Songjeong café for a friends’ morning tea break: Suwolgyeonghwa

Today I’m sharing the story of a café trip to Songjeong, Busan, that I took with my best friend after sending the kids to school! I usually go everywhere with my two kids, but it had been so long since I’d had a relaxed tea time with adults, so I grabbed my best friend’s hand and slipped out in the morning, haha.

We went to Suwolgyeonghwa (수월경화), a traditional Korean tea café right in front of Songjeong Beach that’s famous for its ocean view. Isn’t the name pretty, too? It apparently means “the moon reflected on water, flowers reflected in a mirror” 🌙

Being out with just the two of us, without the kids, let me truly enjoy the leisure of a cup of coffee for the first time in ages, haha. I can’t even remember how long it had been since my best friend and I had time like this.

Ocean-view seats overlooking Songjeong Beach

The interior blends hanok-inspired details with a modern feel, and Songjeong Beach stretches right out beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, so I immediately went, “Wow!”

The ceramic vases on the tables and the waves outside the window came together like a painting. On a clear day, you can even see the sea sparkling emerald, making it absolutely perfect for photos 📸

You can even see trains passing outside... it was a picture-perfect scene all on its own! Haha.

Menu and what we ordered

Prices are as of the time of my visit and may change.

We thoroughly ordered Melong Mangseu, a café latte, and a Dalbodeure box. Melong Mangseu seems to be my number-one pick every time I come, haha!

Melong Mangseu’s delicate melon fragrance

Melong Mangseu is an oolong tea-based drink delicately infused with summer muskmelon and floral notes. I carefully lifted off the leaf-shaped lid and took a sip, and the aroma was so elegant. It wasn’t sweet, yet the fruit fragrance bloomed right out—we kept sniffing it and asking each other, “What is this scent?” for ages, haha.

The café latte had an easygoing, smooth balance that coffee lovers would enjoy, too.

K-desserts in the Dalbodeure box

And the prettiest thing of all was, of course, the Dalbodeure box! Dalbodeure is a pure Korean word meaning “sweet and soft.” The box was generously filled with K-desserts: financiers, black-rice sulppang bread, monaka wafers, and skewered injeolmi (chewy rice cake). It was the happiest dilemma deciding what to eat first.

The pink flower-shaped monaka, especially, was so pretty that it almost felt too lovely to eat, haha.

A seaside catch-up with my best friend

Sitting there with my best friend, without the kids, made me feel what real leisure was again after such a long time. We talked about this and that while looking at the sea, and before we knew it, time had flown by. With the coffee aroma mixed with the scent of the ocean, I thought, this is what healing feels like, haha.

We usually only talk about parenting, so I think I’ll remember this time of relaxing with my best friend for a very long time.

A leisurely cup of tea while looking at the sea—Suwolgyeonghwa, an ocean-view café in Songjeong, Busan, was perfect for unwinding with my best friend 🌊