Car-free Gangneung café for dripper latte and croffin: Coffee Dripper

Traveling around Gangneung for an overnight trip without a car was pretty tiring this time, so a Chodang-dong café where I could recharge in between was an essential stop. I checked out a bunch of recommended Gangneung cafés, but in my opinion the best one was Coffee Dripper.

Where is Coffee Dripper, and what are its hours? Closed Tuesdays

I could spot Coffee Dripper right away because of the crowd outside. It's located at 229-4 Nanseolheon-ro, 1st floor, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do. Since it's closed Tuesdays for regular holiday, I made sure to go as soon as I arrived on Monday. It's open from 10am to 6pm, so it's great for morning coffee or as a dessert stop after lunch.

The indoor seats are great, but since it's not as hot as early August anymore, I think you could have a lovely coffee time at the shaded outdoor terrace with a gentle breeze too. It looks like they run a fire pit in winter — I could see the fire pit plus outdoor seating out there.

Inside Coffee Dripper: the greenhouse room and terrace

Coffee Dripper is definitely not small, but maybe because it's vacation season, it was so packed at first there wasn't even a seat available. After a short wait a table opened up, so we grabbed a spot in the greenhouse-feel space. It's decorated beautifully with wood tones and plants, so it's pretty both inside and out. Which makes it a great spot for Instagram photos too, haha.

Menu and prices at Coffee Dripper — tofu pudding sells out after 2pm

Looking at the menu, this Chodang-dong café has quite a variety of drinks and desserts, so it was fun to pick and choose. We really wanted to try the Chodang tofu pudding, but... since we went after 2pm, it was already sold out. Sniff. This place is popular, so if there's a dessert you want, I'd recommend getting there early. But since I heard the croffin, financier, and other things here are also delicious, we ordered all of those instead of the pudding :)

• Dripper latte (white almond mocha) ₩6,500
• Forêt noire choco latte ₩7,000
• Chocolate croffin ₩5,500
• Yuja financier ₩3,500

The small goods corner at Coffee Dripper

There's also a corner of this Chodang-dong café selling merchandise, and the designs were clean and pretty, haha.

A little while after ordering, our menu came out. It's such a photogenic space that as soon as the drinks and desserts arrived, I started snapping photos from every angle.

With the warm wood-tone tables and green plant backdrop, everything I shot just had that Instagram feel. I'd been walking around with just a backpack, no car, so my legs were sore and I was a bit worn out, but seeing the pretty drinks and desserts felt healing even before taking a bite, hahaha.

How does Coffee Dripper's dripper latte (white almond mocha) taste?

This dripper latte is one of Coffee Dripper's signature menus. It's a cream latte made with a white almond mocha base. I tilted the cup to drink the cream on top together with the coffee below. A nutty yet smooth almond flavor filled my mouth, and the subtle sweetness paired well with the bitter espresso shot! The almond nuttiness never got tiring, and the cream texture itself was so chewy and smooth — a deep flavor that lived up to being their signature, haha.

Forêt noire choco latte, 7,000 won

The forêt noire choco latte has rich chocolate in it — you know that premium chocolate flavor, right?! Hahaha. It tasted exactly like that, not too sweet, with just the right amount of sweetness. Nothing beats this drink for refilling the sugar you burn through on a car-free trip ><

Chocolate croffin, 5,500 won

When I split open the chocolate croffin, with its layers of croissant texture still intact, there was a generous, rich chocolate cream filling inside!!

The crispy-outside, soft-inside texture was on point, and the rich chocolate cream flavor plus the chocolate chips piled on top were exactly my taste :)

Yuja (citron) financier, 3,500 won

The last thing I tried was the yuja (citron) financier — a classic financier with a chewy outside and fluffy, soft inside.

The nutty butter flavor combined with the citron's refreshing tang worked even better than I expected, I was surprised, haha. It served as a really refreshing accent among all the chocolate-heavy desserts.

The photo spot in front of Coffee Dripper

I stepped outside partway through and got a bunch of shots at the photo-zone-style setup in front of this Chodang-dong café! Funnily enough, they'd decorated a rock to look like a bag, haha. The natural light made my face look better too, so I thought there's really nowhere better for taking pictures if you're recommending Gangneung cafés!