The story
She was born in Goseong, grew up in Sokcho, and has lived on this coast her whole life. Before gelato she worked in fashion retail, then stepped away for a few years to raise her kids. When she came back to work, she wanted to build something of her own — something that would stand in one spot long enough for returning travelers to find it again. Poco a Poco opened in March 2022, originally with a business partner; she now runs it solo, scooping every cone herself.
“인공첨가물 자체가 아예 안 들어가다 보니까 재료들마다 가지고 있는 질감 특징이 되게 달라요 — 'Since no artificial additives go in, each ingredient comes through in its own texture.'”
Owner, Poco a Poco
What they stand for
Her rule is simple and uncompromising: zero artificial additives. No stabilizers, no emulsifiers, no pre-made pastes. The milk comes from an organic dairy. The fruit is either pesticide-free or certified organic, and every piece gets rinsed under filtered water at least three times before it goes in the churn. She boils her sugar syrups down from scratch every morning and adjusts the sweetness by hand, so the base tastes different from one batch to the next. 'Because there are no additives at all,' she says, 'the texture of each ingredient comes through in its own way' — some flavors silky, some almost icy, each one a portrait of its raw material.
Behind the signature
The one flavor that brings people back is the Sokcho Makgeolli gelato. The rice is grown in Goseong, the makgeolli is brewed from that rice, and the result is a gelato that tastes unmistakably of this coast — lightly sweet, faintly yeasty, with a cloudy depth you can't fake. It's the rare flavor that reads 'local' on the first spoonful. She puts an 'adults only' label on it for a reason: enough alcohol survives the churn to matter.
Local tip
After a cone, walk ten minutes to Lake Yeongnangho. The owner's favorite spot in the whole city — she says the Seoraksan ridgeline is visible from every angle of the lake, and the view doesn't get old no matter how many times you see it. The shop itself sits a short walk from the Sokcho public parking lot, which makes it an easy stop between the central market and Cheongchoho.
Seasonal note
The flavor board rotates all year. Spring gets tender young mugwort (ssuk) gelato and, a little later, chamoe (Korean melon) when the melons hit peak sweetness. Summer is sorbet season — strawberry and apple-mango year-round, then peach, plum, nectarine, and watermelon come and go as each fruit comes into its moment. Fall and winter lean into warmer, roastier flavors like black sesame and pistachio. Ask what's new; something usually is.
For travelers
One memory she keeps coming back to: a foreign guest came in with his Korean girlfriend, filmed the entire churning process on his phone, bought the same flavor three times in a row, and then waited fifteen minutes for a freshly made batch just so he could taste it straight from the machine. She doesn't speak much English, but she says the scoop itself usually does the talking. Families with twin siblings seem to find the shop at an unusually high rate — she's lost count.
