From One Coffee Lover, To Another: Caffe Venezia

Friday (January 28) was a very busy and chilly day! Since almost everyone had no class on Friday, we decided to head to town and tour the Canterbury Cathedral. We had the whole day planned - antique show at 1 (I love antiques shows/yard sale shopping! However, I do not love it nearly as much as I love coffee!), Cathedral tour from 2 to 4, coffee shop stop from 4 to 5:15, Evensong at the Canterbury Cathedral from 5:30 to 6:30 and then The Black Griffin Pub from 6:30 until Chris wanted to leave (the girls and I decided that Chris needed some fun time too so we agreed we would stop by this pub he has been eyeballing for a while). After the tour of the Cathedral, I was on a mission to find a cafe that could seat 6 people and that was close to the Cathedral. If you remember from an earlier post, finding seating even for 4 or 5 people can be tricky in the cafes in Canterbury. I was afraid that at 4pm on a Friday, seating for 6 would be impossible! I decided to let fate assist me in choosing a place so I quickly walked down the Palace Street (the same street that the Canterbury Cathedral is on) and stopped at the first coffee shop I found - Caffe Venezia. I peeked in the window and saw that there was plenty of room for all 6 of us to relax, warm up and enjoy some coffee.

"Caffe Venezia"

As we walked in to the Italian cafe, we all noticed a display case of spectacular looking cakes that made our eyes light up. Ellie (one of my housemates/English "Fun Fact" Provider), Sam and Chris decided to get a slice of carrot cake, marshmallow chocolate cake and white chocolate cheesecake (respectively) which looked absolutely delicious. Because I am on a budget, I decided to get a large cappuccino with fruit scones (scones are generally pretty cheap, tasty and very filling so if you're on a budget or just trying to save a pound or two, keep that in mind). The large cappuccino was 2.15 pounds! This confirms that coffee shops that are off the main street (in Canterbury, that street is called High Street) are most likely going to be cheaper but just as or even more delectable! This cappuccino was so good! I hate to say it, but it was a bit better than my cappuccino at Cafe Cultura (just a little bit!). Chocolate is truly the way to my heart and the chocolate that they use to top off the cappuccino at Caffe Venezia was to die for! And of course, the scones were the icing on the cake! For those of you who have not been to England, scones are not hard, triangle, pastry-like things. They are more like biscuits here and are much better than any scone I've had in the States (I'm sorry Biggby - the coffee place at Michigan State University that I used to get chocolate chip scones from). If you visit England, don't leave without getting coffee and enjoying a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam.