Gangnam Café Koffee Sniffer: The Most Stylish Specialty Coffee Shop in Seoul

Koffee Sniffer at Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam: Review

Discover Koffee Sniffer at Shinsegae Gangnam Branch, Seoul—specialty hand-drip coffees, matcha donuts, and a luxurious café experience for coffee lovers.

Contents

Koffee Sniffer Cafe: Basic Information

Top New Café in Seoul Gangnam: Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Cafe Name	Koffee Sniffer
Cafe Address	B1 Floor, Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, 176 Sinbanpo-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Cafe Business Hours	Mon–Thu: 10:30 AM – 8:00 PM  Fri–Sun: 10:30 AM – 8:30 PM
Parking	Parking Available  • Shinsegae Gangnam Department Store underground parking available  (Free parking: 1 hour for purchases over 50,000 KRW / 2 hours for over 100,000 KRW / 3 hours for over 150,000 KRW)
Seating Capacity	Hall Tables and Counter Seating for 30+ Guests
Amenities	Free High-Speed 5G Wi-Fi, Clean Restrooms Separated by Gender, Suitable for Groups of 4 or More, Complimentary Fresh Filtered Water, Takeout available (limited to select dessert and coffee menu items)

Koffee Sniffer is a specialty roastery café brand founded by Eunsoo Shin, who was one of the participants in Youth Coffee Lab Season 1.

The Youth Coffee Lab is a café entrepreneurship support and training program jointly organized by Shinsegae Central City, the Seoul Metropolitan Youth Center, and El Cafetal, a coffee education institution. It’s part of Shinsegae Central City’s corporate social responsibility initiative to help aspiring young entrepreneurs successfully open their own cafés.

Participants selected for the Youth Coffee Lab program receive full tuition coverage and financial support to obtain the Youth Coffee Master Certificate. The program offers intensive coffee and dessert service training, along with hands-on internships at partner cafés for two months, giving participants practical business experience and comprehensive knowledge in café management.

Eunsoo Shin, the founder of Koffee Sniffer, gained public attention as a former Navy noncommissioned officer turned barista and a Shinsegae-sponsored young café entrepreneur. Together with baristas Inchan Yoon, Sunbon Won, Semin Oh, and Yujin Lim, Shin co-founded Koffee Sniffer.

The name “Koffee Sniffer” replaces the “C” in “Coffee” with a “K” and uses the word “Sniffer,” meaning “a person who smells.” The brand embodies the idea of “a person who indulges in the aroma of coffee.”

The first Koffee Sniffer café opened in 2019 at the former Namyang Dabang location in Bukchang-dong, Seoul, quickly gaining popularity for its signature roasts and specialty coffee beans. The brand has since expanded to five directly operated stores.

The Koffee Sniffer Shinsegae Gangnam Branch, which officially opened on February 28, 2025, coincided with the renewal of Shinsegae Department Store’s food hall. This branch introduces a more refined concept called “Koffee Sniffer Classic.” Its interior, inspired by the luxurious Umberto & Poyet design seen at Josun Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Seoul Gangnam, offers an unparalleled upscale café experience.

Without exaggeration, this is arguably the most luxurious café space in South Korea as of 2025. Every time I pass by, the seats are completely full, reflecting its immense popularity — so after waiting quite a while, I finally had the chance to visit.

Koffee Sniffer Cafe: Menu and Prices 

Menu	Price (KRW)
Coffee (Add ₩1,000 for decaffeinated option)	• Espresso – ₩5,500 • Americano (Hot / Iced) – ₩5,500 • Espresso Con Panna (espresso topped with whipped cream, not available for takeout) – ₩6,000 • Classic Cappuccino – ₩6,000 • Shakerato (espresso, ice, and syrup shaken vigorously to create a frothy iced coffee, not available for takeout) – ₩7,000 • Custard Latte (espresso cream over sweet custard milk, Iced only) – ₩7,000 • Biscuit Latte (espresso cream over milk blended with Lotus Biscoff, Hot only) – ₩7,000 • Oat Latte (made with oat milk, Hot / Iced) – ₩6,500 • Cold Brew – ₩6,000
Filter Coffee	• Ethiopia Basha Bekele Gonzobe Natural Honey(White Peach, Green Grape, Lychee, Juicy) — ₩8,500 • Guatemala Rosma H1 Natural(Citrus, Apple, Red Grape, Cane sugar) — ₩8,000 • Costa Rica Los Angeles Quebrada Grande Mocha Black Honey(Blackberry. Apricot, Plum Tea, Brown Sugar) — ₩7,500 • Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Banco Chelchele Washed(Chamomile, White Grape, Citrus) — ₩7,000 • Kenya Nyeri Hill AA TOP Washed(Citrus, Mandarin, Apricot, Brown Sugar) — ₩7,000 • Colombia Decaf(Orange, Caramel, Roasted nuts, Chocolate, Cacao nibs) — ₩7,000
Tea	• Jasmine Pearl(Premium green tea delicately blended with jasmine petals, Hot / Iced) — ₩6,500 • Mango Mélange(Black tea infused with natural mango oil and sunflower petals, Hot / Iced) — ₩6,500 • Rooibos Bilberry (Decaf, A caffeine-free herbal tea featuring a sweet harmony of berries and rooibos aroma, Hot / Iced) — ₩6,000
Beverage	• Classic Lemonade — ₩6,500 • Sunam Farms Freshly Squeezed Apple Juice — ₩6,000 • Classic Milk Tea (Original Jeongdong black tea blend of Assam and Darjeeling, Hot / Iced) — ₩7,000 • Orange Sunset (Seasonal drink made with star anise syrup and fresh orange, Hot / Iced) — ₩6,500
Desserts	• Buttercream Donut (Crispy donut topped with sweet buttercream and garnished with cold brew syrup, not available for takeout) — ₩9,000 • Buttercream Donut with Berry Compote (Old-fashioned donut with rich buttercream flavor, served with homemade berry compote for a refreshing taste, not available for takeout) — ₩9,000 • Old-Fashioned Donut (Available in Plain, Cinnamon, Maple, Mont Blanc, Apple, Lemon, Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Earl Grey Orange) — ₩4,800

Although the coffee-drinking population has grown, many people who aren’t coffee enthusiasts still don’t know the difference between filter coffee and hand-drip, and often wonder. Let me clarify. The act of extracting coffee by bringing ground beans into contact with water—called brewing—mainly falls into two methods: “drip” and “immersion.” Drip involves water passing through a filter, while immersion means steeping the grounds in water. The method where water passes through a filter is called “filter coffee.” When using an automatic drip machine to make filter coffee, it’s called a “coffee maker,” but if you brew it entirely by hand without a machine, it’s called “hand-drip.” Now you get it, right?

The advantage of filter coffee is its clean taste, as the paper filter removes sediments. Hand-drip, a type of filter coffee, further filters out oils, producing a bright and refreshing flavor. All of Koffee Sniffer’s specialty coffees are made using the filter (hand-drip) method. Because each cup is manually brewed, production per hour is limited, making it more expensive than automatic brewed coffee. However, by carefully selecting green beans, roasting them with special expertise, and then blending them thoughtfully, the taste and aroma are so refined that the price feels entirely justified.

Koffee Sniffer Cafe: Real Customer Reviews

Photo of the entrance to Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch (www.shinsegaegroupnewsroom.com/124103)

Photo of the interior of Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch (www.instagram.com/koffee.sniffer)

I visited in mid-August. I had tried to go about three times before, but the café is so popular that there were never any available seats. This time, I was lucky to find an open seat near the entrance, so I got to experience it. As you can see in the attached images, the café has so many visitors that, compared to when it first opened, they even added bar tables in front of the entrance glass to expand seating.

Upon entering Koffee Sniffer at Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, the café’s atmosphere immediately impresses. Even though it’s located in the basement, it doesn’t feel cramped. The luxurious interior makes it a space where you genuinely want to linger, enjoying coffee and conversation with friends. However, it’s extremely popular, so finding an empty seat is always a challenge. Before ordering, your first mission is to secure a spot. Since the café was so crowded, I didn’t take any interior photos, so I’m using official images from their website to show the inside.

We ordered one cup of Ecuador Chorlora Sidra Washed, one cup of Colombia El Artista Ahi Bourbon Washed, and one matcha-flavored old-fashioned donut. The specialty bean coffees are brewed via a filter method, and the staff hand-drip them right at the counter. However, there were so many customers that I didn’t have the leisure to watch the brewing process—it felt almost like a bustling marketplace. Koffee Sniffer is clearly doing excellent business. Because hand-drip coffee already takes some time, wait times can be even longer when orders pile up.

I closed my eyes for a moment, recalling a leisurely coffee experience in Kyoto last summer, and patiently waited until the pager buzzed. Both the coffee and dessert were served at once on a total of three trays. When ordering specialty beans, the staff set up the tray to highlight the flavors: a guide explaining the special beans, the brewed filter coffee, and a complementary finger food, all arranged on a wooden tray. I ended up making three round trips between the counter and my seat. The café was so crowded that I was cautious carrying the trays with both hands, worried I might bump into someone.

Photo of the filter coffee (Ecuador Chorora Sidra Washed) at Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Let’s start with the Ecuador Chorlora Sidra Washed. The bright apple-mint aroma awakens the palate, followed by the gentle sweetness of melon that lingers smoothly. From the very first sip to the last, the flavor remains consistent, impressively balanced even as the temperature changes. Bringing the cup to your nose and sipping slowly, subtle notes of green grape and peach unfold one after another, with the delicate Sidra varietal flavors layering like a carefully constructed profile. The clean, refined sweetness is complemented by natural acidity and a lingering finish. It was a long-awaited experience of the depth and nuance that specialty filter coffee can deliver.

Photo of the filter coffee (Colombia El Artista Ahi Bourbon Washed) at Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Photo of the filter coffee (Colombia El Artista Ahi Bourbon Washed) at Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Photo of the filter coffee (Colombia El Artista Ahi Bourbon Washed) at Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Next, the Colombia El Artista Aji Bourbon Washed awakens the palate with bright citrus and nectarine-like acidity. As the cup finishes, a subtle hint of Earl Grey emerges, harmonizing the overall balance and leaving a clean yet lingering richness throughout. This washed coffee offers a comforting stability that makes it enjoyable to drink every day.

Both the Ecuador Chorlora Sidra Washed and the Colombia El Artista Aji Bourbon Washed maintained excellent balance, allowing their nuanced flavors to shine even when served iced.

Photo of the Old-Fashioned Donut (Matcha Flavor) at Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Photo of the Old-Fashioned Donut (Matcha Flavor) at Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Branch

Koffee Sniffer’s Old-Fashioned Donut (Matcha flavor) features the classic donut texture—crispy on the outside, moist inside—enhanced by the pleasant sweetness and earthy aroma of matcha. Each bite delivers the rich butter notes blended with matcha’s distinct depth, making it a dessert that pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee. That said, having recently experienced a variety of high-quality matcha and matcha desserts in Kyoto, I didn’t encounter the characteristic bittersweet, roasted finish of premium matcha here. Still, it was a very satisfying matcha donut experience.

Koffee Sniffer at Shinsegae Gangnam isn’t just a café; it’s a place that teaches you how to savor coffee as an art. Even amid a busy day, you can fully enjoy the depth of flavor and the leisurely pace that a single cup of specialty filter coffee provides. This is 100% my own experience, paid for out of pocket, with receipt verification possible.

Recommended Menu Picks

For first-time visitors, these menu items are highly recommended: 

1. Filter Coffee – Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Gangnam Branch is recommended for its meticulously brewed filter coffee, where each cup delivers layered flavors, balanced acidity, and a smooth, lingering finish that highlights the artistry of specialty coffee. 

2. Old-Fashioned Donut – Koffee Sniffer – Shinsegae Gangnam Branch is recommended for its Old-Fashioned Donut, which combines a perfectly crispy exterior with a moist, buttery interior, enhanced by the subtle, earthy sweetness of matcha for an indulgent coffee pairing. 

Final Verdict

Koffee Sniffer offers an immersive specialty coffee experience in Shinsegae Gangnam. From the carefully hand-dripped Ecuador and Colombian coffees to the perfectly textured matcha donut, every sip and bite highlights skill and flavor. Arrive early to secure a seat, as this popular café is always busy. A must-visit for serious coffee and dessert lovers.

💡 Pro Tip: Visit on a weekday morning or early afternoon to avoid long waits. Pair the Ecuador Chorlora Sidra Washed with the matcha donut for the ultimate flavor experience. 

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