National Coffee Day.

 National Coffee Day. 

Now in the general scheme of things some of us would be delighted to know what day it is today. No, seriously. So folks let me put you out of  your misery. It's a wondrous source of fascination and for those who like their caffeine fuelled drinks, this has got to be the best piece of news. Yes, you're desperate to know so this is the moment when you reveal the theme for National Something or Somebody day. It seems suitable for the occasion although quite definitively, this is your day and you might want to keep it in your diary for next year on this day. 

Today Ladies and Gentlemen is National Coffee Day. It's 100% unequivocally National Coffee Day and the information is correct. The whole truth your honour and nothing but the truth. You've checked your facts thoroughly and according to those who know it's time to celebrate the virtues of a hot, piping cup or mug of coffee, equally as popular among the masses and just as refreshing as tea, char or for those who remember the 1920s, tiffin. 

So coffee. What do we know about coffee or perhaps we need a light hearted reminder of what coffee means to the British? Our American friends have been drinking coffee for as long as anybody can remember now. They grab a coffee on the way to work, buy whole boxes of doughnuts by way of accompaniment and then slurp it down with undisguised pleasure. It's almost the compulsory wake up call for most Americans because you suspect that without a cup of coffee they'd get withdrawal symptoms. 

In all of those great cop TV programmes, coffee is absolutely essential. They drink coffee until it's more or less coming out of the ear holes. They drink it for breakfast, on the move, lunch quite definitely and then the evening meal although some of the male population may prefer a tin of lager or a glass of red wine. Coffee is the dominant force in their lives. It dictates their fluctuating moods, makes them feel good about life and probably gives them a temporary high in the loosest sense of the word, you understand. 

Coffee of course owes its origins, in part from the old Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where those swaying palm trees sit happily next to those pulsating plantations and those lovely coffee beans make their first appearance. It's then shipped over in huge bulk and containers to every corner of the globe. Coffee is a drug of that there can be no doubt. It could lead to a mild addiction and you may find yourself knocking back the cups of Nescafe by the hundred on the hour every hour. But all things in moderation of course. 

Back in 1950s London, coffee bars became so fashionable that wherever you went in Soho, the noise of those delightful machines spouting out gallons of hot water onto millions of cups of foaming coffee can still be heard over 70 years later. Coffee bars became the meeting place of teenagers with pocket loads of money to spend on frothy cups of coffee. Around them were those spellbinding juke boxes pumping out the latest singles from Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Elvis Presley and Johnny Rae. 

Then they would all huddle around in groups with those wonderful glass cups of coffee, tapping their toes, clicking their fingers hypnotically and the men would brush back their thickly gelled hair. The girls would then be whisked away romantically for an afternoon of dancing in the cafe. There was nothing clandestine about this activity although they were supposed to be at work. But how the Brits loved their coffee, coffee to the backing record tracks of the rock and roll era, the music of the times.

Who could ever forget the Two Eyes in Soho, the most distinguished of all coffee bars because Cliff was always in there and Marty Wilde became rock and roll royalty? Coffee bars gave Britain a welcome escapism from the misery and greyness of Post War austerity. They were the social rendezvous points for youngsters because London was the place where leather clad bikers would congregate and new 45 singles would drift into the West End of London like a sweetly fragrant smell from a distant flower bed. 

Then coffee continued to offer a splendidly attractive alternative to the traditional cup of tea. During both the 1960s and 1970s dinner parties among the so called intellectual elite were transformed into coffee appreciation societies. Coffee became an exotic stimulant that Britain had heard about quite extensively on American cop programmes and knew for a fact that it was also an integral part of their culture. 

So it was that Britain had adopted one of the great American caffeine experiences. Within the last 20 years or so coffee shops, bars and rows of supermarket brands have elevated coffee to a rarefied level of popularity. Nero, Costas, Pret A Mangers and innumerable cocktail bars have blossomed and after years and decades of nursing quiet cups of tea at railway station cafes, coffee has now taken its place in the affections of the British kitchen or dining room. It has to be there to stay. 

And there you have it folks. It's National Coffee Day. Usually, cups of either tea or coffee are accompanied by mouth watering cakes, cream cakes, Black Forest Gateaus, or custard cream biscuits,  delectable chocolate biscuits, biscuits with raisins and Digestives. But coffee demands some company and deserves something to wash it down with. Let coffee be your friend in the morning, afternoon or evening. The Italians and French have always served us those tiny cups of black coffee or large bowls of caffeine but wherever you are enjoy National Coffee Day, savour the flavour. Go on. Two sugars and plenty of milk, please. We deserve it. And don't forget the biscuit as well.