Decaf latte and original levain cookie at Gyodae café Mini Male

What kind of café is Mini Male Coffee Roaster Gyodae Court Branch?

Mini Male Coffee Roaster Gyodae Court Branch is a Gyodae Station café that uses specialty beans it sources and roasts itself. There are three bean options — Balance, Dunkel, and Decaf — and the specialty espresso is known for its not-too-sweet flavor and rich, nutty milk.

• Weekday hours Mon–Fri 8:00–22:00
• Sat–Sun 9:00–19:00

If you're looking for a Gyodae Station café with great lattes and bakery items, "Mini Male Coffee Roaster Gyodae Court Branch" is a must-visit. It's a café that cuts out all the extras and focuses purely on the essential value and quality of coffee. So if you care about how coffee actually tastes, or you're into beans, definitely check it out! Someone like me who loves bakery and desserts should go too haha.

Walking from Gyodae Station Exit 7, and the best time to visit

Mini Male is a 3-minute walk from Gyodae Station Exit 7. Come out of Exit 7, go straight, turn into the alley on the left, and follow it up the hill — you'll see it just off the main road! It has an English sign that looks like this.

I visited around 4pm on a weekday and it was already packed when I first walked in! Since it's near the Gyodae courthouse, a lot of people passing by stop in, and it seems like office workers looking for bakery brunch come by a lot too.

Mini Male's menu and how to choose among the three beans

You can order via kiosk.

The menu looks like this, and you can choose your coffee from three specialty beans. I went with decaf.

• Balance: signature blend / citrus / fruity sweetness / balanced
• Dunkel: milk chocolate / honey-like sweetness / nutty flavor
• Decaf (+₩500): malt / roasted nuts / dark chocolate

Seating inside Mini Male and how ordering works

When you walk in, there's a row of bakery items to the left of the entrance and the counter straight ahead. You don't need to carry the bakery item over yourself — just order it at the counter along with your coffee and they'll bring it out together.

Here's what the seating looks like. Most tables are for two, and there's a table for up to six in the back, so it's fine for small gatherings too.

Blankets were also available.

Mini Male's bakery case: handmade New York cookies to croissants

I really love this kind of cookie, and honestly, cookies are the best dessert pairing with coffee I think. Anyway, these are the handmade New York cookies — made with Mini Male's own recipe, kneaded and baked fresh daily at Bakery Lab in Gaepo-dong. Moist and thick — passed the test.

Croissants made with top-grade AOP butter, whipped cream scones, fresh sandwiches, salt bread, various financiers, egg tarts, and more — if you love bread and dessert, this is a Gyodae Station café you need to visit.

How does the decaf Helsinki Latte taste?

I ordered three things: the Helsinki Latte (decaf), the signature O'Chocolat babka, and a handmade New York cookie.

When you visit a café like this, you have to try the signature item. Apparently it's their own reinterpretation of a life-changing latte discovered in Helsinki, Finland — and even I, someone who doesn't know much about coffee, could tell it was clearly different from other lattes.

The nutty richness of the milk really came through strong, and the sweetness was well-balanced without being too much — a genuinely delicious Helsinki Latte. Loved that it came in decaf too.

Signature O'Chocolat babka and the original levain cookie

For the bakery item I picked the signature O'Chocolat babka — covered generously in dark chocolate on the outside, with orange flavor coming through at the same time. The combo of deep chocolate and bright, citrusy orange was so good — there's clearly a reason it's the signature.

It was even better paired with the latte. Sweetness level was about 3.5 out of 5, so even people who aren't big fans of sweet things could probably enjoy this level.

The cookie's size and thickness — passed. There are a lot of cookie flavors, and I went with the original levain. It was loaded with dark chocolate chips and nutty walnuts, and the deep chocolate flavor combined with the nuttiness was so, so good. Being nice and thick, I could eat it without holding back.

Mini Male's handmade New York cookie lineup also includes peanut butter with strawberry jam, oatmeal raisin, matcha chocolate chip levain, and dark s'mores — I wanted to try every single one, they were that good. I come by Gyodae almost every week, and this is a café I want to keep coming back to.