Lipstick to go?

There's nothing wrong with a bit of lippy on your lid. Just remember to reapply as soon as you've finished your coffee.

For a coffee to end up as a latté or whatever in a cup with the milk, the espresso has to be good enough in the first place. It's like the base of a recipe. If it's not up to scratch, the rest of the dish will suffer.

Unlike a chef, checking the seasoning on each dish before it goes out, we can't taste every coffee before handing it over to a waiting customer. If that was the case, today I would have tasted around 250. And shared every customer's coffee.

So instead, we have to be confident that each espresso that comes out of the machine is good enough to be sold. That's well-balanced - there's more to coffee than bitterness. A tiny 30ml (2 tablespoons) shot of espresso should also be be bursting with sweetness, acidity and body.

Often, the way it trickles out of the machine is a good indication as to what it might taste like. If it runs out too quickly, it's likely to be under-extracted and lacking in depth and flavour. Too slowly, and chances are you're looking at a syrupy, bitter offering that not even 200ml of steamed milk can disguise.

So sometimes we slurp a few shots during the day to make sure we're on the right track. It can get quite messy.