Finding hidden gems may require one to scratch a little beneath the surface of the obvious, for not everything is always what it appears to be - at least to the uninitiated!

And so... confession time!

When I visit a coffee shop, I usually order a decaf tea with plant-based milk. I used to order the odd hot chocolate but going vegan meant that it became a little trickier to navigate. So why no coffee then? You may ask...

um... well see here's the thing... I don't drink coffee... 🧐😲😂

You still there? ok whew!!! Now that may seem a helluva confession to make to a coffee community _{(and yes I understand I may just get the boot now! lol)} but I'm here because I love the company, and isn't frequenting coffee shops a lot to do with the company one keeps?_{(slides a note to Milly and Stylish pleading her case)}😆😍

When I saw this week's Coffee Shop Prompt I knew exactly what I was going to write about!

Hidden gems? Certainly!

Is a coffee shop involved? Of course!

And coffee? Um... kinda sorta... but in the end... NO! hahaha.

In fact, I'm going to tell you about 3 different types of hidden gems that presented themselves at a coffee shop in Derby, in the East Midlands of England, and how important it is to ask questions when you don't know the answers!!!

In January I had the great pleasure of hosting two of my friends, whom I met on Hive, at my home in the South-East of England for two weeks. We decided we would take a road trip up to Scotland because... you cannot visit the UK without seeing the beauty of the North and meeting some of the friendliest folks around, right @tengolotodo? En route to Kirkcaldy, we arranged to stop in the City of Derby, in the East Midlands of England, to meet up with another wonderful Hiver who had recently moved over to the UK.

_{Fun fact... city status in the UK can only be granted by the monarch.}

Knowing we were going to be arriving around late morning/lunchtime, @dreemsteem did a little research for a place for us all to meet. And did she ever find a little gem of a coffee shop!!! It was called:

The Book Cafe in the Quarter
_{... and how stunning does this place look?}

This is the shop frontage that looks out onto the cobbled high street of Derby City Centre. From their website, it is a self-styled quirky little restaurant cafe and was a winner at the food and drinks awards 2022.

Now, being vegan and gluten-free, and traveling with at least one other gluten-free person, it was fantastic to find such an awesome little eatery and drinkery _{(is that even a word???)} that catered to both dietary requirements. The cafe was situated in an easy-to-access location, one city block away from reasonably priced street parking, and it was a beauty to behold. _{Full transparency... I have used a couple of these images in another post here but that post was for Market Friday and covered a broader range of things about our trip.}

This is some of the exquisite decor that met us on arrival. All those shades of gold give a feeling of pure opulence. It was certainly warm, cozy, and inviting.

_{Selfie taken for the group by @olawalium}

And these are the three human hidden gems that gathered there with me!

@olawalium @dreemsteem and @penderis

And now... look a little closer and you will see that I am not drinking a decaf tea!!! Nope! Any guesses as to what incredible little gem I discovered on that trip (and no it's not unique to that coffee shop lol but it was the first time that I had ever tried it... and I fell in love with it!!!!)?

Hint... it's not coffee!

So what is it?

It's an Oat Chai Latte with cinnamon syrup and dusted with cinnamon sugar. Now call me unsophisticated lol... but I thought that only coffee was served as a latte! Now, I get that latte refers to steamed milk but in my brain... all lattes were coffee based!... Who knew? Probably everyone reading this post! That's who!

I have drunk chai tea before on a number of occasions because I love the spicy overtones and the taste of the festive season, but turning it into a latte was just genius by whoever came up with that! I am hopelessly smitten by the drink. So much so that I got home and googled how to make one and then ordered the supplies to try to match the one I had enjoyed so much in Derby.

Now every morning after I drop my two boys at school, I head home and before I start work for the day, I make myself one of these bad boys! _{(and yes it has the cinnamon syrup inside too! It's a must for that extra cinnamon kick!)}

ok...this one below is the wrong way around 😂 It's here just to show you the vegan gluten-free chai latte powder that I found online at Amazon... and it is amazing!!! (another hidden gem!)

I loved spending time with special friends whom I would never have met had it not been for Hive. They would have remained hidden gems - and that would have been very sad!

And we loved that cafe so much that we chose it as a pit stop for our return journey home! And another excuse for an Oat Chai Latte 💗

If you'd like to take part in this week's Coffee Shop Prompt #2 you can click here to find out more. You have until 18h30 UTC Wednesday to get your submission in.