Ever Heard of Citrus-Warehouse Cafes? Old Storehouses Turned Into Cafes, They Say
left inside an old warehouse
If you go on a cafe tour around Jeju, you may run into spaces with unusually high ceilings, where an old wooden post or a worn trace of the past is left standing right there on a wall. As it turns out, quite a few of these places are said to be cafes renovated from old warehouses that once stored citrus. These citrus-warehouse cafes are said to be scattered all across Jeju, with a good number of them said to be clustered together in the Aewol area in particular. Today, instead of a story about how citrus is grown or turned into food, let's hear about how an old warehouse that once held citrus fruit was reborn as the cafe it is now — a story of rediscovering a space.
Why Did a Citrus Warehouse Become a Cafe?
In Jeju, it's said that many villages once had several warehouse buildings used for sorting and storing citrus after harvest. As citrus farming grew into one of Jeju's key industries, these warehouses are said to have increased alongside it — but as time passed and the way citrus was distributed and stored changed, some of these buildings are said to have gradually fallen out of use. Rather than tearing down warehouses that had lost their original purpose, there's said to be an ongoing effort to keep the building's frame and atmosphere intact while turning it into a cafe or a gallery-like space instead. Rather than assuming something old must be rebuilt from scratch, this approach is said to treat the traces of time within it as a charm of its own.
Warehouses in particular are said to have often been built with high ceilings and wide interior space in the first place, meant for stacking citrus crates and securing enough room to work. That structure is said to become a real advantage once the building turns into a cafe. The kind of open, soaring ceiling and sense of spaciousness that's hard to find in an ordinary storefront is said to give visitors a distinctly different atmosphere. A spot once stacked so high with citrus crates under a low roof that hands could barely reach the top is said to now be a spot where guests sit comfortably and sip their coffee instead.
Where citrus crates once sat stacked beneath a low roof, there now sits a cup of coffee.
— 🍊 GYULIHigh Ceilings and an Interior That Keeps Its Old Traces
A trait commonly mentioned about cafes renovated from citrus warehouses is, again, the high ceiling. Said to be much taller than an ordinary cafe's, it's said to give even the same floor area a far more open and airy feel — and thanks to that height, some places are said to bring in large trees or plants indoors, or use the ceiling height to divide the space into a loft-style layout. Many of these places are also said to leave the warehouse's distinctive frame — old wooden rafters, concrete pillars, roughly finished walls — exposed rather than neatly covering it up, using it instead as part of the interior design.
On top of that, small windows, worn iron doors, and flooring carrying the marks of time — all things distinctive to the old warehouse — are said to be kept as much as possible, in an effort to preserve some sense of what the building used to be. Rather than making it shine like something brand new, leaving scattered traces that hint at the space's original identity is said to leave a strong impression on many visitors. Being able to sense the years the building has passed through while sipping a cup of coffee is said to be one reason these cafes are so well loved — a kind of comfort something brand new can't offer, where the wear itself is said to read as style.
Said to Be Found Especially Often in Aewol
These citrus-warehouse cafes are said to be found in several areas across Jeju, but Aewol in particular is said to have an unusually high concentration of them. Since Aewol has long been known as a town where citrus farming was especially active, plenty of warehouse buildings are said to have remained scattered around it — and in recent years, these buildings are said to be getting a fresh new look one by one, reopened as cafes or multi-use cultural spaces. Driving along the coastal road, it's said to be fairly common to stumble upon one of these warehouse cafes tucked into an unexpected alley or deep inside a village.
That said, details like exactly which cafe renovated which warehouse and when are said to vary from place to place, and new ones keep appearing, so it's hard to point to a specific name here. If your travel plans take you toward Aewol, it might be worth slowing down and wandering the village backstreets rather than sticking to the main road, keeping an eye out for a building with a tall roofline that still feels like an old warehouse.
GYULI's Tip · Since cafes renovated from citrus warehouses often keep the original building structure intact, parking may be limited and the entrance can be a little tricky to find, it's said. It's worth checking the exact location and parking situation ahead of your visit for a smoother trip.
The story of how citrus grows and travels into our hands is interesting on its own, but there's a charm all its own in the story of the warehouse that once held it, reborn over the years into a completely different kind of space. Sipping a cup of coffee inside an old warehouse, it might be worth imagining what this space once looked like — a small thing that could make a Jeju trip feel just a little more special.