Gwangjin café for fig pavlova and melon smoothie: Center Coffee Guui

A visit to East Pole at Guui Station, and a café recommendation for anyone with a stroller and a little one: Center Coffee Guui East Pole.

I was looking for a café to sit down and relax in at East Pole, Guui Station, and ended up at Center Coffee. East Pole is bigger than I expected, and it wasn't overly crowded overall, which felt pretty comfortable to me personally. Since it's inside a mall, you need somewhere to take a break while browsing, and Center Coffee's space was big enough to spend some relaxed time over a cup of coffee.

Where is Center Coffee Guui East Pole, and what is the space like?

Center Coffee Guui East Pole is on basement level 1 of East Pole, right in front of the central escalator, so it's easy to find. The ceilings are high and the tables are spaced quite far apart, making it a calm place to focus on your coffee or just have some quiet time.

The entrance is wide and the tables are spaced well, so it's a comfortable spot for parents who came to the mall with kids, or with a stroller. There's no door at the entrance and it's spacious, so it's easy to move around in.

Center Coffee Guui East Pole

Specialty coffee, drip bags and capsules to take home

Center Coffee is probably already a familiar name for coffee lovers. It's a specialty-coffee-focused café, so they also sell hand-drip coffee. You can pick your own beans, so if you love coffee, it's worth a visit for the coffee alone, mall shopping aside.

Beyond coffee, there's a variety of non-coffee drinks and desserts, plus a good range of coffee beans, drip bags, and capsule coffee for sale.

What I ordered at Center Coffee

I actually love going to cafés but I don't drink coffee. Yes, I'm the person who goes to famous coffee spots and doesn't drink coffee there... Instead, this time I picked a non-coffee menu item and a dessert I'd been curious about. Places that do coffee well tend to do everything else well too.

No coffee? The Korean melon (chamoe) yogurt smoothie

What I, coffee-avoider that I am, ordered was Center Coffee's melon yogurt smoothie. I hadn't tried it before, so I gave it a go — melon is in season these days, so I figured it would be good. The sweetness of the melon pairs nicely with the yogurt, and there's lemon zest sprinkled on top, and that combination with the lemon was just really good. I love discovering fresh combinations like this.

This melon yogurt smoothie is a great choice when you want something cool instead of a regular coffee! Center Coffee naturally brings coffee to mind first, but they also have non-coffee options like this, so it's a good spot to visit together even if you can't drink coffee or are looking for a different kind of drink. If you're taking a break from shopping and craving something sweet and cool, I recommend it.

Fig pavlova: the favourite dessert of the visit

I also picked a dessert after seeing it on the in-store promo materials. It's a pavlova piled high with figs, and it was gorgeous just to look at.

There were so many figs piled on top that it was great for photos too.

I love figs, so a visual like this immediately catches my eye. Tasting it, the figs and the dessert paired really well together. Personally, out of everything I had that day, this dessert was my favorite. The desserts probably change with the season, so it seems like it'd be fun to see what's on offer each time you visit.

I'm curious about the sweet corn ice cream too, so I'll try other desserts next time.

Chuseok drip bag gift sets at Center Coffee

With Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) coming up, Center Coffee at East Pole also has holiday gifts ready. If you buy a drip bag gift set, they'll give you a shopping bag decorated with a pretty norigae ornament, so keep that in mind.

Is Center Coffee worth a break near Guui Station?

Above all, I've been enjoying the atmosphere at East Pole lately. When you think of a mall, you usually picture crowds and a bit of chaos, but when I visited, East Pole had a relatively relaxed vibe and the space felt comfortable, which I liked. It's also connected to Guui Station Exit 3, so it's convenient for meeting up, and it's a good place to stop by when you want to sit down and rest for a bit while shopping.

If you love coffee, enjoy the hand-drip or brewed coffee; if you're like me and looking for something other than coffee, the non-coffee drinks and desserts are a solid pick. If you're looking for a café to relax at near Guui Station, give Center Coffee Guui East Pole a try.