Poetry Corner (Coco Mama, Eye)

Cocoa Mama,

Eye,

Opening times Tue-Sat 09:00-15:00,

Highly Recommended

Today (October 2015) was not only national poetry day but was also about two years since I started the Cake Crusader blog so I had planned a very special 2nd anniversary ride.

To celebrate the two events I first insisted that all our conversations should be held in rhyming couplets and as it was also a special ride we would be going to a proper chocolaterie cafe in order to make sure I got a really good quality hot chocolate, hopefully. I had chosen Cocoa Mama in Eye for the role but it would mean a sixty mile plus round trip.

Once again my special anniversary cycling guest would be Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) as he had come on the first cafe cycle ride back in October 2013 (see size matters).

To summarise our conversation while on the bikes

I started by clarifying the position,
On amount of my VW cars emission,
It might be a little prone to pollute,
But gets two bikes in its roomy boot,

We both agreed it was sad,
That Jose Morihno had gone mad,
I thought he would be gone soon,
Now he's lost the changing room,

I wasn't sure how I felt,
That Jeremy Corbyn hadn't knelt,
But as I'm sure you can guess,
He took a kicking from the right wing press

To avoid having a political row,
We talked about the telly now,
Where we had both watch Nadia make,
The winning bake off show stopper cake,

Andrew who is notoriously hard to please,
Gave advice on my dodgy knees,
I ignored it as he said it's best,
To stop my training and take a rest, (that will never happen!)

With this quality chat time flew by,
As we rode to the country town of Eye.

Once we arrived at Eye we quickly found Coco Mama and were just about to lock up our bikes when to our horror a rival group of 4 cyclists arrived and we had to fight with them over the few places to be able to padlock our bikes to. With bicycle security chaos going on outside the staff came to our rescue by offering to unlock the side entrance where we could all safely store our bikes. This quickly put Cocoa Mamas into my good books. (Note on subsequent visit in September 2016 the side alley was permanently open as it is now shared with a gift shop)

Outside Cocoa Mama as rival cycling group arrived

We rushed straight to the counter in order to get our order in before the other cyclists could. I went to take a photo of the cakes but found to my horror that I had forgotten to charge my phone and the picture taken outside had consumed the remaining battery. In a panic I decided that I would have to do it old school and draw a picture of the cakes on my serviette instead. As you can see it was a good cake selection with some interesting cakes and scones so a good effective cake selection (ECS) mark.

Drawing of some of cake selection

I ordered a hot chocolate, which I really hoped would be up to special 2nd anniversary bike ride standard, and some chocolate cloud cake. As we had cycled over 30 miles to get here and it was lunch time I decided to double scone (one plain cheese and one with spring onion) as I was both hungry and continuing to research cheese scone serving temperature. Andrew went for a cappuccino and a cheese and a sun dried tomato panini. As a cheese and sun dried panini is clearly not a cake Andrew would be playing no further part in any special 2nd anniversary bike ride cake reviewing today.

Our cakes and drinks arrived and I was just about to start drawing them when Andrew remembered his very old phone did have a camera so I could use that instead. First I took a photo of the cake selection which, I think you will agree, is hard to tell apart from my life like sketch.

Some of the cake selection

Meanwhile our rival cyclists were being very noisy and indecisive so had spent a lot of time faffing at the ordering counter. Fortunately Cocoa Mama has 3 possible indoor seating areas available, and we were mighty relieved when they went to the one up the stairs and out of earshot. We sat at a table in the front of the shop although there was also a breakfast bar indoor seating area in a spare corridor available to us. It was all very nicely laid out but sadly there was no outside seating area which I always like.

Breakfast bar style extra indoor seating area

It was at last time to try my Hot chocolate and I was not disappointed as it was the best tasting hot chocolate I could remember with a really good chocolaty flavour. For absolute top marks it needed to be slightly thicker but a definite contender for hot chocolate of the year and certainly worth the trip down. Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) wasn't so keen on his cappuccino only thinking it was reasonable and slightly bland.

Scones, cakes and drinks 

The cheese scones (properly warmed) were also very good with excellent balance of cheese and herbs and a good bake. I put them on my candidate list for 2015 cheese scone of the year. Finally I ate the chocolate cloud cake which was super being both moist and chocolatey without being too rich.

Overall I thought Coco Mamas was an excellent cycle friendly stop and a top choice for a special 2nd anniversary bike ride. It also sells hand made chocolates so is a must go to stop for all chocolate loving cyclists. I would highly recommend it

With the food and drinks consumed I waited in expectation for Andrew to give me my special 2nd anniversary bike ride card and present. On last years 1st anniversary bike ride I had also taken Andrew as my cycling guest but he had failed to produce any card, present or party bags (see Special anniversary ride). I had put this down to the fact I hadn't actual told him it was an anniversary ride until after we had set off but this year I had mentioned it several times when we were arranging today's trip. No card or present was forth coming so I made a note not to invite him on next years 3rd anniversary ride as he had turned out to be a very poor special anniversary bike ride guest again.

We went to collect our bikes only to find our rival cycling group already there discussing what route to take back. They were clearly amateurs as they had not planned the route in advance and were even thinking of going back the same way they came, what nonsense! It is this sort of thing that gives cyclists a bad name so we left them too it and completed our proper circular route home.

Scores based on two visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.50	6.75	7.00	7.75	7.75	7.55

Route

Click here to download 61 mile Norwich to Eye loop gpx file for your GPS