I have quite a few English friends and a couple that come to stay with me or my family every year for about a month. I never drink the coffee they make :o) Yes, it was some instant terrible tasting crap. Couldn't really be considered coffee unless you consider Sanka (that is what it tasted like to me) coffee. They enjoyed our expresso coffee shops here and as far as I know, they periodically buy it there. According to most of them (frankly I didn't ask them all) as of a year ago christmas the coffee houses were only in big cities mostly and not in the little towns yet and was considered ridiculously expensive. It's been a year so that may have changed. Here we have 7 expresso coffee shops (only one is a Starbucks) that I know of (2 are on Fort Bragg). Yet in Florence, SC there is not a single one that I could find. I have expresso everyday. Got in the habit a couple of years ago. Wish I never started now. Their tea is good though - they bring it with them and spend a ridiculous amount of time fixing it.

>>OK, I'll agree with you there (having enjoyed English tea). Remember though, there is also nothing worse than coffee made by the English!
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>Now where did you get that from? Are we back to warm beer and bobbies blowing their whistles? When was the last time you were in England?
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>True many English, esp. those with only a fondness for tea, will use some cheap "powdered crap with chickory" instant coffee (personally I use only the best) but the burgeoning "nouveau" middle class to which we most aspire will all have their own coffee maker/cafetiere, and proper coffee (some grind their own), and keep the coffee in the fridge. Many will even have espresso and capocino makers. The standard is dictated only by the supply. There are many specialist coffee outlets and our high streets are crowded with Starbucks, Cafe Neros, Costas, etc. cheek by jowel. We're hardly naiive when it comes to coffee.