Ferry across the Yare. (Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms, Reedham)

Cupcakes,

Reedham,

Now Closed Down

After a fortnight of European cycle cafe reviewing in the Julian Alps it was good to return to the flatlands of Norfolk for some regular British cafe cycle rides. Today we had our friend Lisa joining us on a visit from Hampshire. As she is too little to ride any of our spare bikes the only option was for her to stoke the tandem with myself taking on the role of tandem pilot. Lisa regular represents Great Britain in international chatting competitions and was planning to use this as a training session so I knew I was in for an exhausting ride.

To add to the complication today's other guest Chris (wife) had a painful toe caused by a swelling insect bite and was worried about this leading to a medical emergency during the ride. To de-risk this possibility we asked our keen cycling friend Dr Hans to join us as he is a GP and could take on the role of team doctor for the day.

We set off to today's destination, Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms at Reedham. After a slightly hairy ride across Norwich and then out to Brundel the rest of the way was on lovely country lanes offering some outstanding views of Cantley sugar beet factory. Fortunately there had not been any medical emergencies up to this point so Dr Hans's services had not been required so we arrived at Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms in one piece.

Outside Cupcakes coffee and tearooms
expecting to try the type of cake the coffee and tea rooms were named after

As always the first priority was to check out the cakes and award the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. The cakes were spread out over two shelves, which was a good sign, although on further inspection a number were more desserts than cakes but there were still plenty of traditional big round cakes to choose from. The big surprise was that for an establishment named cupcakes they were conspicuous by their absence. I feel this is an oversight that the Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms brand and marketing department should address at the earliest opportunity. However I still awarded a good ECS.

A good selection of cakes in the display unit but sadly no cupcakes,
which was somewhat of a surprise all things considered.

We decided to sit in the riverside view outdoor seating area to enjoy the scenery which had the bonus of including the Reedham village car park but sadly you couldn't see the Cantley sugar beet factory from here.

View from the riverside outside seating area

I had a hot chocolate while my guests chose a good selection of coffees. All the drinks were good and scored reasonably well. For cake I had gone for chocolate fudge whilst Lisa and Chris had both chosen a very nice and moist carrot cake. Dr Hans avoided cake as it wasn't medically endorsed or part of his 5 a day. My fudge cake was tasty but a bit too chocolaty and rich for even me to finish. We all thought we would have preferred a few cupcakes with our drinks.

Cakes and drinks ready for reviewing

Once again, in a growing and worrying cafe and tearoom trend, my fudge cake had been served on its paper napkin, thus rendering it useless for its task of crumb and icing removal from around the mouth area. I shall be starting a new feature naming and shaming cafés and tearooms who continue to do this in a bid to stamp this outrageous practice out.

Ruined paper napkin by serving the cake on it

Before we left there was just time for Dr Hans to checkout Chris's increasingly sore and throbbing toe. Using all his medical training he said it wouldn't be so painful if she wasn't out cycling and to take some pain killers (so she did). Definitely worth bringing him along as a potential medical emergency had now been averted.

During our visit to Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms Lisa's main concern was the lack of 3G signal available in the middle of rural Norfolk. This was stopping her from posting progress of our trip on Facebook. She seemed surprised that the new 4G networks had not yet made it to Reedham. Despite this we all agreed that Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms had delivered well across all categories and would get a recommended comment on my locations map.

The next stop was Reedham ferry. As we had decided on our route at the last minute I had not had time to book us cabins or check out who the cabaret act would be during our crossing. Fortunately this was not an issue and the only disappointment for Lisa was the lack of WiFi on board.

Lisa checking for WiFi on the Reedham Ferry river crossing

We continued our ride home albeit with Chris in increasing pain, Lisa trying to update Facebook from the back of the bike and Dr Hans making sure there were no more medical emergencies needing his assistance. We enjoyed further stunning views of Cantley sugar beet factory and an excellent detour to take in the Norwich sewage farm as we continued our pleasant return journey. The only further adventure was when a wrong turning led to Dr Hans having the first puncture on his new bike

Repairing Dr Hans's puncture

Once repaired we returned home with Lisa's training for the British non stop chatting championships complete and myself ready for a lie down.

Scores for Cupcakes coffee and tea rooms.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	6.90

Route

Click link to download 41 mile Norwich Reedham ferry loop gpx file for your GPS