Yet another place in Birmingham I hadn't yet visited until yesterday! I had included it in a Weekly Yelp about Coffee some time ago and made a note of the glowing reviews, but hadn't ever had a reason to pop into this little cafe. When arranging to meet Yelper Simon H. for lunch at the Warehouse Cafe (and designating Moor Street Station as a meeting place), the perfect chance presented itself to give it a go.
First thing to mention is that there is two cafe's in Centenary Square. "Moorish" and "Centenary Lounge" are right next to each other, but I knew which would be my destination for a midday coffee.
Now this place is cute with a capital "C". It takes you back to days of steam trains, vintage glamour and dainty china tea cups. Everything from the retro design of the furniture and fittings to the Vera Lynn era soundtrack makes you feel like you've stepped into a time warp. At midday it was relatively empty, so I grabbed a table and popped up to the counter to peruse their drinks menu.
This venue offers a really wide selection of hot and cold drinks to choose from. Hot drinks and Iced coffee is available, as well as a large selection of Chai and the currently trendy Matcha style tea drink. As I had never tried Matcha before (and was discussing this with a friend just that very morning), I opted to go for a Matcha latte. A large cup was £2.75 and once I had ordered, I was told to take a seat and relax whilst it was being made.
The drinks here are wonderfully presented. The majority of the crockery is branded with Centenary lounge's retro logo, but a lot of their hot and cold drinks are served in tall glass mugs (adding a little touch of class to your caffeinated treat). I took a photo of my drink, but unfortunately it doesn't quite capture how very green it was!
The latte was surprisingly good (considering Matcha is a bit of an aquired taste) and my short time spent in this little cafe was incredibly pleasant. I loved the background music, the vibe and atmosphere of the venue and the staff were friendly and smiley. Even if you don't have a train to catch, pop in and enjoy this sumptuous vintage treat of a cafe. read more