I really like coffee. I always buy a decent blend when I go to the supermarket and I love finishing dinner at a restaurant with a rich double espresso.

Now, whenever I go somewhere for a coffee, I find that I am served something completely different in aroma and taste to what I drink at home. It tends to be overly sour with strange fruity top-notes.

Unfortunately it seems to be a trend that won’t go away, although the restaurant critic Giles Coren recently referred to the sour coffee served by ‘ash-palated baristas’. An internet search for sour coffee reveals that many people share my distaste as well. Usually, I get the impression that I won’t enjoy the coffee when I go to one of the ultra-hip places. Usually, the more expensive the coffee, the longer it will take to arrive and the worst it woll taste.

I find that Monmouth Coffee serves reliable coffee that tastes similar to what I like to drink at home. Unfortunately, too many coffee-shops are serving up the same, light-roasted acidic robusta coffee that is just about drinkable in a latte or cappuccino or latte but tastes foul when drunk black.

I’ll have to drink my coffee at home from now on……