Gyodae Station café in Seoul: bean-choice vanilla latte at Coffee829

Today I want to share my visit to Coffee829, a roastery café in Seocho that was great for grabbing a coffee to go between Seocho Station and Gyodae Station. Lately when I pick a café I find myself looking less for pretty vibes and more for a place where the coffee itself is actually good~ Especially if it's a café that roasts its own beans, my expectations for the coffee shoot up!!

Where is Coffee829 Seocho? Between Seocho and Gyodae stations

Coffee829 Seocho sits roughly halfway between Seocho Station and Gyodae Station, at 42 Banpo-daero 28-gil, 1F, so it was fine to walk over from either station. There are a lot of offices around, so it seemed like a good spot to grab coffee on the way to work or duck in during lunch break.

And~ it turns out this roastery café has been running since 2012. It now operates directly-run branches at Nambu Terminal, Gyodae, and Seocho, using beans roasted by the owner personally to manage the taste and quality across each location! Rather than just selling cheap coffee, they say they aim for well-balanced coffee people can drink comfortably every day, built on years of experience — and I liked that philosophy!! The Seocho branch in particular is newly opened so it feels extra clean, and since the roasting space operates right inside the store as a proper roastery café, it seemed like a spot coffee lovers would find especially interesting.

Coffee829 Seocho opening hours and parking

• Location: 42 Banpo-daero 28-gil, 1F, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily / Weekdays 8am–9pm (last order 8pm), Weekends 11am–6pm (last order 5pm)
• Parking: Fairly limited, so public transit is recommended!

Inside Coffee829 Seocho: the space and the second-floor seats

Walking into Coffee829 Seocho, the overall vibe was clean and calm, centered on neutral tones. It's not a flashy, heavily decorated café but more clean-and-comfortable, so it felt easy to stop by even just for a short break~ You order on the first floor, and there's also a second-floor space up the stairs!

It feels a bit smaller than the first floor but cozy and cute haha. Once you actually step inside it turns out the space is used really well — more than it looks from outside — so it seemed like it could fit more people than expected. There's also water set out separately, handy if you need it!

The roasting room behind the glass at Coffee829 Seocho

What caught my eye the most was the roasting space set up inside the store. It's arranged so you can see the roasting room through a clear glass window, which felt really cool. Seeing with your own eyes that this is a place where beans are actually roasted on-site made me look forward to the coffee even before ordering.

Coffee829 beans: Blue Moon, Indigo Moon, Green Moon and Red Moon

Also, I liked that Coffee829 uses a range of different beans so you can choose according to your taste. If you're a coffee lover, it's worth checking each bean's characteristics and picking what suits you. The default Blue Moon blend is nutty with low acidity, and it's known for dark-chocolate-like sweetness and a rich body.

Beyond that there are also Indigo Moon, Green Moon, and Red Moon blends, each with its own character, so the range of bean choices was pretty wide. Even someone like me who doesn't know much about coffee found it easy to pick based on their taste since the bean characteristics are laid out clearly. Decaf is available too, which is great for anyone sensitive to caffeine.

Coffee829 Americano discount hours

Coffee829 also runs time-based discounts!! From 8 to 11am, the morning commute hours, and again from 3 to 6pm, there's an Americano discount, which seemed handy for office workers in the area. Being right between Seocho Station and Gyodae Station, it's a good spot to grab coffee to go before work or stop by when you need a pick-me-up in the afternoon. Using their own roasted beans is also a big draw for coffee lovers.

Coffee829 menu and prices

Coffee menu

• Espresso — ₩3,500
• Blue Moon Americano — ₩3,500
• Red Moon Americano — ₩4,000
• Decaf Americano — ₩4,000
• White Americano — ₩4,000
• Café Latte — ₩4,300
• Decaf Café Latte — ₩4,800
• Cappuccino — ₩4,300
• Caramel Macchiato — ₩4,500
• Condensed Milk Latte — ₩4,500
• Vanilla Latte — ₩4,800
• Café Mocha — ₩4,800

Signature drinks and cold brew

• Signature 829 Latte — ₩4,800
• Signature 829 Cream Latte — ₩5,500
• Signature Vanilla Latte — ₩5,500
• Cold Brew Cream Latte — ₩5,500
• Cold Brew Americano — ₩4,000
• Cold Brew Latte — ₩4,800

Non-coffee, fresh juice, ade and tea

• Misugaru (grain powder, with water) — ₩4,000 / (with milk) — ₩4,500
• Almond Job's Tears Tea — ₩4,000
• Choco Latte — ₩4,500
• Milk Tea — ₩4,800
• Sweet Potato Latte — ₩4,800
• Toffee Nut Latte — ₩4,800
• Strawberry Juice — ₩5,000 / Banana Juice — ₩5,000 / Strawberry Banana Juice — ₩5,300 / Strawberry Latte — ₩5,000
• Lemon Ade, Grapefruit Ade, Green Grape Ade — ₩4,500 each
• Iced Tea, Grapefruit Tea, Citron Tea, Lemon Tea — ₩4,000 each
• Chamomile, Earl Grey, Rooibos, Peppermint — ₩4,000 each

Choosing beans for a vanilla latte and asking for it less sweet

You can order via kiosk or directly at the counter up front. That day I decided to order my drink and dessert to take out. I ordered a vanilla latte and a blueberry cream cheese jjondeuk bread (chewy bread)! Since I'm not really into super sweet drinks, I asked for the vanilla latte to be made less sweet.

They adjusted it just the way I wanted and I was so satisfied. When a vanilla latte is too sweet, the syrup's sweetness overpowers the coffee flavor, but ordering it less sweet let the nutty flavor of the coffee and milk come through too, making it really pleasant to drink. And here's what surprised me — usually bean choice only applies to Americanos, right? Here you could choose the bean for the vanilla latte too! I went with the nutty Blue Moon bean, low in acidity and totally my taste..💙💙

If you're like me and find overly sweet café drinks too much, try asking for it less sweet when you order. Above all, I'm so grateful the staff followed my request so well ㅠㅠ So kind,, so cute,, being able to order to your own taste really matters when you're taking it to go.

How does the blueberry cream cheese jjondeukppang (chewy bread) taste?

And the blueberry cream cheese jjondeuk bread I ordered alongside it! I'd only planned to buy a drink that day, but I couldn't walk past the dessert display. I love the blueberry and cream cheese combo, so I picked it right away.

The chewy bread paired with the soft, nutty cream cheese made it great to eat alongside coffee. The cream inside especially was really tasty!! The sweet, slightly tangy flavor of the blueberry matched well with the nutty, soft cream cheese. It went well with the vanilla latte, but next time I'd love to try it with an iced Americano!!

Who Coffee829 Seocho is for

Personally, between watching the roasting happen right in the café, the clean atmosphere, the space that extends up to the second floor, and the wide range of bean choices, I felt this is a place worth visiting for anyone who wants to properly enjoy coffee!!

Next time I visit, I'd like to pair the blueberry cream cheese jjondeuk bread I had this time with an iced Americano, and try picking a different blend of beans myself.

If you're looking for a café with genuinely good coffee between Seocho Station and Gyodae Station, or a takeout spot for your morning commute, give Coffee829 a try. It's a clean, pleasant place to sit and drink coffee, and it also worked well for taking a drink and dessert to go lightly, like I did — this was Coffee829, a Seocho roastery café.