Update November 2017: Alver Lab is open again (no chance to check it out yet)
Update August 2017: Alver Lab is currently closed. The ‘normal’ Alver is open – but no pour-over there.

Following the original post:

Located in central Gangnam, Alver is not only a well-known destination for coffee-dwellers, but also just an impressively sized meeting space (for the lack of a better description):

Naver maps link: Alver
Google Maps:

It is humongous, spreading across three floors with probably 200, 300 or even 1 million seats:

Alver hosts a good variety of coffee specialties, and in their Alver Lab, things get more interesting: As of early November 2016 they had a slim but nice selection of roasts on the pour-over side of life (I prefer a chosen few to a flood of confusion):

Updated (menu as per late November):

Equipment-wise, V60s are the choice, supported by some pretty cool digital scale and timer all-in-one devices (anybody knows this model?):

I went for the Miralvalle, Guatemala. And the friendly barista took all his time and effort to make the best of it (and fortunately did not mind my annoying picture taking – I guess it is Korea after all; never too many pictures). Also as a side-note, beans are roasted in the UK.

I have to admit that I would probably not follow the recommendation again to go for the Miralvalle, as it was ‘balanced’ as promised, but I prefer a slight bit more acidity (and probably due to lack of taste buds couldn’t make out the pear really…). Regardless, a great afternoon coffee (and the smell of freshly baked cinnamon scones in the air definitely was a plus).

Alver is a great space to hang out and spend a lot of time, they have a tight but complete coffee menu, and they are in a very convenient location (close by Brickoven Pizza, Texas BBQ, Wagyu Burger, etc. literally right across the street)!