Minutes away from Gyeongbokgung palace, West of the complex, we went to check out Project on the Road.
Google maps:
Naver maps link: 프로젝트온더로드
The cafe is in a great location and provides a rare, satisfying view on a lot of green trees (and the palace walls).
Whereas some lemonades seem to be their big thing on Instagram, the only coffee they offer is hand-drip – perfect for us!
Beans made their way here from three different countries: Colombia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
A first in Seoul as far as we’ve seen: they use a hand-grinder for the beans. The beans were weighed and also water temperature was carefully monitored throughout. The pour itself, even though it was 2 cups at a time, was carefully done – and the blooming was pretty gigantic, thanks to the very full dripper.
No timer or scale was used, which really must make it hard to get the ratios right – especially for making two cups at once.
Apart from a very snarky warning from the owner to not stand near the door, (because I make other people that come in ‘uncomfortable’ – wow!), nothing else to report.
The taste of the Ethiopian brew had a nice red berry flavor, only I wasn’t a fan of the oily film on top of the coffee. This is likely caused by the grinding by hand, which usually squeezes oil out and does not cut the beans very evenly.
Project on the Road is a very nice space to hang out, and even though the pour-over process is not best-in-town, it’s worth a visit – and their lemonade was actually tasty, too.
And: beware the owner.
