Suwon café with free public parking and Basque cheesecake: Jo Hui-tak

Jo Hui-tak Coffee: a coffee spot worth the trip near Ajou University

Jo Hui-tak Coffee, a well-known coffee spot near Ajou University, is perfect for studying with a laptop. It's at 12 Ajuro 47beon-gil, 1st floor, Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, open 11:00 to 22:00, with no parking available.

Why we stopped at Jo Hui-tak Coffee before visiting grandmother

We suddenly decided to visit grandma's this weekend! Mom and dad were coming from Daejeon, and we were coming from Cheonan, so we planned to arrive a bit early and grab coffee before meeting up. Looking for a café not far from grandma's place, we found Jo Hui-tak Coffee, said to be a coffee spot near Ajou University!

There's no parking right in front of the shop, but the Uman 2-dong public parking lot is two minutes away on foot. It's a lifesaver — one hour free parking, haha.

Isn't a place that puts its name on the sign usually a good one? Jo Hui-tak Coffee is indeed a coffee spot near Ajou University.

From far away, I just thought it was a small independent café.

But up close? There's a sign inside saying the seating is spacious~~ Jo Hui-tak Coffee near Ajou University welcomes both studying with a laptop and endless chatting! I love cafés like this haha, especially since so many places give you the side-eye these days if you stay too long...

And the orange La Marzocco machine is so cute too?

What bread and desserts does Jo Hui-tak Coffee have?

The bakery showcase at Jo Hui-tak Coffee has salt bread, chocolate baguette, pizza bread, onion cheese bread, soboro (crumble bread), coffee buns, and more. There are also egg tarts, financiers, cookies, and various kinds of cake.

They use 100% dairy whipped cream and French Kiri cream cheese in their desserts. How could it not taste good? Fig, peach yogurt, chocolate, melon, chocolate banana~~ so hard to choose...? On top of that, they had several types of Basque cheesecake too — chestnut cheese, matcha cheese, chocolate cheese, and even fruit sando (fruit sandwiches) of various kinds!

There's a wide variety of coffee too! We ordered an iced Americano, a flat white, and Basque cheesecake haha.

The bakery lab and perks for laptop users at Jo Hui-tak Coffee

I thought the dessert lineup was really diverse, and it turns out Jo Hui-tak Coffee has its own bakery lab!! They're truly serious about their desserts. They said they research and develop with a certified professional pâtissier. Looking at the wall, they seem to make a lot of trendy desserts too, and it was impressive how the lineup changes with the trends of the moment.

And it's also great for chatting and studying — if you order one drink per person, you get one Americano refill!! You can really feel this is a study-café-welcoming spot haha. If you participate in a receipt review, they give you Levain coffee as a service.

They even collaborated with Suwon — isn't this basically a famous café in Suwon near Ajou University? haha

Seating, outlets and atmosphere inside Jo Hui-tak Coffee

There's a variety of tables, and outlets everywhere. So thoughtful~~ A café perfect for studying near Ajou University? That's Jo Hui-tak Coffee.

The lighting is somehow calm, making it good for laptop work or chatting~! There were a lot of students studying or on their laptops, and also customers like us who just came to talk.

How the iced Americano, flat white and Basque cheesecake tasted

Our drinks arrived — the buzzer rang and we picked them up. Just looking at the visuals of the Basque cheesecake, there was no way it wouldn't be delicious.

The Americano had a bright acidity, and the flat white was nutty and slightly bitter — the coffee here is genuinely good. It's rare to find a café that makes an acidic Americano taste this good, but Jo Hui-tak Coffee pulls it off!!!

And the Basque cheesecake I'd been looking forward to!! It was truly as delicious as it looked. Both the texture and the flavor were perfect. Paired with the iced Americano, it disappeared in no time~~ I'd definitely revisit Jo Hui-tak Coffee, this coffee spot near Ajou University, the next time I'm in Suwon. Next time I'll try the fresh cream cake. Someone go try it before me!!