I work for an Italian company. It seems Italians can’t function without coffee in the morning. My Italian bosses are not impressed with Irish coffee apparently, so our office can rely on a real Italian espresso machine to get everyone going. They thought of everything: the tiny espresso cups, strong Italian coffee, milk for those who prefer cappuccino and even different flavoured syrups for a fancy coffee.

On my first day, my colleague proudly showed me the kitchen, home of the great espresso machine. With an expectant smile he looked at me, clearly waiting for me to be as ecstatic about it as he was. I wanted to please him, on my very first day. But I couldn’t. I don’t like coffee. Not the best start in an office full of coffee loving Italians…

I’ve tried learning to like coffee when I was younger. I wanted to be part of the coffee drinking population, as I seemed to be missing out on something. I mean, when people exclaim that they could die for a cup of coffee, it has to be special, right? So I tried. I tried drinking it with milk, with sugar, with milk and sugar. I tried cappuccino, latte and all sorts of different flavours. I did my best, I really did, but I never got used to the bitter taste. I’ve come to accept it a long time ago: I don’t like coffee. I like coffee flavoured ice cream and cookies with a coffee flavoured layer, just not the actual coffee.

Anyone in for a cup of tea instead?