Jeju old downtown bakery café with a private tea room: Dobana

I've been steadily uploading Jeju travel posts lately, and you know Jeju is famous for its tea, right? So I went looking for a café that really captures Jeju's local character, and I ended up at Dobana, a bakery café in downtown Jeju. I visited with my mom — the interior was so pretty and the tea we ordered was so good that I really wanted to share it.

Where is Dobana Tea House, and what are its hours?

Dobana Tea House is located at 29 Seosa-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, and it's open 10:30 - 21:00 (last order 20:30). The interior has a very woody feel, and the space is genuinely spacious, giving off a comfortable impression. It also has around 1,300 reviews stacked up, so I figured it'd be a good pick to visit with my mom.

The warm wood-toned interior totally won me over. The restroom was also spotlessly clean, so it was comfortable to use — you don't even have to step outside, and even the restroom interior was so pretty...

My original plan was to go get a caffeine fix, but once I got there I thought I should try the signature menu, so I lightly gave up on coffee and switched over to tea instead.

Doban-ui Jeongwon: Dobana's reservation-only private tea room

Inside Dobana there's a space called Doban-ui Jeongwon (도반의 정원), which is apparently a tea room you can use privately. This one requires a separate reservation, so I only got to peek in, but the atmosphere there was overflowing too. Seems like it'd be perfect for group gatherings or studying? Jeju really does seem to have so many charming spots.

And the variety of teas is really impressive, which makes it even better. It's known as a café that's good for working with a laptop, but it hasn't lost any of its charm either.

Ceramics on display and fresh bakery at Dobana

If you're someone who's serious about tea, you'll probably have your eyes light up at all the ceramics filling Dobana. I always have this lingering wish that if my wallet ever gets a bit fatter, I'd love to collect stylish ceramics like these. But today I settled for just feeding my eyes!

There was also a whole spread of great-looking baked goods. Maybe because I visited around lunchtime, freshly made bread filled the display case. We'd already had a satisfying lunch beforehand, so we didn't order any bakery items separately. But if I'd been hungry, this is the kind of tempting visual that would've had me ordering one for sure haha. Looked like it'd pair really well with a sweet drink too.

Dobana Tea House is also running a review event, so if you're interested, keep an eye out for the cute poster!

The staff were friendly too, and the menu came out fast, so we didn't have to wait long, which was nice.

Is Dobana good for laptop work or a workation in Jeju City?

There were quite a few people at Dobana doing their own personal work. It seemed like it'd be comfortable for working on a laptop too. Dobana really looks like a perfect café for people on a workation.

How do Dobana's Matcha-oreum and Hojicha-oreum taste at 6,800 won?

What we ordered were Dobana's signature drinks, Matcha-oreum and Hojicha-oreum. Both are priced the same at ₩6,800, and they come topped with matcha ice cream and hojicha ice cream, so they seem like the perfect drink for hot summer days. The matcha and hojicha were quite strong and sweet, so there's probably a decent amount of caffeine in there too haha.

The colors also resemble Jeju's own colors, so you really get that Jeju travel vibe going. Honestly, besides these signature drinks there were quite a few other drinks I wanted to try! The ones that really caught my eye with their vibrant colors were the matcha cheonggyul (green citrus) ade, grapefruit omija, and lemon rooibos tea. Since it's a proper tea house after all, I also wanted to try today's tea with nothing mixed in.

My mom kept saying it was delicious and kept drinking hahaha. We're a mother-daughter duo who react strongly to caffeine so we're supposed to only have a little, but we kept drinking until all the ice cream had melted away. Honestly, even now I kind of want more~ That wraps up my satisfying review of Dobana! If you're looking for a café to visit in Jeju's old downtown, I'd highly recommend Dobana :)