Decaf einspänner at a Soongsil University alley café: Coffee by Hands

Coffee by Hands Roastery, a small roastery café in a Sangdo Station alley

If you're passing through the alley near Sangdo Station behind Soongsil University and looking for a good place to grab a coffee, here's one worth stopping at. It's Coffee by Hands Roastery.

It's less of a large-scale café and more of a cozy takeout spot. Since it's a roastery café that roasts its own beans, I went in with high expectations for the coffee.

There are quite a few cafés around Sangdo Station, but a place that roasts its own beans has a different vibe. Tucked inside the alley, it actually felt quiet and comfortable.

A Sangdo Station café that roasts its own coffee

Coffee by Hands Roastery roasts its own beans in-store, so it's a solid stop for anyone who loves coffee. The menu was more varied than I expected.

The coffee menu includes americano, café latte, vanilla latte, hazelnut latte, Dutch americano, and the signature einspänner.

Beyond coffee, there are non-coffee options like Ghirardelli choco latte, matcha latte, Earl Grey tea latte, and peach iced tea, so it seemed like a good place to visit with friends who don't drink coffee.

I was especially curious about the signature einspänner, so this time I ordered both the einspänner and the choco choco schweppener.

What we ordered at Coffee by Hands Roastery

What I ordered was

• Decaf einspänner
• Iced americano
• Choco choco schweppener

these three. I wanted coffee but it wasn't the ideal hour for caffeine, so I went with decaf for the einspänner.

First up, the einspänner I was most looking forward to.

The cream on top felt really bouncy. It wasn't a light whipped-cream feel — it was thick yet soft, and it paired really well with the coffee underneath.

Part of the fun of an einspänner is tasting the cream and coffee together, and the sweet, soft cream matched nicely with the strong coffee. Even though it was decaf, the coffee flavor came through well, so it was easy to enjoy without any guilt.

The iced americano was clean and easy to drink. As you'd expect from a roastery café that roasts its own beans, it let you enjoy the aroma and flavor of the beans comfortably — personally, whenever I visit a café like this, I always make a point of trying the basic americano.

Is the choco choco spänner worth ordering?

From the non-coffee menu, I ordered the choco choco schweppener. This one also had cream on top, and it was so bouncy that it caught my eye right away.

The rich chocolate sweetness combined with the soft cream made it feel like enjoying a dessert.

If you're looking for something other than coffee, the choco choco schweppener seems like a good choice. Anyone who likes sweet drinks in particular would probably be satisfied.

Overall, each drink felt carefully made, and the texture of the cream drinks in particular stuck with me.

Why Coffee by Hands is a good coffee stop near Soongsil University

Coffee by Hands Roastery has a charm that's different from big large-scale cafés.

Since it's a small café located in the alley near Sangdo Station behind Soongsil University, it's great for grabbing a quick takeout coffee, and it also suits anyone who wants to taste freshly roasted coffee.

The bouncy cream on the einspänner was especially memorable, and beyond coffee, non-coffee options like the choco choco schweppener meant you could pick something based on your taste.

If you're looking for a café near Sangdo Station or Soongsil University,

it might be worth stopping by Coffee by Hands Roastery, the small roastery café tucked in the alley, for a cup of coffee.