I was beginning to give up. I’d traipsed around this quite posh town for nearly an hour and not found a cafe that I could be bothered to go in. I had been hopeful having a good memory of this place over ten years ago but the place seems to have gone a bit yawn. I was contemplating leaving as I’d also just got into a row with a mouth-breathing traffic warden and had ‘words’ with an alcoholic outside Superdrug.

Then I spotted Life On High, a cafe with a name which drew me in on its own, it sounding like an Amsterdam CoffeeShop. It is indeed pro-plant cafe but not cannabis plants, instead focussing on speciality coffees (not with THC). So to the sound of The Beatles,  I ordered a latte and a blackberry and pistachio cake.

The staff were friendly but they were a little dormant; on bringing my order they forgot any sugar and serviettes. But the coffee and cake were excellent so what’s a bit of glucose and a napkin anyway? Their coffee is from individual farms and cooperatives and have a small-batch roaster on site, driven by Redback Coffee’s ‘roasting excellence’.

Inside it is a typical artisan caff with usual wooden chairs, tables and benches and a giant blackboarded menu. This was the only thing that gave a clue that is was a pro-plant based cafe. One of the specials was ‘Alkalising Eggs’ which you don’t see on too many menus and it did not come with chips and beans unfortunately.

Under the usual dangly lights were a few earnest parents and their precocious children and posturing woke teenagers. A smattering of besuited office workers slurped nearby. Everybody seemed to look perfect and I felt a bit out of place like a Scotsman in a salad bar.

I was then distracted by a well-dressed family that had entered; a young attractive mother and her two identically dressed twin children, a boy and a girl. They ordered coffee and the mother was quietly reading whilst her kids were drawing in colouring books and whispering. I noticed that that the two kids seemed to be kissing each other. Was I in Norfolk?

There was no art on the wall and could have done with a bit more for the eyes. Though you can look to the back of the shop and revel in the sight of the coffee being roasted or onto the high street through the front window. And notice a couple of hippies trying to work out whether they can score some special cake or a joint in here except they are far too out of it to arrive at any rational conclusion.

I noticed the book the mother was read was called ‘Ancestral Rights’. I looked at the two canoodling children and was tempted to ask the mother if the book should be called ‘Incestral Rights’?  But then I didn’t want to get into any more fights…

 

Verdict: 3/5

Good: Cake and coffee

Bad: Volume, lack of thought in service. A bit yawn.