Forward-thinking caffeine at Get Some Coffee

A quick scroll through the menu at the counter of Get Some Coffee’s newest outlet may not clue in an Insta-shy brew addict on what to order.

A first-timer might dismiss the cafe’s “Dutch Pepper” as risky and settle for something more familiar.

Anyone, however, who has seen the flood of Instagram posts on what is arguably the shop’s most popular drink would probably order it in a heartbeat.

The “Dutch Pepper” is essentially slow-drip cold brew coffee topped with a thin, half-inch layer of cool, foamy fresh cream. Its edgy hipness comes from how it is served. The barista grates coffee beans over the drink with a pepper mill, tableside.

While its panache is definitely a draw, the drink itself merits attention.

The cream, with its airy, cool-whipped texture, sinks slowly into the cold-brewed coffee, allowing for a dual drinking experience.

First there is the distinct interplay of sweet cream hitting the tongue followed by bold, chocolaty coffee. Then, as the cream melds into the coffee, there is the dairy-rich smoothness of a drink that more closely resembles an iced latte. The grated coffee beans on top add a third note, a rough, punchy, sharp bitterness that acts as a foil to the sweetness of the cream garnish.

“Lots of people drink cold-brewed coffee,” owner Sunny Jang said, explaining how Get Some Coffee’s “Dutch Pepper” was birthed by the desire to take the now-prevalent cold-brewed coffee and riff off of it.

Inspired by a famous overseas restaurant’s use of grated coffee beans for a dessert, Jang revealed, the caffeinated garnish was employed as a finishing touch for their drink launched this May.

The fresh cream, made foamy with a hand blender, is a nod to the whipped cream that customarily tops Vienna coffee, and instead of a steeping method, Jang and the baristas employ the drip brewing method.

“We extract our Dutch coffee for 24 hours,” said head barista Rattanan Channoi, 29.

Behind the counter, one can see coffee being extracted drop by drop from Dutch coffeemakers akin to tall hourglasses.

On the other side, if coming by at the right moment, one can witness Jang pulling out a fresh tray of hot handmade scones from the oven, ready to be served up warm and moist, in a small paper envelope.

“We only do scones here,” Jang, 31, said, though that at the first outlet, opened in Songpa-gu this January, brownies and cookies are served.

After racking up experience in the fashion industry, Jang switched gears and opened a small cafe in Songpa-gu in 2015.

“I really like coffee and had ambitions for a space,” she said. 

Word of her cafe soon spread and gaining momentum, she opened a new shop, called Get Some Coffee, in the same district less than a year later. Then, six months later, Jang opened a second Get Some Coffee near Garosugil in Sinsa-dong.

“Because we had a lot of regulars at our first location, we had a lot of customers from the get-go,” said Jang of the latest operation.

No doubt, the combination of solid coffee, from the photogenic “Dutch Pepper” to an incredibly creamy and strong flat white, warm, fresh-baked scones and a beautiful, plant-centric space has got everyone from Insta-holics to caffeine fiends taking snaps and sips.


By Jean Oh (oh_jean@heraldcorp.com)