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Real coffee, made with care

1:31pm 8th Nov 2007

Us Brits are always being told that we know nothing about coffee. Maybe that was true back in the days of Mellow Birds (do they still make Mellow Birds??), but I'm not sure it's fair now.

More unfair is that the sneering criticism of our coffee is made by Americans, who seem to be doing their best to drown the world in insipid, frothy, nonsense under the guise of running chains of coffee houses. The fashion for milky drinks that no Italian would dream of sipping after 10am shows more ignorance of real coffee than our proud British forebears (who had coffee houses in the seventeenth century!) ever suffered from.

Sometimes it feels like there's no escape from the giant American chains, but look hard and there are still choices. If you're in London one of my favourite places for an espresso is Caffe Vergnano. Admittedly it is a chain, but it's a chain with genuine Italian credentials and a real passion for good coffee. If you know of anywhere that makes a better espresso, let me know! It certainly won't be Starbucks.

So next time you feel the urge for a decaf skinny latte (called a "why bother" in the trade) stop and think if there's an alternative to the faceless American chains. You might even be tempted to try a real coffee!

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