Dessert39 Menu Prices — 1-Litre Drinks for Under £3

Why We Drove to Dessert39 at Midnight on a Weekend

It was May 2026, just past midnight on a weekend, and my wife and I were craving something sweet. We hopped in the car and drove about fifteen minutes from Sintanjin in Daejeon to Sejong City — a neighbouring administrative city in central South Korea — because there wasn't a branch nearby. Our destination was Dessert39, a Korean café franchise that specialises in desserts rather than coffee. The chain has hundreds of branches across the country, and this was actually my third visit overall — once in Chungju, once elsewhere, and now this Naseong-dong location. If you're ever in South Korea and fancy a café that puts cakes and doughnuts front and centre rather than treating them as afterthoughts, Dessert39 is well worth knowing about. My wife had been dropping hints for days about wanting something sweet, and honestly, in a country with more cafés per capita than practically anywhere else, having a dedicated dessert chain is about as Korean as it gets.

First Impressions After Midnight

The signage was blazing brightly despite the hour. We pulled into the car park and found a space straight away — though I'd imagine daytime is a different story entirely. The whole front is glass, so you can see the dessert showcase from outside before you even step through the door. A banner by the entrance advertised Americano for ₩1,900 (roughly £1), which genuinely surprised us — that's cheaper than most independent cafés charge. My wife did a double-take: "Coffee's that cheap here?" It makes sense once you realise Dessert39 isn't really trying to make its money from coffee; the desserts are the main event, and the drinks are priced to get you through the door.

How to Order at the Kiosk and Payment Options

Right inside the door there's a self-service kiosk — a touchscreen ordering machine that's become standard in Korean cafés. Because Dessert39 is a franchise, the kiosk actually supports an English-language menu. There's a button at the bottom of the screen to switch, and the entire menu swaps over. Plenty of independent cafés either don't have a kiosk at all or only offer Korean, so this is one genuine advantage of going chain. Payment is card or mobile pay only — no cash accepted. If you specifically want to pay cash, you'd need to visit during staffed hours and order at the counter. My wife still remembers her first trip to Korea and how baffling café ordering was at the start.

The kiosk's splash screen was dominated by the ube series when we visited. Ube is a type of purple yam that's been trending across Korean cafés recently — think taro's vibrant cousin. Prices for the ube drinks ranged from about ₩4,500 to ₩6,800 (roughly £2.25–£3.40). Dessert39's menu is enormous, so first-timers can easily feel overwhelmed. That's why I've laid out the main drink prices below. The kiosk only offers Korean and English, but on this blog you can find menu descriptions in several languages.

One thing to bear in mind: Dessert39 is a franchise, and prices can vary slightly between branches. The official website states that "some drinks may be priced differently at select locations," and sure enough, browsing Korean reviews reveals that an Americano might be ₩2,900 at one branch and ₩1,900 at another. The prices below are based on the official site and the Sejong branch I visited. Opening hours also differ — most run from about 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 24-hour branches like this Naseong one are the exception. Always check the specific branch's hours on a map app before heading out.

Dessert39 Drinks Menu & Price List

Korea's Disposable Cup Rules and Why That First Kiosk Screen Matters

The very first screen on the kiosk asks whether you're dining in or taking away. Most Korean café kiosks leave this question until the payment step, but Dessert39 gets it out of the way before you even browse the menu.

This matters more than you might think. South Korea has regulations restricting single-use cups and plastic containers inside cafés, so choosing "dine in" at many places means you'll get your drink in a ceramic mug or glass rather than a disposable cup. Selecting takeaway and then sitting down to drink it inside is technically a violation. At Dessert39 the point is somewhat moot — they serve everything in reusable cups regardless — but at most other Korean cafés this distinction is taken very seriously. Choose "dine in" and you'll often receive a proper mug; choose takeaway to get a disposable cup. If you're new to Korean cafés, just make sure you pick the right option on that first screen.

What's Inside the Dessert Showcase

The showcase was packed with desserts, though I should point out they're all display models — not the real thing. They're there to help you choose, and each one has an orange price tag with names in both Korean and English. Tiramisu at ₩9,800 (≈£4.90), cheesecake at ₩6,800 (≈£3.40), carrot cake at ₩6,800, red velvet cake at ₩5,900 (≈£2.95), crêpe cake at ₩7,500 (≈£3.75) — the range of sliced cakes alone was impressive. The upper shelves held bakery items like croissants and sausage rolls, while the lower section displayed whole celebration cakes.

There were whole cakes on display too. A pure milk whole cake was priced at ₩35,000 (roughly £17.50) and a custard cream double crêpe cake at ₩53,000 (about £26.50). Some had black ribbon decorations — clearly aimed at birthday celebrations. My wife stood staring into the showcase for ages before declaring, "There's more cake here than at an actual bakery." For a chain, the dessert line-up genuinely rivals what you'd find at a decent independent café.

Counter Monitors and the Merchandise Corner

Above the counter, monitors crammed with menu items scrolled through category after category — seasonal specials, coffee, non-coffee, blended, protein, teas, zero-calorie options, sparkling ades. My wife and I stood there gazing upward for quite a while, honestly a bit paralysed by choice, which is exactly why I put together that drinks list further up. One purple-themed screen was heavily promoting zero-calorie beverages and something called a "Milshotchu" — a milk tea spiked with espresso. It's a clear sign that Korean cafés are leaning hard into the low-calorie trend right now, and Dessert39 is no exception.

Dessert39 Merchandise — Prices and Selection

Dessert39 also sells its own branded merchandise. On the shelves I spotted a bottle brush for ₩3,500 (≈£1.75), a tornado shaker for ₩39,800 (≈£19.90), a "39 Bunny" tumbler for ₩29,000 (≈£14.50), a picnic plate set for ₩8,000 (≈£4), double-walled glass cups at ₩15,000 (≈£7.50), glass mugs from ₩15,000 to ₩18,000 (£7.50–£9), and a basic 39 tumbler for just ₩10,000 (≈£5). There were character plushies and keyrings too. Compared to Starbucks — easily the biggest café brand in Korea — the merchandise range is smaller, but the prices are noticeably cheaper. A Starbucks tumbler typically starts above ₩30,000, so a Dessert39 tumbler at ₩10,000 feels like a bit of a bargain. My wife picked up the pink bunny tumbler, looked at it for a moment, then put it back saying, "It's cute, but honestly, how many tumblers do we own already?"

Dolce Latte and Brown Sugar Milk Tea — An Honest Taste Test

I ordered the dolce latte; my wife went for the brown sugar milk tea with added tapioca bubbles (₩800 extra, roughly 40p). Our drinks appeared after about seven minutes, and we were both taken aback by the sheer size. They came in 1,000 ml reusable cups, filled to the brim. For context, a typical iced café drink in Korea is around 400–500 ml, so this was easily double the norm — yet the price was about half to 60% of what you'd pay at a standard café. Value for money, then, is genuinely impressive. The dolce latte was sweet, but not teeth-achingly so — there was a gentle undercurrent of condensed milk that made it easy to drink. I like my coffee on the sweeter side, and this hit the spot. One word of warning, though: the milk settles to the bottom, so if you don't give it a good stir with the straw, you'll end up with nothing but bitter espresso in the last third. Stir it every few sips — that's the trick. My wife held up her cup and said, "Can I actually finish all of this?" She managed well over half, as it turned out. The cups have the Dessert39 character printed on them and are labelled as BPA-free, so you can wash and reuse them at home.

Looking at the bubbles sitting at the bottom of my wife's cup, the portion wasn't exactly generous. Honestly, for an ₩800 top-up I'd expected a bit more. That said, the brown sugar milk tea itself was ₩4,200 and came to ₩5,000 (≈£2.50) with bubbles — roughly half what other cafés charge for a bubble milk tea — so the mild disappointment didn't linger.

French Butter Salt Loaf — Taste Review

Our dessert choice was the French butter salt loaf, priced at ₩4,800 (≈£2.40). On the plate it looked like a small bread loaf, with pearl salt crystals scattered across the top. I cut into it with a knife — the crust was properly crisp, and inside you could see distinct flaky layers with small air pockets where the butter had melted during baking. It's made with grade-1 French butter, according to the label. The aroma was unmistakably buttery, though in all honesty it tasted more like a rich butter loaf than a salt bread — there wasn't much of a savoury kick. My wife said, "I thought salt bread meant salty, but this is just a lovely buttery roll." The contrast between the crunchy exterior and the soft, moist interior was the real highlight. Fair warning, though: it crumbles spectacularly. Every bite sent a shower of flakes onto the table. If you're eating in, keep it over the plate — otherwise your clothes and the table will be in a right state. Size-wise it's about equivalent to two regular salt rolls, so it was perfectly fine to share between two.

All in — dolce latte, brown sugar milk tea with bubbles, and the French butter salt loaf — our total came to under ₩20,000 (roughly £10). Two drinks and a pastry for somewhere between £7.50 and £10 is genuinely easy on the wallet.

The Atmosphere, Seating, and What's Honestly a Bit Lacking

Inside, one wall is lined with the merchandise shelf, the opposite wall has the dessert showcase, and the kiosk stands in the middle — but there's hardly any seating to speak of. Most Dessert39 branches are geared primarily towards takeaway, so if you're picturing the kind of sprawling, Instagram-friendly Korean café with plush sofas and aesthetic corners, this isn't that. It's a legitimate downside if you want to sit down and linger, but the trade-off is clear: low overheads on the shop floor translate directly into those low menu prices.

Korea has plenty of budget coffee franchises — Paik's Coffee and Mega Coffee spring to mind — yet Dessert39, despite having fewer branches, often undercuts them on price whilst giving you considerably more liquid in the cup. A 1,000 ml drink for under ₩5,000 (less than £2.50) — at those prices, you'd naturally assume the quality would be forgettable. But neither the dolce latte nor the brown sugar milk tea was anything less than decent. My wife's verdict: "At this price, I'd happily come back regularly."

That said, this particular Sejong Naseong branch did have a small seating area tucked to one side. White tables and chairs, clean and fairly pleasant, but with only a handful of spots. Most Dessert39 locations apparently have fewer than ten seats, so if you're set on sitting down, timing is everything.

24-Hour Operation and the Unmanned Late-Night System

This Sejong Naseong branch runs round the clock, which makes it a proper godsend when a sweet craving strikes at some ungodly hour. Not every Dessert39 is open 24 hours, so do check before you go if you're visiting a different branch. There are a few cafés and restaurants dotted around the Naseong-dong area, but after midnight virtually all of them had shut — Dessert39 was about the only place with its lights still on. The catch is that staff aren't there all night; during the late hours it switches to an unmanned system. This kind of self-service café has been growing increasingly common in Korea — you order on the kiosk, collect your drink, and there's simply no need for a person behind the counter. On the plus side, visiting late means the place is quiet and you can enjoy your drink in peace.

How the Unmanned Coffee Machine Works After Hours

Past midnight, an automated coffee machine takes over from the staff. Rather than using the main kiosk, you pay directly at the machine — card or mobile payment only, no cash. There's a separate ice dispenser beside it as well. The downside is that you can't order any desserts during unmanned hours. The cakes and pastries are right there in the showcase, staring at you, but there's no way to buy them.

Still, the simple fact that you can walk into a café at three or four in the morning is a genuine perk. Outside of convenience stores, there's precious little open at that hour in Korea, so having somewhere to grab a warm coffee makes a real difference. When we visited just after midnight, there were already a couple of other customers inside. A café with its lights on and people coming and going whilst everything else on the street sits dark — that's the reason you find yourself coming back to a place like this in the small hours.

Dessert39 Sejong Naseong Branch — The Bottom Line

Dessert39's Sejong Naseong branch isn't the place for a grand café experience, but you can get a 1,000 ml drink for under ₩5,000 (less than £2.50), the dessert selection rivals many independent cafés, and this particular branch is open 24 hours. It's built for quick visits and takeaway, and even in the early hours you can still get a coffee from the unmanned machine. Just bear in mind that seating is limited — so you'll need a bit of luck to grab a table — and desserts aren't available during the unmanned overnight period.

South Korea is absolutely heaving with café brands — Starbucks, A Twosome Place, Ediya, Mega Coffee, Paik's Coffee, Compose Coffee, the list goes on — and I'm planning to visit and review them one by one. If you ever find yourself standing outside a Korean café with no idea what to order, I hope this blog comes to mind.