So who am I?
Well, I’m just an ordinary girl who has got herself into a committed love affair with coffee. I have a husband, and four children who have to put up with my coffee flirtations. They seem to be coping fairly well with the other love in my life.
So when did the love affair start?
For me, the coffee love affair started at quite a young age. I remember experimenting with Camp Coffee. My parents used to drink it and I would have a weak version, made I think, with condensed milk. This made a very sweet, syrupy drink.
Then there followed the years of instant coffee with sugar and milk, trying to emulate the glamour of the Nescafe and Kenco advertisements.
The defining moment of my coffee love affair was in 1987 and of course it involved an Italian … my first ever holiday in Italy with my mum and brother. I still remember to this day, the first cappuccino I ever had. It was at the side of a hotel swimming pool in Sorrento – heaven!
Many years passed before I was able to indulge in my Italian love affair again. The next time was working in Melbourne, Australia in 1990, where cappuccinos were readily available. Returning to the South West of England in 1991, there was still no sign of my Italian love. Many years of drinking black cafeteire coffee ensued.
Now at last, you can purchase a reasonable cup of Italian coffee anywhere in the UK, although my tastes have become ever more demanding – it has to be freshly ground beans, fresh milk, that’s not been scalded but likewise not lukewarm.
I hope you will join me on my adventures, documenting where I go for coffee, learning and exploring more about my love affair.