I’ve realised over the past few years that I have become a creature of habit.  At 7.10am each morning I duly arise, make my breakfast, wake a disgruntled child from her sleep and kick an even more disgruntled Missus out of the bed.

In the last few years a cup of coffee has become an integral part of that morning routine.   I have to admit, previous to this I didn’t really get the whole coffee thing.  I grew up in a house of stalwart tay drinkers.  We had a jar of powdered Maxwell House which lingered at the back of the cupboard since about 1982, only to be resurrected when the visitors came. The lumps had to be vigorously mushed out of it before adding the boiling water… it tasted like a cocktail of hot Guinness and tar that had been left to ferment in a rusty bucket in the back garden.  I didn’t start drinking coffee until I moved to Dublin, and bit by bit I became sucked into the emerging coffee culture.  Of course we’re all coffee experts these days…  you can walk into most  cafes and restaurants in the country now and waiting staff will nod duly as you ask for a cappuccino, a macchiato or tall skinny latte!  Albeit, some offerings are still reminiscent of the contents of that rusty bucket in the back garden in Mayo.

Last week I went to a Barista class with @3fe Coffee in Dublin 2. www.facebook.com/3FECoffee.  One of the first tasks we had was to taste 3 different glasses of water; distilled, tap and mineral water. Strange I thought, as I was at a coffee class. But as a cup of coffee is mainly composed of water, the quality of the water is very important. Tap water in Dublin is apparently perfect for coffee.

In the next few hours, I learned about the history of coffee, how to calibrate the machine, grind the coffee to the right consistency, weigh out the coffee (yes, they weigh the coffee for each cup at 3fe), froth the milk, and even have a stab at putting some designs on the top (to varying levels of success).

I’d highly recommend the class if you like your coffee and I couldn’t believe the level of detail involved in making a consistently good cup of coffee. Now when I order a coffee, I’m finding it hard not to correct the person making it!