Gangnam café for Earl Grey grapefruit cake: Upper and Under

The day I was meeting a friend in Gangnam💛 I was looking for somewhere we could have coffee and dessert too, and that’s how I visited ☕️Upper and Under☕️ There are so many cafés around Gangnam these days that choosing one is hard👀 I found this spot while searching for a Gangnam Station café, so I had to check it out!!!! To give you the conclusion first,

Featured photo introducing a visit to Upper and Under in Gangnam

it’s a great place to enjoy coffee + dessert + atmosphere all at once, so it was nice for chatting with a friend☕️ and a good stop for a Gangnam date too🤍

Upper and Under atmosphere with coffee and dessert

It’s between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station, so it’s pretty easy to get to!!! Looking at the location, it would be great for anyone searching for a Sinnonhyeon Station café too, and it’s walkable from Gangnam Station, so it worked well as a meeting spot. Especially after eating near Gangnam Station, it’s a plus that you don’t have to travel far for coffee✨

Café location between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station

You know when you’ve eaten near Gangnam Station and really don’t want to go far for a café? Especially when you make plans and go, “Where should we go after we eat?” and end up looking for somewhere nearby anyway haha. It’s a solid one to keep on your Gangnam Station café list in that situation🩷

Upper and Under is bigger than expected

When I first went in, the space was so much wider than I expected that I thought, wow, this place is big👀

Café space arranged across several floors

The spacious café interior at Upper and Under

Upper and Under uses the basement level, first floor, and second floor, so it definitely feels different from a small one-floor café! The seating atmosphere changes a little on each level, so it looked good for two friends, a date, or a bigger group too haha.

Café seating with a different atmosphere on each floor

And whether there are seats is surprisingly important when choosing a café... At popular Gangnam cafés, you can walk in, find no seats, and have to leave to look somewhere else🥲 I liked that Upper and Under divides its space across several floors, making it a nice setup for spending time talking with a friend🫶🏻💗

Coffee and desserts my friend and I ordered

Here’s what we ordered that day! 🤎 Einspänner 🧊 Cold Brew Americano 🍰 Earl Grey Grapefruit Cake 🍋 Lemon Madeleine. There were two of us, but we got two drinks and two desserts haha. A café visit isn’t complete without dessert, is it?😂 I especially like having a cake or madeleine with my drink rather than ordering just one beverage, so naturally I looked at the display case first that day too👀

The Einspänner I ordered

I ordered the Einspänner!

A cup of Einspänner topped with cream — Einspänner (₩8,000)

Those of you who like Einspänner know that the look of soft cream sitting on top of coffee is just so pretty🥹🤎 It photographs beautifully, and once it’s on the table with dessert, the café mood is fully there📸

I had it with the Earl Grey grapefruit cake that day, and the cake’s fragrant notes went so nicely with the sweet, soft feel of the Einspänner haha.

You like sweet coffee
You like coffee topped with cream
You enjoy coffee almost like a dessert

Then I recommend the Einspänner☕️🤎

Einspänner enjoyed with cream — Dipping into the Einspänner cream

When I’m wondering what to drink at a Gangnam Station café, I think I’d choose the Einspänner again next time haha.

The cold brew Americano my friend ordered

My friend ordered the cold brew Americano! I chose sweet coffee like the Einspänner, while my friend chose a clean, straightforward coffee—our orders were total opposites haha.

When you go to a café with a friend, it’s fun to order to your own tastes and try each other’s drinks too😂 So with two kinds of drinks on the table that day, it looked much more abundant hehe🖤

And because we ordered desserts too, the photos came out much prettier than they would with just two coffees📸✨

Earl Grey grapefruit cake and lemon madeleine

This was the dessert I was most curious about that day!

The Earl Grey grapefruit cake I was curious about

Earl Grey grapefruit cake🍰 Exactly my kind of thing..❤️

With Earl Grey’s signature fragrant character plus grapefruit’s freshness, it was a dessert with a different feel from a typical chocolate cake or cheesecake.

Grapefruit cake served with an Einspänner

The cake itself was so pretty to photograph that I worked hard taking photos of it next to the Einspänner haha📸

And because choosing just one felt like a shame, we ordered a lemon madeleine too 🍋

I’m the kind of person who has a hard time walking past baked goods at a café.... If there are madeleines or financiers, I tend to add one...🌷🤍

Lemon madeleine that goes well with coffee

Rich desserts like cake are great, but baked goods like madeleines are also perfect for picking at while drinking coffee🤍 We had ordered the Earl Grey grapefruit cake too that day, so having one more type of dessert made it nice to share haha.

If you love dessert, you have to browse the display case

Display case filled with different desserts

Display case for choosing drinks and desserts

One of Upper and Under’s strengths is that it has lots of desserts to look at, not just drinks‼️

Upper and Under’s varied dessert selection

Dessert display case for enjoying with coffee

I think it would suit people searching for a Sinnonhyeon Station café who want more than just good coffee—they want dessert too!

Full recap of what we tried

Einspänner → Recommended if you like sweet, smooth coffee
Cold Brew Americano → The clean, straightforward coffee my friend ordered
Earl Grey Grapefruit Cake → A combination of fragrant Earl Grey and fresh grapefruit
Lemon Madeleine → A light baked treat that is nice with coffee

Ordering dessert together for two made the whole café visit feel very satisfying🤍 Upper and Under felt less like a place to grab just one coffee and leave, and more like a Gangnam Station café to spend time enjoying coffee and dessert together!!! With its multi-level space, it seems like a good option when you want a café to have a long chat with a friend in Gangnam, or somewhere for dessert on a date haha.

More than anything, the location is great, so it’s easy to reach for people looking for cafés near either Gangnam Station or Sinnonhyeon Station! Next time, I’ll probably be curious about what desserts are out and head straight for the display case again haha👀🍰