In times past, going out for a coffee entailed a trip to your local greasy spoon or pub for a cup of the instant stuff. Back then, coffee was treated as mere rocket fuel — something to get you through the morning or retrieve you from a post-prandial stupor. Modern concerns around roast style, bean origin and flavour simply didn’t exist.
That all seems a long time ago now. Since the 1990s, when a certain aspirational New York sitcom made going out for a cup of Morning Joe the done thing, coffee culture this side of the Atlantic has grown to the point where it now feels imprecise to describe Britain as merely a nation of tea drinkers.
Coffee, more to the point good coffee, is everywhere. Our high-streets are populated by chain cafes offering dozens of different cups, but even these are beginning to be superseded by the hip, artisanal espresso bars springing up in our major cities. At home, too, more and more of us are buying professional espresso machines and taking time to source beans online in order to enjoy the craft coffee experience from the comfort of our own sofas.
The food world may be the last frontier left for coffee to conquer. Yet, with Michelin-starred chefs such as Matt Gillan opening restaurants in coffee houses and more cafes staying open into the evening, this looks to be changing, too. In time, perhaps we will see more cafes matching coffee to specific dishes and providing information on which styles and roasts work with certain flavours and times of the day.
For now, consider this a handy primer.