Coffee and me

I drank my first cup of coffee when I was nearly twenty four years old. I always liked the smell, but never the taste.

The thing that drove me to it in the end was a job interview with KPMG for a graduate trainee position. My interview was an all day one. To get to central London from Norwich, ready to start my interview at 9am, I had woken at 5am. I was a student, and more suited to going to bed at 5am.

At 8:45am I was standing in a board room, dressed in a suit for the first time in my life, with about 20 other candidates and a large table full of freshly brewed coffee in large jugs. It smelt amazing. I clearly remember looking at the jugs and thinking If I am going to get through this day without falling asleep I need some caffeine. And the cups of builders tea and packets of pro plus that had sustained me through University suddenly didn't seem suitable.

So I poured myself a cup of coffee, added a splash of milk, and pretended to the room that I had been drinking it all my life. I loved the coffee and got the job - it was a momentous day.

I drink coffee every day. Not loads - usually just one large cup in the middle of the morning, and occasionally another in the middle of the afternoon. But I am not very nice if I don't have it. I rarely drink anything other than filter coffee or espresso. Cappucinos and lattes don't taste enough of coffee.

I buy my beans from all sorts of places - currently from Abel & Cole, but I love Taylors of Harrogate and Starbucks beans too.

I like the coffee rituals I have built up:

• putting the coffee machine on as soon as I get home after dropping C and O at school
• calling in at Caffe Neros when I get off the tube on a work day
• choosing which flavour of beans to grind at the weekend
• packing the aluminium espresso maker when we go camping
• choosing which mug I want to drink out of

We're in a proper relationship now, me and coffee.