Oh, what a long day it has been for me today! Having not slept very well through the night I also had an early start to the day – getting up at 5am this morning to ensure I send my friend off to the airport after his stay with us during the last week. I did not find it hard waking up or getting out of bed this early, but I sure have found it hard staying awake in the morning during my commute into London. Do you ever get that feeling that you simply cannot keep your eyelids apart, they feel like lead – heavy and uncontrollable? That was the case with me this morning. My brain was just trying to shut down so I constantly tried to look at (thankfully) bright sky outside as seeing the bright light helped me battle with the leaden eyelids.

When I wrote about the SOS items in my handbag yesterday I have completely neglected to mention one of the most essential items I happen to have in my handbag! The vessel for the hot liquid elixir of life! The delicious drink that helps me to get over the drowsiness and warms me up in the mornings. The mighty coffee mug!

I bought this amazing coffee mug/thermos/flask (I do not even know how to call it) a while ago from Amazon and it was shipped all the way from Japan!

Zojirushi coffee mug

I must admit, it is pricey (I have paid £19.26 for it), but it is most definitely one of the best purchases I have ever made and so far it has proved to be worth every penny! I have been on the lookout for a small, light, non-leaky coffee/tea mug that I could carry in my handbag for a while and I have searched all over the internet for any recommendations. I have stumbled across this amazingly comprehensive review of Zojirushi mugs on thesweethome.com and decided to give it a go. It is lucky that Amazon.co.uk sells these. I have opted for a 12 oz model in black (full details are Zojirushi SM-SA36-BA Stainless Steel Mug) and haven’t looked back since the day I got it. I could not do without it.

Simon usually comes downstairs earlier than me and is kind enough to make the coffee for me, so I have a cup of freshly ground and brewed aromatic coffee ready to drink before we go out, and Simon also fills the flask up for me to drink during the commute or in the office. Simon is a true Englishman and prefers to drink tea 🙂 – oh well, more coffee for me…

I drink it black, unsweetened nowadays and I truly cannot remember when my tastes have changed. I used to hate black coffee (well, not hate, it is a bit of a strong word) and most certainly used to put sugar into my hot drinks. Well, actually, I used to enjoy sweet wines like Muscat in the past and now I prefer drinking light and zingy wines – it is funny how my taste seems to have changed over time. Do you find your tastes have changed with age?

I am glad I have bought my “bean to cup” Cuisinart coffee machine – it does a fairly good job at brewing coffee. It can be programmed to brew automatically at a certain time (just fill it up with water and beans beforehand) or in the manual mode. It is not an espresso but a filter coffee machine and the minimum number of cups it will make you is 4 small European size or 2 good sized UK mugs. It suits me down to the ground although I am looking at some bean to cup Gaggia… Hmmm, maybe one day I will “upgrade”, I can just dream of it for now.

Here is my Cuisinart bean to cup machine that I use during weekdays. Beans are kept in an airtight container on top of the machine, then get ground in the built in burr grinder, dispensed into a golden mesh basket and the hot water pumped through the ground coffee, with the machine collecting the delicious aromatic brew into the insulated carafe.

I’ve mentioned in my blogpost a while back that I buy my coffee beans from Pact Coffee and one bag lasts me for about a month as I only drink it during the working week and only have 2 cups a day. It costs me £6.95 per month but I do get the freshest coffee ofter roasted the day before it is shipped to me, and it always tastes great! I’ve included a personalised link so you can get the first pack of coffee you order for £1 🙂

Oh dear, I am starting to feel sleepy again now and, as it would be a bad idea to have coffee at this time of night, I better go and start getting ready for a good catch up on my lost sleep. An exciting day awaits for me tomorrow!