Suwon bakery café for grapefruit and yuja tea: Café Meomureum

These days when I go café-hopping, I find a lot of pretty places, but there's this strange thing where some cafés just make you feel at ease the moment you sit down. While looking for a café around Jangan-gu in Suwon, I ended up at Meomureum. True to its name — which means 'staying' or 'lingering' in Korean — it's the kind of place you drop into for a moment and end up wanting to stay longer. Instead of coffee, I tried the refreshing grapefruit tea and yuja tea, along with handmade walnut jeonggwa (candied walnuts) as a side. Today I'll walk through the drinks and desserts slowly. ^^

Where Café Meomureum is, plus parking and hours

Meomureum is on the 2nd floor of Dongshin Jonghap Sangga, 226 Jang-an-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do. It's inside a commercial building, so first-time visitors might want to check the building location before heading over.

Parking is always a bit of a worry on days I drive, but Meomureum has parking available, which made driving there easy. Especially when you've made plans with a friend and end up circling the block a few times looking for parking... just thinking about it is tiring, haha. Having one less thing to worry about made it that much easier to visit.

Hours are 9am to 8pm on weekdays, and 10am to 8pm on weekends.

Looks different from outside than it does inside

At first, since it's a café inside a commercial building, I was curious what the interior would look like. But once I opened the door and stepped in, the space was bigger than I expected. When I check out a café, the first impression from the entrance matters quite a bit to me, and this one was tidy and well put together overall, giving a comfortable feeling. Rather than being flashily decorated, it felt closer to a place you could sit in for a long time without any pressure. Maybe that's why the name 'Meomureum' felt like such a good fit for the space.

Interior atmosphere and seating

Know what's the first thing I do when I walk into a café? Before ordering, I scope out a seat. Haha. I end up quietly checking which spot is most comfortable, whether there's a good window seat, whether there's a quiet corner. Since Meomureum has plenty of space, there was room to choose among seats. The tables weren't packed tightly together, so I could sit without worrying much about the people next to me. It seemed fine both for chatting with a friend and for quietly spending time alone.

A good spot if you want to focus quietly

While looking around the interior, one thing caught my eye. There's a separate seating area set up for studying or working. A lot of people these days open up their laptops in cafés to work or study. But at regular cafés it can be hard to concentrate because of the music or nearby conversations, so I liked that Meomureum has a space where you can spend relatively quiet time. It felt like people who came just to rest and people who came to work could each use the space in their own way. So if you're looking for a Suwon café that's not just a quick drink-and-go, but somewhere you can settle in for a while, this seemed like a good fit.

Looking around Meomureum, what I personally liked was how versatile the space felt. You could catch up with a friend, or come alone for a cup of tea, and neither felt out of place. I like lingering in cafés, so this really worked for me. I prefer places where I can sit with a cup of tea and take my time, rather than gulping down a coffee and leaving. So if you're searching for Jeongja-dong restaurant cafés and value a comfortable place to sit for a while, this one's worth checking out.

The bakery counter and desserts, including beoteo-tteok

Being a bakery café, browsing the desserts is half the fun. And once you're at a café, you can't just walk past the drinks section. Looking over the display of baked goods and desserts, quite a few items caught my eye. Honestly, I'd planned on just having a simple tea that day. But browsing the dessert corner, I naturally felt like I had to pick something. This is the most dangerous part of going to a café. Hahaha.

Meomureum in particular is known for its butter rice cake (beoteo-tteok), so a lot of people seem to seek out that menu item. The chewy texture unique to rice cake combined with the savory richness of butter gives it a different kind of fun compared to a typical bakery item. If you're on the hunt for the Jeongja-dong café butter rice cake, this unique dessert is worth checking out too.

The dessert I tried that day was the handmade walnut jeonggwa. With the first bite, the first thing you notice is the distinctive nuttiness of walnut. There's a sweet coating on the outside, but it's not overly sweet, so it went well with coffee. There's also a nice crunch from the walnut, giving it a different kind of enjoyment compared to a soft dessert. I personally love nut-based desserts, so the combination of a sip of coffee followed by a piece of walnut jeonggwa really worked for me. I meant to have just one, but the problem was I kept reaching for more. Haha. If you're picking out a dessert to go with coffee, this could be a good option.

How do the grapefruit tea, yuja tea and walnut jeonggwa taste?

Grapefruit tea

The first drink I chose that day was the grapefruit tea. I was debating whether to get coffee, but that day I somehow felt like something refreshing. The grapefruit tea had that distinctive citrusy fragrance in the first sip. But there was also a subtle bitterness that lingered, the kind you'd expect from grapefruit, so it felt different from a fruit tea that's simply sweet. I personally like this kind of refreshing, slightly bitter flavor, so it worked well for me. Paired with a sweet item like the walnut jeonggwa, the crisp feel of the grapefruit tea seemed to reset my palate each time.

Yuja (citron) tea

The yuja tea clearly had a different charm from the grapefruit tea. If the grapefruit tea leaned citrusy and slightly bitter, the yuja tea's fragrant, sweet character felt more comforting. With one sip, the yuja aroma spread first, with sweetness lingering behind it. Drinking it warm especially brought out the fragrance more, which made me sip it slowly. When you're chatting over drinks at a café, before you know it, your cup is empty, right? The yuja tea felt like the kind of drink you enjoy sip by sip while talking, rather than drinking it quickly.

Handmade walnut jeonggwa

And the handmade walnut jeonggwa I ordered alongside the teas — I kept reaching for it more than I expected. Hahaha. The nutty, savory flavor unique to walnuts was combined with sweetness, but it wasn't overly aggressive in sweetness, so it went well with tea. The savory crunch when biting into the walnut was appealing too. With nut-based desserts, I usually stop reaching for them if they're too hard or too sweet, but this walnut jeonggwa was good to pair with tea.

Final verdict

This wasn't a flashily decorated place, but somewhere that suits a day when you want to sit comfortably, chat, and pass the time with a good dessert on the side. If you're looking for a Suwon café or checking out Jeongja-dong restaurant cafés, add Meomureum to your list. It's also worth a visit if you're curious about a unique dessert like butter rice cake, or want to enjoy bakery items along with tea.

That day, sipping grapefruit tea, then yuja tea, and picking up pieces of walnut jeonggwa one by one, time passed faster than I expected. This is really the best kind of time at a café — just sitting there, not doing anything special, and it's still good. If you're looking for a café in Suwon to relax at leisurely, keep Meomureum in mind. ^^