Word of the Week- Coffee 5th November

 

I did not start drinking coffee until I was in my mid 20’s. It started when I would have to go into London to do exam moderation and I would smell freshly ground coffee walking to get various tube trains.  (This was before Starbucks was even known over here.) I loved that smell but found that instant coffee did not live up to the expectation. I did eventually buy a coffee from one of the vendors on the railway platform and enjoyed it.  I have never really liked freeze dried instant coffee and find that it gives me a headache.

 My first visit to Starbucks was when we visited friends in Colorado and I had never been in a dedicated coffee shop. I felt very ‘cosmopolitan’ sitting there drinking a cappuccino for the first time.

Nowadays coffee shops are everyday sights but I still enjoy visiting them as I still see them as a treat. It seems that there are more coffee shops than pubs nowadays.

 When special flavoured coffees were introduced by the coffee chains at Christmas I was over the moon. Gingerbread latte and the red cups signalled the start of Christmas for me, and I would eagerly anticipate the arrival dates each year. Nowadays I prefer Toffee Nut to Gingerbread and things now start getting exciting in September with Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

 During the rest of the year I tend to stick to Flat White or Americano with the odd Caramel Macchiato thrown in when I feel like treating myself.

 I have some happy memories that took place in coffee shops including taking Matthew out on his first Christmas Eve to Starbucks dressed as a baby Santa. He was so cute at 3 months old and we had loads of people cooing over him. Other memories also involving Matthew was when he was a toddler I used to go to a bookstore that had a Starbucks in it. When we arrived at the car park, he saw the Starbucks sign, got excited and said ‘Bucks’ It wasn’t his first word but it was the first time he had shown recognition of where we were going. I also used to sit in Starbucks when the Trafford Centre had their firework display near Bonfire Night. So much better than standing in the cold.

My first drive through coffee was in Canada at Tim Horton’s. I could not believe that people would do drive through for coffee. It was certainly a novel experience at the time.

 At home I have a Nespresso machine and each morning I will make myself a travel mug and a flask of coffee with milk to take with me to work.  That is the only coffee I will drink and the one I put in a flask is decaffeinated. Much as though I enjoy the taste of coffee, I like to sleep at night so try not to drink coffee after midday.

 So why is coffee my word of the week? Because Starbucks red cups go on sale today and on my way home from work I will break my rule of no coffee after midday and sit and enjoy a Toffee Nut latte (no cream) before going home to the madhouse. Those of you who are Costa fans will no doubt have already indulged in a Christmas coffee as they came out earlier this week.