Coffee shop in Gangnam, Seoul with whole fig sando: Roastery Stan

We'd only just gotten back from a trip, and the thing we craved most was a Korean cafe again haha! So I looked around and found a place near Yeoksam Station that's supposed to roast really good coffee, so we went — this place is called Roastery Stan.

5-minute walk from Yeoksam Station Exit 3, watermelon and roasted sweet potato at the entrance

It's about a 5-minute walk from Exit 3 of Yeoksam Station, so it was really easy to get to by public transport! Right from the entrance there was fresh watermelon on display, and surprisingly, they were also selling roasted sweet potatoes. A cafe selling sweet potatoes was such a novel experience for me! There seem to be a lot of office workers around the area, so it looked like the perfect spot to grab a snack when you're peckish on your way somewhere.

An open-plan roastery inside — coffee smell hits you the moment you walk in

The inside of the cafe was open-plan so you could see everything, and true to the 'roastery' name, there were many kinds of coffee. The second we walked in, a crisp coffee smell hit us, and I got excited thinking anything on the menu would be good. Turns out this place really is a coffee specialist!

There were also posters for milk tea, matcha, and dark chocolate latte right by the register, so it was hard to decide what to order!

Menu — signature and seasonal items

Looking at the menu, there were so many options! The signature & seasonal menu included

• Fresh avocado coffee
• Nectarine juice
• Fresh watermelon juice
• Fresh orange or grapefruit bianco
• Fresh lemon tonic americano

That's what was on there! It made sense now why there was watermelon outside. A glass of watermelon juice on a hot day really does chase the heat away, doesn't it?!

They also give out roasted sweet potato for Naver visitor reviews and corn for blog reviews, which made me feel like this place really takes care of its customers!

How was the fig sando, Sanghamokjang deep latte, and iced americano?

So what did we order? After a lot of deliberating, we went with the signature Sanghamokjang deep latte (chocolate), an iced americano to test the coffee itself, and among the sandos they're famous for, the fig sando!

Everything came out almost right after ordering, which was great, and the Sanghamokjang deep latte came with an info card explaining it's made with unsweetened dairy cream and milk aged together, blended with espresso! And of course, the americano matters a lot at a cafe!! The aroma of the beans really seeped into my nose, and every sip gave off a subtle fragrance — it was fantastic!

But the highlight was definitely the sando — they put in a whole fig, so the cream and fig went together beautifully. Maybe because it's fig season, the fig was plump and sweet! At other places the cream or fruit sometimes tastes off from sitting too long, but here there was none of that — it tasted fresh and clean!

* We wanted to try the strawberry sando too, but sadly it was sold out. If you get the chance, try the strawberry sando too!

If you're ever tired and craving a cup of coffee and a sweet dessert, Roastery Stan is the place to go!

Wifi and seating — good for a long stay?

There's also free wifi, so you can comfortably get work done at the cafe, which is great if you need to knock something out quickly! (Just a note — the cafe is on the smaller side, with a lot of customers coming and going and fairly small tables, so it doesn't seem like the kind of place to sit for hours.) Seoul is such a busy place that you often need to look up where to go next, right?! So it seemed like a nice spot to rest for a bit at this roastery cafe while you search.

Checkout was also simple with a kiosk, which was really convenient too! I looked it up and found they've opened a second location in Hagik-dong, Incheon — if you live in Incheon, it might be worth checking out! Turns out there are more good coffee shops in Incheon than I expected haha.

Business hours

• Weekdays 07:00 ~ 17:00
• Closed Saturdays
• Sunday 12:00 ~ 20:00