It’s fun to meet friends and chat over coffee but why sit in a crowded coffee shop, with crumbs on the table and slow service?
You can just as easily create a comfortable, stylish setting in your own kitchen or living room. Have fun with your own style with pretty cups, cute mugs and colourful crockery. Invite a friend over or relish the solitude and enjoy ‘café style’ at home.
Here are my thoughts about why it’s nicer to have coffee at home:
1. It's cheaper
You can make great fresh coffee yourself in your own kitchen instead of paying an extortionate amount for someone else to froth the milk or grind the beans. And you don’t need fancy equipment. Use a cafetiere, pour over jug or stovetop espresso maker with a good quality ground coffee for the best flavour.
Keep a small jug handy for warming milk in the microwave and a use a milk frother if you like a foamy top. Take sugar? Having brown sugar in the cupboard will really give you the café experience!
2. You know where it comes from
It’s nice to know the provenance of the things we eat and drink but when we eat out it’s difficult to guarantee what you’re getting especially when the company is a big chain. Whether you like to buy Fair Trade coffee, like beans from a particular region or just have a taste for a particular style of coffee, it’s nice to be in control of what you buy and drink.
It’s also nice when you can find a small company that sells a speciality product, often creating their own blends. My favourites are H R Higgins of Duke Street in London who sell a wonderful selection of original and blended coffees and Bean Shot Coffee artisan roasters of Bruton, Somerset.
3. No bad service
We’ve all been there, haven’t we! You wait a little too long to get served, the only tables free are stacked with crockery and cake crumbs. Talking of which…
4. It's cleaner
Let’s just say, some coffee shop establishments particularly in the UK could do with a bit of a wipe round and the larger chains especially seem quite bad. Is it too much to ask that someone sweeps up the crumbs from the floor or wipes the tables occasionally?
It’s not pleasant when you’re worried to sit down because the seats are encrusted with ground-in croissant. It’s even worse when the table has been wiped but the cloth was so dirty you can see the streaks where it's been! At least if you have to clean up at home you can use your own cleaning implements instead of half a dozen strangely unabsorbent serviettes.
5. It’s more relaxing
Put on your own music, use your favourite mug, make it just how you like it and, yes, have a biscuit without taking a sharp intake of breath at the price. You didn’t have to drive there so take as long as you like without worrying about how long you’ve got left on the car parking.
Put your feet up and meditate!
6. You’ll get the right name on your coffee cup
If you feel so inclined to write on it. Or not, because it’s not going to get muddled up with someone else’s and you didn’t wait in line to get your drink!
