In which, it turns out, coffee is anything but simple.
"Espresso is probably the most intolerant method of preparation of any food or drink in the world."
—James Hoffmann
I originally intended to call this coffee cup, red‡. It was to be a look at how the serving of coffee influences how we perceive it in terms of flavour and enjoyment. There's been some study of how environment influences taste, and I have a memory of a study in which coffee tasted sweeter when drunk from a red cup. ¹ I'd done some experiments myself and found that there was some truth to this; that coffee flavour and enjoyment is influenced by the cup it's served in. This process of crossmodal perception is well documented. In my case, a red coloured heavier earthenware cup was sweeter, fuller-bodied, more satisfying, more alive and characterful. As I began to write it ran away from me, as things do, and
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