Three-floor rooftop cafe in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul: Central Site

There are so many cafes in Yeonnam-dong that it's honestly fun just hunting for new ones. This time I went to Central Site, which has become the first cafe I think of whenever I'm in the area. I go to Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong a lot and have been to tons of cafes, but this one felt a little special ☺️

Where is Central Site Yeonnam, and what are the hours?

Central Site Yeonnam is at 29-1 Yeonhui-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, a 7-minute walk from Hongik Univ. Station Exit 3. It's open Mon–Fri 8:00–22:00 and Sat–Sun 8:30–22:00. There's no parking on-site, so you'll need to use a private paid lot 1-2 minutes away on foot.

• 📍 Central Site Yeonnam · 7-minute walk from Hongik Univ. Station Exit 3
• ⏰ Mon-Fri 8:00-22:00 / Sat-Sun 8:30-22:00
• 🅿️ No parking on-site, private lots 1-2 minutes away on foot

I like that it's on a quieter street haha. This was my second visit to Central Site and I liked it so much I brought my boyfriend along too 😊

Since it's a coffee specialty shop, there's a wide range of brewed coffee options on the drink menu. They do have plain Americano too!

This is one of the best tiramisus I've ever had 🤍 I love coffee too, so that day I ordered brewed coffee together with the classic tiramisu, and to cut to the chase — both the coffee and the dessert were exactly my taste, super satisfying!!

A Yeonnam-dong coffee specialist built around roasting and brewing

Central Site is less a typical cafe and more a roastery and brewing-coffee-focused shop. There's a dedicated space where they roast their own beans and brew coffee in-house, and they stock a wide range of brewing beans including Geisha and other specialty coffees.

What I liked was that ordering coffee here didn't feel like just picking a drink off a menu board. Since every bean has different characteristics, you can tell the barista your preferences and get a recommendation, or pick a bean yourself and enjoy it brewed. If you love coffee, this whole process is fun in itself.

You can smell the ground beans first like this, and I must have picked well because the aroma was amazing haha.

Usually at a cafe you just get the finished drink handed to you, but watching the brewing process happen right in front of you and getting to smell it too made drinking a cup of coffee feel like a different experience 😀 So if you're looking for a cafe that's serious about coffee, this is exactly the kind of detail that makes Central Site more appealing~~

Central Site floor by floor: brewing bar on 1F, rooftop on 3F

Floor-by-floor vibes at Central Site

The first floor has the ordering area, the brewing bar and the roasting lab,

and on the way up to the second floor, the greenery through the window looks so good 😁

The second floor is neat and clean. It's not a huge space, but it was nice for enjoying coffee and tiramisu!

The window view was really lovely~ great for quietly chatting and passing the time 😄

And on the third floor there's a rooftop space — not fully outdoors, but great for sitting in the sunlight!

Brewed coffee at Central Site and the bean explanation card

What I ordered that day was brewed coffee and classic tiramisu. Since brewed coffee is Central Site's signature, I went with hand-drip over other options this time. And the staff brought the order right to my table with a light explanation of the coffee — top-notch service 👍

I even got a card with a description of the bean I chose! Nice to read while sipping the coffee. I've been trying different beans lately to figure out my taste haha. The coffee had a rich flavor and I could actually taste everything the description said, which was pretty amazing.

Classic tiramisu: big enough for two to share

If I had to pick one reason to come back to Central Site, it'd be the tiramisu. These days cafe tiramisu seems pricey and tiny, but here the size is big enough for two to share 😊 On my first visit I came alone, and it was so good I ate the whole thing by myself haha.

The cream was soft but not too light, and I loved the subtle coffee flavor running through it. I think the key to a good tiramisu is the balance between the sponge and the cream, and here that first bite naturally brings both coffee flavor and cream together. It's not overly sweet, so it balances well when eaten alongside coffee. It actually tasted even better paired with the brewed coffee 😙

Why Central Site is the Yeonnam-dong cafe worth choosing

With so many cafes around Hongdae, it's often hard to decide where to go. Central Site is a place that satisfies both a day when you want to properly enjoy coffee and a day when you're craving a good dessert. Yeonnam-dong has so many cafes that people sometimes just walk in based on the vibe, but this place actually roasts its own beans and centers its operation around brewing, so it'll suit anyone who genuinely loves coffee. And if you're a tiramisu lover like me, the dessert alone is reason enough to visit. Even if you don't know much about coffee, telling the barista your preferences can help you pick a bean, so it's easy to enjoy regardless.