Casa Espresso - Coffee Lovers Competition

This post is my entry for the Casa Espresso Coffee Lovers Competition:

I am not sure when my tastes around coffee changed, but I honestly can't remember when I last time had an instant coffee. I think it may have been around 2005, when I moved to Leeds. James and Kate kindly put me up in their place for a couple of months where after dinner every night the cafetiere was brought to the table. I guess I fell in love with the process of getting a good coffee into the cup as much as the flavour itself.

6 years have passed since, and my love of coffee had continued to grow. Coffee plays a significant part in my day to day life and I would definitely miss my double espresso, cafetiere, flat white or espresso martini if it wasn’t there!

Every week day morning Jo brings me a lovely coffee made with the fancy cafetiere that she bought me a couple of years ago, and the coffee beans are ground in a machine that the future in-laws kindly gave me last Christmas. Every day in the office I use an ace cup that doubles as a mini cafetiere (genius!) and every Thursday Jo and I have a light-hearted argument about whose turn it is to buy the Friday coffees (I am a little ashamed to admit they come from Stark Bucks but in my defence it’s the only coffee shout on the way to our respective offices! I have a flat white and Jo a skinny hazelnut latte.)

I love the theatre of coffee, and that it does take a little effort to get it just right. From the correct grind size and the measurement of coffee used through to the 10 second wait for just off boiling water and then the 4 minute wait before the cafetiere is plunged. I also have a Bialetti Moka that I was using regularly until a kind friend decided to gift their rarely used Gaggia coffee machine to a good home. I have used it every day since and I have loved working how to get the best possible espressos from it – I haven’t quite got there yet but that is half the fun!

If you were ever to come round to our flat, you would see that we have quite the collection of espresso cups! Some have been bought, but the majority are (ahem) ‘souvenirs’ from holidays that we have been on that all bring back memories of good times and great meals that we have had.

Lastly I love buying coffee beans. I am definitely not a coffee ‘geek’ but I do appreciate a good full bodied flavour to my coffee. This definitely comes from ace retailers like Casa Espresso or La Bottega Milanese, rather than the brands that you will find on a generic supermarket shelf – for me, I would always rather buy from people who are passionate about what they do and also have a good story to tell…..

Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks to Nino for putting this competition on – you did say the prize was one of your coffee machines right? ;o)