Perk and Pearl - Tunbridge Wells

Perk and Pearl is more of a tea and coffee  shop than a café, selling no less than thirty types of loose leaf tea (with around 1000 avaliable for order!) and twenty types of coffee alongside  an assortment of treats and additions like marshmallows, fudge, mint thins and teapots and other tea and coffee accessories. They don’t stop there though, in support of local artists such as David Gurden, inquisitivecows.com and Caroline Pitcher, products like cards, mugs and aprons are also available to buy.

The shop/café itself has a beautiful front room (in which I sit with my pot of tea) which reminds me of an old fashioned sweet shop, wooden shelves full of tall glass jars and bags full of exciting things. The front window that takes up one side of the room lets loads of light in and the smell of coffee makes sitting here bliss (and I don’t even like coffee!) I love the bare brick look walls and sitting here having a gorgeous pot of English breakfast and a chat with the owner, Joe is just perfect, I wish I had the time and money to do it every day!

Facebook:facebook.com/pages/Perk-Pearl/576069039122364?ref=br_rs
Twitter: @PerkPearl
Website: perkandpearl.co.uk
Address: 2 Grove Hill Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1RZ

The Velo House - Tunbridge Wells

I’ve heard about The Velo House (so called because 'velo' is french for bicycle), the café for cyclists but being neither a bike-rider or a sporty person of any description, I was reluctant to visit it. However, sitting in the café, I have no idea what I was so worried about. Though half the building is a bike shop and workshop don’t let their tag “bikes, beers and community for cyclists” put you off if you don’t love everything on two wheels, you don’t have to be speedy sporty to enjoy their fantastic menu of hot and cold drinks, sandwiches and salads and gorgeous cakes. While here I have seen an assortment of people from myself, in jeans and a t-shirt, a man in a suit, to people in full cyclist’s gear.

The ground floor of the building is taken up the café and the kitchen, with a big open space full of tables with maps on the surfaces and cycling memorabilia is all around, I especially love the sign in the corner which reads “ you can’t buy happiness but you can buy a bike and that’s pretty close” and the flags hanging from the high celling and with screens blaring Tour De France footage all the time, the large room is by no means quiet! The Velo’s stone floor also means that you can push your bikes to the workshop at the back and they are prepared for cyclists whatever the weather! The second floor is the shop , a cyclists heaven, full of everything from gloves and clothes to energy bars and other great energy foods (I don’t pretend to know anything about any of it!)

My cheese baguette is great and the huge slice of rocky road messy but gorgeous, I even ordered extra tea so I could sit and try and finish it…and I couldn’t… but I liked this café so much I brought my brother for lunch the next day! An excellent haven for cyclists and a great café for everyone else!

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/The-Velo-House

Twitter: @TheVeloHouse

Website: thevelohouse.com

Address: 5 St Johns Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 9GW

The Black Dog - Tunbridge Wells

I used to walk past this café all the time and admire its wall (yes, its wall) which has a painting of a surf board with a picture of a dog on it. Having finally been in, I can say that that picture (and the ‘A’-board outside at the moment that reads “a yawn is a silent scream for coffee” suit this place down to the ground, a little weird and more than a little wonderful. The Black Dog is an Australian themed café which is decorated with pictures of Australia, black dogs (obviously), four beautiful guitars on one wall and what look like giant paper flowers hanging from the ceiling. The whole place gives off a wacky but comfortable feel that I love.

My peppermint tea is perfect and the food looks great, including a great lunch menu and a counter full of exciting flavors of cake, if only I hadn’t had lunch already (and they didn’t close in half an hour!) All in all The Black Dog is a nice, quiet spot with the music not too loud and a proper chilled out feel not to mention a great window seat that has given me a new-found appreciation for window seats!

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/The-Black-Dog

Twitter: @BlackDogCafe

Website: Blackdogcafetw.co.uk

Address: 20 Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2PY

Gusta - Tunbridge Wells

Now is the age of the café, for Tunbridge Wells at least, with the arrival of yet another small café joining The Black Dog, The Bicycle Café and Comic Café on Camden Road. Gusta is an Italian café nestled into a small shop space. They serve a range of hot and cold drinks, beers, cocktails and wines to go along with one of their many authentic Italian dishes and snacks (including a choice of meat and cheese boards or even a mix of both!)

The space is long and thin but still comfortable and spacy and only a little cramped when all the tables are full. The place is kept bright and clear by the light, bare wood (that everything is made of) and the white walls with a smattering of photographs (framed in light wood, of course). Its perfectly Italian down to the Italian waiters and the cheese and meat counter. I especially love the wall at the back, which reads: “Chi mangia bene, vive bene!” which means ‘who eats well, lives well’.

Though the hot chocolate could do with a little more chocolate in it, over all Gusta is a little slice of Italy well worth visiting! (Me Gusta, sorry, couldn’t resist!)

Ismail - Tunbridge Wells

Only taking up half of the ground floor in the old Halifax building (sharing the space with Cotswold outdoor store) Ismail is not one to be put in the corner, its reddish-pink walls and dark wood bar stand out from the cream and orange of the rest of the shop. There are plenty of tables in the space they have and there are always people here, inside and in the outside seating (with a great view of the opera house). The shop looks beautiful with its one red/pink wall and pictures in mismatched frames.

I love it at Ismail and everyone else seems to too as the place is really popular! If you try one thing make it the hot chocolate, the best hot chocolate I have ever had. A tall glass mug coated with melted chocolate and then filled with hot milk and a chocolate coin to top it off. You mix it yourself and it tastes perfect! This time however, on my way to buy my amazing hot chocolate I noticed a sign on the bar, strawberries with a melted chocolate dip you say? Yes please! (I am never one to say no to chocolate or strawberries but both?!) I wasn’t let down, it was amazing.

Friendly and relaxing, this is the perfect place to kick back, in an ideal spot in the centre of town and in a beautiful building.

Twitter:@IsmailCoffeeTea

Website: Ismail.co.uk

Address: 95-97 Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1QG