Sinnonhyeon café for a first ube latte & May roses: Upper and Under

This time it's a story from a weekend afternoon, when my partner and I had lunch and then went for coffee at Upper and Under (어퍼앤언더), a café near Sinnonhyeon Station. The alley between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station has so many good places to eat and then grab a café that we end up walking it on dates more often than you'd think, right?

And that's where we found Upper and Under, a Gangnam café that serves the ube latte everyone's been talking about lately.

Ube was new to me and I had no idea what it tasted like, but my partner said they'd been seeing it everywhere and wanted to try it. Hearing someone who only ever drinks iced Americanos say they'd have a purple latte made me suddenly curious too, haha

Where is Upper and Under and what are the hours?

Upper and Under is at 28 Gangnam-daero 102-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and it's open 11:00–22:00. It's a fairly short walk from Exit 6 of Sinnonhyeon Station, and since it uses the basement, 1st and 2nd floors, it's worth keeping in mind if you're looking for a sizeable café near Sinnonhyeon Station.

It sits in the alley between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station where cafés and restaurants cluster, so it's an easy second stop after a meal.

May roses at the Upper and Under entrance

When I visited in May, yellow and red roses were blooming prettily in the outdoor space of the shop. The mood was lovely even before we went in.

It's a café in an alley in the middle of Gangnam, but with roses at the entrance it suddenly felt like a weekend outing. I'd just gone for coffee, but the season fit perfectly, it was great for photos, and it left a much better first impression of the café. If you visit in May, there's the fun of looking at the roses by the entrance as well as the drinks and desserts.

What is the atmosphere like inside Upper and Under?

Upper and Under is a café whose spaces continue through one building from the basement up to the 2nd floor. Even though it's right in the middle of Gangnam, the split levels gave it a more relaxed feel than I expected.

The 1st floor has the ordering area and a dessert showcase, and you can pick what to eat while looking over the baked goods and cakes on display.

Even if you walk in meaning to get just a drink, your resolve melts once you're standing in front of the showcase, doesn't it?

The mango cake had gorgeous colors and I could see several kinds of financiers, so we ended up choosing desserts too.

The interior felt warm, and it was a nice place to sit and talk with my partner on a weekend afternoon. Around Sinnonhyeon Station there are quite a few places that are crowded and hectic rather than quiet and cozy, but Upper and Under is large, so even when it was bustling it didn't feel stuffy.

It works for a date, and it suits meeting friends in Gangnam to chat over desserts too.

What we ordered at Upper and Under

• Ube cream latte — mine, switched to decaf for +₩500
• Ube latte — the bold pick of my iced-Americano-only partner
• Mango cake
• Yellow cheese financier

What does ube taste like?

I learned that ube is a purple yam used a lot in Filipino desserts. This day at Upper and Under was the first time I'd even heard of it. From the color alone you'd think it would be very rich and sweet, but when you actually try it, it's soft like sweet potato with a subtly nutty flavor.

Ube menu items are hot right now, and maybe my partner knew that, because they picked the ube latte instead of their usual iced Americano. I was curious too, so I took on the ube cream latte alongside them!

Ube cream latte (switched to decaf)

If you drink the Upper and Under ube cream latte together with the cream on top, it's smooth, sweet and nutty. The purple color was just so pretty from the start.

I worried that ube might feel unfamiliar since it was my first time, but it was easier to drink than I expected. Even though I switched to decaf, the flavor wasn't flat, so that was fine. It felt closer to a dessert drink than a regular latte, perfect for sipping slowly on a weekend afternoon.

Ube latte: my iced-Americano-loving partner's first try

With no cream, the Upper and Under ube latte felt a little plainer and smoother than the ube cream latte. It was my partner's pick, and it was kind of funny: someone who normally drinks only iced Americanos without a second thought said they were curious about ube and chose it right away.

My partner said it was better than expected and drank it happily, so the first ube attempt was quite a success. Even for iced Americano people, it's a flavor worth trying out of curiosity once.

Mango cake

The Upper and Under mango cake had soft cream and sweet mango, and it was pleasantly good without being anything wild. I chose it for its pretty colors, and next to the ube drinks the table looked really bright.

Since the ube latte is on the nutty side, eating the mango cake in between freshened things up nicely! It was also just right to share between two.

Yellow cheese financier

The yellow cheese financier (hwangchijeu, a cheddar-powder-style cheese flavor) was a good thing to slip in between the sweet desserts.

It's nutty with a slight saltiness, so it went well with coffee!

Is Upper and Under worth it for an ube latte near Sinnonhyeon Station?

This visit to Upper and Under near Sinnonhyeon Station started as a light coffee after lunch and ended with trying a new flavor, ube. If you're looking for a café to sit in on a weekend afternoon near Sinnonhyeon Station, or you want to try an ube latte in Gangnam, Upper and Under is the one that comes to mind.

Next time I want to try the other baked goods I couldn't pick from the showcase. A weekend afternoon, lunch done, two purple lattes with my partner and one new flavor learned: that was my Gangnam café date record.