Anthracite is a home grown coffee roaster with cooler-than-you minimalist aesthetic cafés around Seoul that all live up to its name. They say the name comes from the idea of regeneration: the first location in Hapjeong had a former life as a shoe factory now reborn as a coffee factory. Each of the cafés embraces this intersection of familiar unfamiliarity, spaces meant to inspire and coffee meant to invite. Each location is unique to the structure it lives in, but the style is consistent: geometric lines, natural textures, organic greens, simple furnishing and ample light.

As for the coffee, it’s made with uncompromising care from roasting to brewing to serving. They keep things pretty simple with hand drip coffee, americanos and lattes, and a selection of teas and sweets (think: financiers, madeleines). Their branding and packaging is as sleek and earthy as the space — the perfect backdrop to people-watch and be seen in a peaceful escape from the urban bustle outside.