Songjeong ocean-view tea café: yuzu-ginger black tea at Suwolgyeonghwa

If you go looking for a café with a sea view in Busan, you'll find countless options. This time, instead of the usual coffee-and-bakery combo, I wanted something a bit different, so I visited Suwolgyeonghwa in Songjeong. It's known as a tea café where you can enjoy tea and traditional Korean sweets while looking out at the ocean view of Songjeong Beach. The hanok-style interior paired with the sea view gave it a clearly different mood from an ordinary café.

This time I ordered hongyusaeng, hojigabe, and the Dalbodre Box to enjoy a leisurely tea time. Having tried it myself, this felt less like a café that simply looks at the sea and more like a space where you can properly enjoy tea and traditional sweets.

The Songjeong Beach view from Suwolgyeonghwa's window seats

The first thing that caught my eye walking into Suwolgyeonghwa was, of course, the Songjeong sea. The blue ocean stretched out beyond the window, and depending on the time you could even catch the beach train passing by — just sitting there for a moment felt like a proper trip.

On a clear day especially, with the sea and sky stretching out wide, it was lovely just to sit by the window. I think this view is exactly why people searching for ocean-view cafés in Busan end up finding Suwolgyeonghwa. It's not a place you just grab a coffee and leave — it's a spot with the kind of atmosphere where you slowly sip tea, gaze at the sea, and rest.

What's inside Suwolgyeonghwa's Dalbodre Box?

The menu I was most looking forward to on this visit was the Dalbodre Box. It's known as Suwolgyeonghwa's signature dessert, and it's put together so you can taste several Korean-style desserts at once — striking just to look at.

According to the published menu description, it's made up of various sweets including black rice sulbbang (steamed rice cake made with makgeolli), injeolmi (rice cake coated in roasted soybean powder) skewers, ganache monaka, and anbutter monaka. Rather than eating just one dessert, being able to taste a little of several was nice. Picking out one sweet at a time while sipping tea was a different kind of fun from a typical café dessert.

What kind of tea is hongyusaeng?

Of everything I ordered this time, hongyusaeng is the one I most want to introduce. According to the current menu info, hongyusaeng is black tea as a base, combined with yuzu, ginger, and red bellflower root.

The black tea's aroma is joined by yuzu's refreshing brightness and ginger's distinctive kick, giving it a different impression from ordinary black tea. If you're someone who prefers a fragrant tea over a sweet drink, this one was pretty fun to drink. Paired with the sweets in the Dalbodre Box especially, the aroma of the tea and the flavor of the desserts went really well together.

Hojigabe: hojicha mixed with coffee

The other drink I ordered was hojigabe. It's a menu item where you get to enjoy the distinctive nutty aroma of hojicha (roasted green tea) together with coffee — definitely a different feel from a regular café latte. The rich taste of the coffee combined with hojicha's roasted, nutty aroma, and the pairing worked better than I expected.

If you usually just drink Americano or lattes and want something a little different, hojigabe is worth ordering once. Especially since Suwolgyeonghwa itself has such a traditional atmosphere, hojigabe suited the mood well too.

A hanok-style tea room facing the sea

Suwolgyeonghwa's charm isn't just about selling traditional sweets. Eating neatly arranged sweets in a space that evokes a hanok, with the Songjeong sea visible through the window, made for a pretty special atmosphere.

Usually when you think of a traditional tea house, you picture a hanok or a quiet garden — but here, it felt like the Songjeong sea took the place of that scenery. So I think this would suit people who want an ocean-view café in Busan while also experiencing a slightly different kind of dessert and drink.

Why the wide tea menu suits groups with different tastes

Unlike a typical café that only sells coffee, Suwolgyeonghwa has a fairly wide range of tea options. Besides hongyusaeng, the current menu includes several premium teas, hojicha-based drinks, and traditional teas.

So even visiting with someone who isn't a coffee drinker, there was little pressure over what to order. It was also a plus that, like this time, one person can have tea while the other picks a coffee-based drink. This time I ordered hongyusaeng and hojigabe, but next time I'd like to try the other tea options one by one.

Better for a date or a visit with parents?

Suwolgyeonghwa also suited a visit with a partner well. Watching the sea while sipping tea and sharing sweets made for a more relaxed mood than a typical café date.

I also thought it would suit a family visit — if you're traveling Busan with your parents, being able to enjoy traditional tea and sweets together fits well. Especially on trips with older family members, you tend to look for a space that's calm enough to talk rather than a loud, crowded café, and this place worked well on that front too.

Suwolgyeonghwa visit: the verdict

Trying hongyusaeng, hojigabe, and the Dalbodre Box at Suwolgyeonghwa this time, I could see why this place stands apart from a typical ocean-view café. Hongyusaeng, the black tea with yuzu, ginger, and red bellflower root, was fragrant and distinctive; hojigabe let me enjoy hojicha's nuttiness together with coffee's richness for a different kind of flavor. And the Dalbodre Box let me taste several traditional-style sweets in small portions, which paired nicely with the tea. Most of all, what I liked best was being able to sip tea slowly while looking out at the Songjeong sea through the window.

This visit I tried hongyusaeng, hojigabe, and the Dalbodre Box, but if I come back I'd like to try the other tea options and sweets one by one. If you want to enjoy Korean traditional sweets and tea while looking out at the view of Songjeong Beach, or if you're after a slightly different kind of ocean-view café in Busan, I'd recommend Suwolgyeonghwa. It's a place where you can experience the pleasure of the sea view, the ease of sipping tea, and the fun of tasting traditional sweets, all at once.