South Korea is a country that runs on coffee. Chuck a kimbap in any direction and it’s probably going to hit a café. For anyone who has never been, the bar for quality is usually set pretty high. To compete for attention Korea first created the cat café and then the dog café. Few cafes go the extra mile quite like Thanks Nature Café in the Hongdae neighborhood in Seoul.

We had heard murmurs about it for a while, but most people seemed to dismiss it as a rumour, however we were insistent on finding it. Luckily it’s not out of the way to get to; it exists hidden in plain sight right in the heart of Hongdae. Walking uphill we spotted the sign pointing down the stairs where the two sheep for the season were calmly relaxing in their little oasis of calm in the heart of Seoul.

Every year the owner of the café takes in two baby sheep and raises them in the outside of his café. This operation seems more for the owner and regulars than any kind of money making gimmick. There is no extra fee to enter, food minimums, or high prices. The interior of the café is chock a block with beautiful cow paintings.

This café became a regular pit stop on our weekend visits to Seoul from nearby Suwon. Half the fun was in seeing the growth of the lambs into sheep. Everyone is free to pet the sheep and play with them, unless they are in their private pen. People can choose to sit and drink their coffees with the sheep or inside the café.