I never liked tea and, once I had my first taste of coffee, there was no going back.
I was trying to remember my first taste, and I think it is when my mother made me a coffee and walnut cake for my birthday as a young boy. It was probably made with Camp coffee and this cake has remained a firm favourite of mine ever since. Indeed, my mother made me one every year.
Camp coffee wasn’t the nicest coffee to drink and early instant coffee was okay but left a lot to be desired.
I really started to enjoy it when I started visiting Italian coffee shops, my first one being Verrecchia’s in Portsmouth, where the smell was intoxicating (to me anyway). I loved seeing the gleaming  machines where the coffee was made and the steam from heating the milk.
There isn’t a day (except during Covid) when I haven’t been out for a cup of coffee, and it will be one of the last things I ever stop doing.
I love the coffee shops we have available today and you will find my photographs on display in two of them in Southsea - Broadway and Coffee#1.
If you want to meet me, always suggest a coffee shop, preferably one that does a good coffee and walnut cake or a tiramisu, if not.
See you there!