Accents Coffee & Tea Lounge

I knew the first time that I entered Accents Coffee & Tea Lounge that if anything was going to awaken me from my blogging slumber then this was going to be the place that did it! (The fact that it has taken half a dozen visits before I write should, perhaps, be left unsaid.)

I came across a flyer advertising the cafe in a local community centre while attending for my daughter's end of year Feis. That community centre is about 4 or 5km from the cafe which just goes to prove that the further you throw your net the more likely you are of catching something. But why would I want to go to a cafe which is a bit of a distance from where I live?

The answer to that question was on the hand-held advertisement: It wasn't the 50% off voucher. It wasn't the 'Cadbury's purple' colour scheme of the design. It was simply the inviting words: "Open until 11pm."

Finally! A cafe in Dublin that stays open past 7/8pm. My local coffeehouse used to stay open 'till the wee small hours......but not anymore. I had to get down to Accents to check it out.

I did and it's great. An almost perfect coffeehouse. The kind of place that, were I to run my own cafe, it would be very much like this. For me it takes the Starbucks model of a 'third space', a home-from-home environment, and says we can do better. And they do.

The cafe is spread across two floors: the ground floor with serving area, a few tables and sofas and a nook which is home to a well stocked bookcase. Then there is the basement which is not the dingy sort of affair that you often find in coffeehouse basements, but is very comfortably furnished with sofas, chairs, huge beanbags, handmade tables, portrait photos on the wall (I think I spot the owner??), and lighting which is subtle but still bright enough to read a book from the further selection available.

Added to this are coffees in their usual shades, a wide variety of teas, chai (which I'm happy to admit I have no idea what it really is, let alone tasted), plus a fantastic hot chocolate that you would go out of your way for on a cold winter day....and quite probably a cold Irish summer night.

To top it off they a completely family friendly. In fact they positively encourage families to visit!

There's more I want to say about Accents Coffee & Tea Lounge, but I'll save it for another post. Suffice to say, well done for creating a wonderful and much sought after space.