Waffle Verviers is a place I’d love to visit often, but it’s on the opposite side of Seoul from me, so getting there takes real resolve. I kept putting it off, until I heard a while back that they’d brought in a new coffee machine. That settled it: no more putting it off, so I hurried over.

The La Marzocco coffee machine

I’d heard it’s handmade in Italy and gets called the Ferrari of coffee machines, and it really does look a cut above. As far as I know, only a handful of coffee shops in Korea have one (I remember seeing one at Caffe Themselves). Honestly, a waffle shop bringing in a machine like this is just absurd. I couldn’t work out how many 2,000-won waffles you’d have to sell to pay for a luxury coffee machine like this. I found myself wondering whether the owner had even thought about the math before buying it.

They use a variety of beans.

They use only the finest beans available in Korea, from roasters like Coffee Libre, Terarosa in Gangneung and Coffee Montage. You could call this place a great coffee shop in its own right and nobody would argue. It’s not just the machine; the owner is just as particular about sourcing top-tier beans.

A caffè latte made with Montage beans, a ginger latte and waffles

The waffles have gotten even better since my last visit. The coffee was superb too, and the new ginger latte on the menu turned out to be a great drink for hot weather.

The coffee and drink menu is extensive enough to rival most specialty cafes, and the waffles strike a nice balance between chewiness and sweetness. I don’t think they were quite at this level before, but now the food is good enough to justify a long trip out here. The owner’s dedication is really something.

That day I took the coffee to go and bought a dozen waffles to eat over the following days. Kept in the fridge, they stayed delicious for a good long while. If only Mok-dong weren’t such a trek from Gangnam, I’d be there all the time.

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