Choosing tea by scent: Rooibos Velvet at Suwolgyeonghwa, Songjeong

• Premium hanok-style tea café at Songjeong Beach
• Open until 11pm
• A cultural experience where you can smell the tea leaves before ordering

Suwolgyeonghwa, a hanok-style ocean-view café at Songjeong Beach

I visited Suwolgyeonghwa at Songjeong Beach in Busan. It's an ocean-view café with a concept that naturally brings to mind words like hanok (traditional Korean house), old-fashioned, and fusion.

I went without high expectations, but it turned out to be far more satisfying than I thought, and I really want to recommend it to anyone looking for a café near Songjeong Beach.

Suwolgyeonghwa mainly serves premium teas, with the vibe of a traditional Busan tea house (coffee is also available). There's a wide range of teas to choose from, and true to the 'premium' name, the aromas were incredibly rich. If you prefer tea over coffee, or you're looking for a slightly different kind of café in Songjeong, this place will satisfy you a lot.

Where do you park?

You can park in the piloti space on the 1st floor of the building. If all the spots are taken, the structure allows double parking in front of parked cars.

Parking near Songjeong Beach is usually pretty tough, but Suwolgyeonghwa has parking inside the building, so it was relatively convenient to visit by car.

Menu

We ordered the Dalbodeure dessert box, Rooibos Wolju, and Rooibos Velvet. It was nice that the tea could be ordered iced or hot depending on personal taste. I liked that even the same tea menu could feel different depending on the weather or mood.

Coffee is also on offer besides tea, so it's a fine place to visit even if the people you're with have different tastes.

Dalbodeure box

The quality of the Dalbodeure box, the assorted dessert set, was exceptional too. It was neat and gorgeous enough to understand exactly what people mean when they say a pretty rice cake tastes good too.

The presentation made me feel like an honored guest, and the moment it landed on the table my mood lifted. The taste didn't stop at a simple traditional-sweet feel either.

It kept the traditional ingredients and mood while giving them a modern reinterpretation, and the balance made it perfect to pair with tea.

It matched Suwolgyeonghwa's hanok atmosphere so well that, dessert included, it felt like one complete tea-time experience.

If you want to catch the attention of the table next to you ordering something else, I'd recommend the Dalbodeure box.

It really does have a visual that draws the eye, so it's a good order for a date café in Songjeong or a visit with friends.

Rooibos Velvet had a different depth of aroma than regular rooibos tea

The menu that impressed me most was Rooibos Velvet. I like drinking rooibos tea when it gets cold, and this place's Rooibos Velvet had a completely different depth of aroma than the rooibos tea I usually drink. The scent was so rich and fragrant that my mood lifted the moment I drank it.

As the menu description said, there was also something like a chocolate note, which was surprising. It was a new discovery that tea could have this kind of scent, and it made me think this wasn't just a thirst-quenching drink but a menu item meant for enjoying its aroma.

If you like rooibos tea, Rooibos Velvet is worth ordering at least once.

If it's hard to pick a tea, start with the scent of the leaves

If there are too many teas to choose from, you can refer to the tea leaves laid out by the counter. I really liked that the leaves were displayed by type so you could smell them yourself before ordering. Even for teas I didn't end up choosing, I could smell each one, which made it a pleasant experience before I even ordered.

Choosing after smelling the tea rather than just reading the menu made the whole experience much more satisfying.

This is exactly the kind of detail that made Suwolgyeonghwa memorable. It's structured so that even someone who doesn't know much about tea can naturally experience it.

A space that feels more like a cultural experience than a tea house

Suwolgyeonghwa felt less like a simple tea house or café and more like a kind of cultural experience space.

The hanok-style interior, the traditional atmosphere, the rich aromas, and the neat dessert presentation all came together to make the time spent there feel special. It also works well as a date spot in Songjeong.

I visited with no expectations and ended up far more satisfied than I imagined. Next time I bring a friend to Songjeong, I want to take them to Suwolgyeonghwa.

If just looking at the sea near Songjeong Beach feels like something's missing, I'd strongly recommend stopping by Suwolgyeonghwa, where you can enjoy fragrant tea together with a hanok atmosphere.

Visit information

• Address: 188 Songjeongjungang-ro 6beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, 4th floor
• Hours: 11:00 – 23:00
• Parking: Piloti space on the 1st floor of the building; double parking possible when full