5 Favorite Cafes in Daejeon

Looking for a great place to get a cup of coffee in Daejeon, then look no further because I have the article for you… Check out Janice’s 5 Favorite cafes in Daejeon to find the best place to get a cup of Java regardless of what you are planning to do…

My List

• Favorite Affordable Coffee
• Favorite Coffee for Walking Your Dog
• Favorite Coffee Place to Take a Picture
• Favorite Place for Coffee and Dessert
• Favorite Expresso Bar

About my List

To me coffee serves many purposes and this list is designed to tell you what my favorites are for each. One quick disclaimer. I am not a coffee snob and while my coffee habit has exploded here in Korea thanks to all the wonderful and amazing options, my taste for coffee was formed in the US and Philippines and may be a bit to unrefined for some of you coffee connoisseurs out there.

That being said, however, I like what I like and down below I have listed my favorite go-to coffee spots based on what I love to do while drinking this magnificent beverage below. Hope you enjoy my choices and perhaps learn about a new place. Please know that this was a difficult list to put together as there are so many great places in our city.

For those of you that do not live close, what are the best coffee places near you? Please tell us about them in the comments below and help out other people that may live near you. Well that’s the end of my preaching for today, so let’s get started… Happy Reading Everyone!!!!

1. Favorite Affordable Coffee – July Coffee

If you are like me, you love great coffee but hate how expensive it can be. For that reason, I listed my favorite place to get an affordable coffee, number one on my list of favorites. So when considering this category, I looked at three factors to determine a winner;

1. Price- How did it compare price-wise to similar places, not just the overall price?

2. Quality- How does the coffee taste compared to others I found at a similar price point?

3. Ambience and Service- For this category, I did not focus on the physical aspects of the cafe, but more on how I felt or was made to feel when I visited.

So why did I choose July? Sure there are cheaper cups of coffee (but not many). Sure there are better cups of coffee (See earlier comment). But there is NO PLACE I would rather be to drink my coffee than July. The couple that runs the coffee shop have become more than just Baristas, they have become friends. I can honestly say I have never been to a coffee shop where the owners make you feel more at home. With that being said, July was an easy selection for “My Favorite Affordable Coffee”

For information regarding July Coffee, click on the following link: https://www.instagram.com/july_coffee_/

2. Favorite Coffee for Walking Your Dog- Mega Coffee (Near Woosong West Gate)

So as many of you may know, my husband and I are the parents to four furry children including three cats named Tigger, Rudloph & Lulu, as well as one dog named Lucy. We brought Lucy and Tiggger here with us when we moved to Korea (more on that later) and adopted the other two kitties during our stay.

Well, one of your daily duties when being the parent of a puppy/child is to be sure they get enough exercise and fresh air… and that means lots of walks around town. Now for some breeds of puppies, these walks do not need to be long as they have been bred to be house pets or lap dogs, but our Lucy is MOSTLY Beagle and Beagles love the outdoors and tracking things with their amazing sense of smell. As a result, the longer the walk the happier the puppy.

So how does that fit in with my Blog about coffee? Well, one of the things I consider when choosing a cup is what my underlying goal is… And for me, having a coffee that will last through the majority of my walk has become a big factor when choosing where to buy a cup. So for this category, I looked at factors like:

1. Amount of Coffee- Bottom line here is that the cup contains enough coffee to last me most of the walk.
2. Price- As I have to walk the dog at least two times a day, it needs to be inexpensive.
3. Quality- All that being said, it still needs to taste good or it is all for nothing. Also, when I consider taste, I also consider the consistency of flavor. There is nothing worse than expecting one thing and getting something completely different

So why Mega Coffee? It’s a franchise after all… For me, it is all about the category, just because something is not unique does not mean that something is not good, and Mega Coffee provides just what I look for in a cup of coffee when walking my dog. It is Big as the name Mega suggests, It’s inexpensive and is one of the best deals when the price per ounce is considered and finally, it tastes great.

My favorite is the Hazelnut Latte, Hot in Winter, Cold in the Summer. If that is not your thing, don’t worry, they have an extensive menu with a large number of beverage options including smoothies and other non-coffee drinks. So, there are obviously a lot of Mega Coffees around the Daejeon area. Our favorite is the one that is closest to our house. I highly recommend the Mega Coffee next to Woosong University Campus as the owner and employees are all incredibly sweet.

For more information about Mega Coffee see the following link: https://www.mega-mgccoffee.com/

3. Favorite Coffee Place to Take a Picture- Biraekiki

Sometimes getting a coffee is not about the coffee at all… For this category, I wanted to talk about cafes that featured great places to take a picture. Most of us use many different Social Media Platforms to communicate with our friends and families and likely enjoy posting pictures that everyone who follows us will consider cool and/or unusual. Cafes here in Korea have certainly caught on to this trend as a way to drive business. For this category, I focused on a number of factors like:

1. General Appearance of the Cafe- Will the cafe look good on a Social Media post?
2. Unique Features- Does the cafe have a unique feature that would make a cool picture for Social Media?
3. Presentation of the Coffee- Is there something unique or special about the coffee or is it presented in a way that allows for a great picture?

While there were surprisingly a large number of cafes that fit this category, in the end, Biraekiki was the winner for me. Inch for Inch, I believe that Biraekiki has more picturesque backgrounds than any other cafe that I have visited here in Daejeon. The facility is well maintained and there are a number of unique spaces that seem to be designed just for us amateur photographers. Finally, the coffee and dessert are always presented in ways that look fantastic in a photograph.

For more information, click on the following link: https://www.instagram.com/biraekiki/?hl=en

4. Favorite Place for Coffee and Dessert- Blue Buko

I don’t know about you, but my husband and I make an effort every week to go out and have a coffee together someplace. While the main idea is to sit back, relax, and just chat about our week… I have found that this is best done with dessert… hehehe.

For me, there is really only one place that I want to visit when trying to satisfy my sweet tooth and that place is Blue Buko Coffee. Now before I go on, I have to confess that I may not have judged this particular category fairly. I know, I know… I tried to be fair, honest… The problem is that sometimes I just get homesick and really miss my favorite Filipino treats… Well thankfully, in Daejeon when this happens, I can just visit Blue Buko.

I am guessing that at this point you may feel like the fix is in… that I simply chose a Filipino Café to help out a friend, but honestly, that is not the case here. In fact, the owner is Korean. He just happened to travel to the Philippines and fell in love with our Buko Pie. Well, whatever drove him to make the pie a staple at his café, all I know is I love it!

For my husband it’s not the pie though, instead, he prefers the blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream on top. Whatever your craving is, however, I am sure you will find something here to satisfy it at Blue Buko.

In addition, the restaurant is located along one of the city’s several riverwalks and is just spectacular when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

For more information check out the following link: https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.naver?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=elze9998&logNo=221438537656

5. Favorite Expresso Bar- Eed Expresso Bar

So this is another category that has a surprising number of entrants, but for me, my most recent café discovery is the best. When reviewing espresso bars, my priority was to evaluate them based on the following factors:

1. The Coffee and Selection of Espresso- While my husband is truly the espresso fan in our family, I prefer having alternatives available and that is one factor that played a significant role in our choice.
2. The Crowd and Ambience- To me, the crowd plays a significant role in the feeling I get when going to an espresso bar, is it dark, and is the crowd subdued, or is it vibrant and energetic like the drink?
3. Presentation of the coffee- Too often in an espresso bar, there is no thought given to presentation, for me, I like to take pictures and part of the enjoyment is the visual stimulation of the drink as well as the taste.

While there are several espresso bars that my husband enjoys, Eed Espresso Bar is the one that I like best because of those three factors, Look at the photos below and see the care taken in the presentation, as for options, some may have more, but the combinations available here are absolutely delicious. Lastly, the crowd or feeling of the room itself. It is full of energy and busy with lots of people coming in and enjoying the options.

Be warned when looking for Eed though, it can be a little hard to find as it is on the second floor and the sign outside is a bit small. Also, the door on the second floor is rather non-descript and that can be confusing. Look for the coffee posters though and you will be fine.

For more information, see the following link: https://naver.me/5giTa8VQ

Honorable Mention

6. Pangsion Cafe

Truly one of the best places to get a cup of coffee in all of Daejeon. The coffee is wonderful, the view is amazing, and the desserts are divine. Do you like cats, they are everywhere and very friendly… This place literally has it all. The only reason it is only an honorable mention is the location.

While it is beautiful, it can be difficult to get to if you do not have a car and even if you get there okay, getting home could be a problem because there will likely not be any taxis close by. We once had to have one of my friends pick us up because we couldn’t get a taxi to come out that far. Regardless of how you get there, however, it is worth the trip as this place has literally everything you could want in a cafe.

For more information click on the following link: https://pangsion0.modoo.at/

What is Your Favorite Daejeon Café?

If you like the post, please hit like and enter your email below to subscribe. In the comments below, please tell us what your favorite café is where you live… I can’t wait to read all about it in the comments. As always, thanks again and let’s find new ways to make the most out of life’s everyday moments!!!!

Share with: