Songdo smoothie café with MCT oil add-ons: Ugly Tongue's Brain-Booster

I visited Ugly Tongue in Songdo, Incheon, while looking for a special drink made with healthy ingredients. Unlike the sweet drinks you find at a typical café, it had a wide range of smoothies made with fruit, nuts, and powders, which caught my interest. In particular, I ordered the Brain-Booster smoothie, a name that stood out to me right away.

Ugly Tongue felt less like a place simply selling tasty drinks and more like a health-concept café that put real thought into ingredient combinations.

How does Ugly Tongue make its smoothies?

According to the menu description, the smoothies are made with no ice or water — just 100% fruit and powders — so I was expecting the raw flavor of the ingredients to really come through.

Brain-Booster smoothie, 16,000 won plus MCT oil

What I ordered was the Brain-Booster smoothie for ₩16,000. On top of that, I also chose the MCT oil add-on for ₩900.

The Brain-Booster smoothie contained banana, strawberry, avocado, almond, walnut, oat milk, cinnamon, maple syrup, and lion's mane mushroom. True to its name, it's a combination of ingredients that would appeal to anyone interested in brain health or focus.

The look of it was a bit different from your average fruit smoothie right from the start. Fruit and nut toppings sat on top of the cup, giving it the look of a filling meal replacement drink the moment you saw it. The color was natural too, and you could really sense the healthy ingredients just by looking at it.

What do the taste and texture feel like?

The first thing I noticed when I took a sip was the rich banana flavor and the nutty taste of the nuts. Rather than a thin, icy smoothie, it had a thick texture, as if the fruit and other ingredients had just been blended as they were. The banana's soft sweetness held everything together at the center, while the strawberry added a subtle tartness, so overall it wasn't overwhelming.

You could really taste the nutty richness, likely thanks to the avocado, almond, and walnut. Fruit smoothies are usually light and refreshing, but the Brain-Booster smoothie felt closer to a filling drink thanks to the nuts and oat milk.

There was also a subtle hint of cinnamon, which gave it a distinctive feel. Cinnamon can be a love-it-or-hate-it flavor when it's too strong, but here it was just enough to round off the finish without getting in the way of the fruit flavors.

Maple syrup was in there too, but it felt more like it was bringing out the natural sweetness of the ingredients than making the drink overly sweet. Rather than the sugary sweetness typical of café drinks, the soft sweetness came mainly from the banana and fruit, which made it feel clean.

Does a 900-won MCT oil add-on change the flavour?

MCT oil, the add-on I chose, is known as a coconut-derived fat, and it's often added to health drinks or pre/post-workout drinks. At first I worried it might make the drink greasy, but once I actually drank it, I didn't notice much of a change in flavor.

If anything, the smoothie already had plenty of nutty ingredients, so it blended in naturally. If you want something a bit heavier and more filling, the MCT add-on seems like a good option.

On the first sip, the soft, sweet taste of banana comes through first, followed by the subtle tartness of strawberry, so the sweetness never leans too far in one direction. The avocado made the texture incredibly creamy and smooth, and with the oat milk added, it went down thick yet comfortable. In between, the nutty richness of almond and walnut came through, making it feel much more substantial than a typical fruit smoothie. The cinnamon didn't jump out but added a subtle aroma, and a touch of maple syrup's sweetness lingered at the end. Eating the nut toppings on top along with it added a crunchy texture, so the taste and texture kept shifting the whole way through the cup, which was fun. Even with the MCT oil added, I couldn't really detect the oil's characteristic taste or smell — overall, the nutty, smooth flavor stayed front and center, and I was satisfied.

Who is the Brain-Booster smoothie for?

Personally, I felt the Brain-Booster smoothie at Ugly Tongue was less of a typical café drink and more of a premium smoothie made with health in mind.

It seems like it would especially suit people who struggle to eat breakfast, or who want a filling drink before or after exercise, or who simply enjoy a thick smoothie packed with fruit and nuts.

If you're looking for a different kind of smoothie café in Songdo, Ugly Tongue is worth a visit. It's a place where I could taste an ingredient combination and a rich flavor that set it apart from the usual fruit juice or café drinks.