Yeonnam-dong café with chocolate financier and decaf: Pip Espresso Bar

I went to Pip Espresso Bar's Yeonnam branch with a friend who'd traveled about an hour to hang out in Hongdae.

This was already my nth visit. It's a café I often bring friends to when I'm meeting up in Yeonnam-dong, and everyone I've brought has always reacted well, so this time we naturally ended up at Pip again. I do love exploring new cafés, but when I'm with a friend who's come from far away, somewhere I've already been feels more comfortable. ☺️

Pip Espresso Bar on a weekday evening: no wait, your pick of seats

Pip Espresso Bar gets busy enough on weekends that there's a wait, but on the weekday evening I visited, there was plenty of room and I could sit wherever I wanted. It's open late, so it's also a good spot for a second stop after dinner.

Outdoor seats and lighting at Pip Espresso Bar on an early autumn evening

Pip is a café I especially recommend in early autumn. It has well-arranged outdoor seating, so it's really nice to sit outside with a coffee once the heat starts to ease and a cool breeze picks up. In the evening especially, the lighting turns on and gives it a different mood from daytime.

The interior is neatly done in wood and white tones. There's a long bench-style seating area on one side, and the Pip logo and posters are placed here and there, giving it a simple but distinct look. Overall it doesn't feel overdecorated, which made it comfortable to sit and stay for a while.

What we ordered: two iced decaf Americanos and a chocolate financier

True to being an espresso bar, Pip has a good range of espresso-based drinks and signature coffees. If it's your first visit, picking one of the signature menu items seems like a good idea. Since I'd already been many times and it was late in the day, I went with the easygoing option: a decaf Americano.

What we ordered that day was two iced decaf Americanos and a chocolate financier.

Since we were visiting in the evening, my friend and I both went decaf. Caffeine feels a bit much late in the day, so it was nice to have the decaf option.

How the decaf Americano at Pip Espresso Bar tasted

Pip Espresso Bar's Americano comes in a glass with the Pip logo on it — a small detail, but it photographs nicely. The decaf Americano wasn't heavily bitter and had a clean finish. It didn't have that watery quality decaf sometimes gets; it was pleasantly nutty with a light aftertaste, easy to drink.

Why I chose the chocolate financier over the tiramisu

Pip is also known for its tiramisu, but since we'd already eaten a pretty filling dinner that day, I wanted something lighter to go with the coffee, so I picked the chocolate financier instead. It had a rich chocolate flavor with just the right amount of sweetness, went well with the Americano, and sharing one between us was a comfortable amount, not too much.

The chocolate financier looked richly chocolatey even just to look at. Being a sweet dessert, it paired well with the clean iced Americano. We ordered one and split it, and the portion was just right alongside coffee.

Why Pip Espresso Bar is a Yeonnam-dong café I keep coming back to

Yeonnam-dong has so many cafés that new ones keep popping up every time I visit, but Pip feels less like a one-time visit and more like a place I think of and come back to.

One big reason I keep coming back is that every friend I've brought here has reacted well. Even friends with slightly different tastes have mostly been happy with it, so it's become a place I can recommend to friends without any worry. 🙂

The mood shifts a bit between day and evening, so it's worth picking your seat depending on when you visit. On a nice-weather day, I'd personally recommend the outdoor seats. Since this was already my nth visit, I think it'll keep coming to mind whenever I'm looking for a café in Yeonnam-dong.