so warm and lovely~

• Milk bingsu ₩12,000
• Red bean bingsu ₩13,000
• Mango bingsu ₩14,000

A green interior with cute little plants~ There were lots of asparagus ferns. Ah~ this is the plant I killed twice while trying to grow it.... Hahaha. Wonz Coffee seemed to use a slightly metallic feeling as its interior theme and keep everything cohesive. The plant stands, the trays, and so on~ Metal alone could have looked stark, but the plants completed a sophisticated look~

There is a photo mirror like this. When you see a mirror like this, you simply cannot not take a photo. Taking pictures together like this adds another spoonful of cheer, doesn’t it~

The wall was covered with photo stickers taken with the orange camera. Oh, it has a vibe!! And there were tiny potted plants, the finishing touch that completed the space.

Dutch coffee receipt-review event

They sell Dutch coffee in one corner. If you take part in the receipt-review event, you can receive one little bottle of it. You can choose either a drip bag or Dutch coffee, and it was a very difficult decision.

Wonz Coffee also sells beans, and seeing “national representative” written by the entrance made me so curious about them. But making a café latte easily with Dutch coffee is such a special treat too, isn’t it? A Dutch-coffee café latte has a slight whiskey-like taste, unlike one made with regular espresso. I love that so much. (Though I cannot touch alcohol at all... haha.) So after much deliberation, I chose Dutch coffee. ^_^

This is it. The receipt-review event~~~~~ The asparagus fern is growing so healthily~~~~ Ah~ I am reminded of my dead asparagus fern~~~~~

Ilangi brought Da Vinci Code, saying we should play. ^_^ I had avoided it my whole life, yet here we were meeting at last... Da Vinci Code. Fine, let’s do it. Oh! But the mango bingsu, chocolate financier, and scone we ordered arrived!!!!!

Soft mango bingsu served with mango

They piled the ice up so high that it was leaning to one side. Hahahahaha. But wait, we ordered mango bingsu—where is the mango? See the two small bowls on the side? They held heaps of diced mango and mango syrup. If you poured it all on at once, it looked as though it would overflow and run everywhere, right? Haha. So we put a little at a time onto our small plates.

Oh my, this mango bingsu. You can tell just by looking that the ice has a different texture, right? And when I tried it, it was so soft and delicious. It seemed like milk with plenty of sweetened condensed milk had been frozen and shaved finely. Ah, this was on a completely different level from the makeshift milk bingsu I make at home!!!! Hahaha.

The bingsu shop we used to visit often near our home closed last year, so our family had not been able to have bingsu. That made this mango bingsu at Wonz Coffee all the more welcome and delicious. Wow~~~~ That bingsu bowl, like a ceramic vessel? It was very thick, so it kept the ice from melting well. Thanks to that, the ice texture was still alive right to the end. The bowl was not merely stylish—it had this amazing function too. Wonderful~~~ Wonderful~

Ta-da. This is the Dutch coffee they gave us for joining the review event. It looks like a medicine pouch. Haha. It turns out Wonz Coffee’s concept is a lab, with a laboratory atmosphere. That was why white lab coats were hanging in one corner. Ah, it would have been fun if we had visited while they were wearing the white coats. They said it is too hot to wear them in summer, haha.

Ta-da~~~ Inside the medicine pouch was the fruit-scented Dutch coffee I had chosen. Tomorrow I will add milk to this and drink it~~~~

Perhaps because they warmed the scone, it tasted even better. As expected, it is only human nature that things taste better when someone puts in one extra bit of effort.

We left behind one memory photo of our family of three like this~ Then we properly got into Da Vinci Code too. Hahaha.

Pet guidance and discount events

Pets. We are now in an era of ten million pet dogs, aren’t we? Personally, whether you like it or not aside, it feels like we need to accept them as part of society now. In that sense, I liked that Wonz Coffee formally accommodates and manages this properly. When it is handled this way, everyone can use the space comfortably and without pressure.

As we got up to leave, this stopped me in my tracks. Oh... do you need coffee beans? Yes... I do! But I bought 2 kg of beans just yesterday... sob. If I had known I was coming to Wonz Coffee today, I would not have bought them! Once we finish all 2 kg that arrived yesterday, I am going to order from Wonz Coffee. The beans were very reasonably priced: ₩40,000 for 1 kg.

And what is this? Is this not the cutest event? Look at the discounts for first-time visitors, high school students, pregnant people, soldiers on leave, birthday celebrants, and workplace promotions!!!!! Eek!!!!!

₩1,000 off takeout. ₩1,500 off when you bring a tumbler. I had only seen tumbler discounts this generous at cafés inside government offices, but at Wonz Coffee too!!!! What a bold move from Wonz Coffee, thinking about the environment again! So cool!!!!!

Want to know how lovely Wonz Coffee’s location is? This is the sky you see right in front of the shop as soon as you step out. Wow. It really made me think, what is this neighborhood’s charm~~~~