Mr Bean

London chef Rowley Leigh stews and brews: We British are the prime suckers for this particular piece of Americanisation. In true flattery, we have produced our own home-bred rivals in mediocrity to Starbucks. It is a bit harder to sell froth under the name of coffee in countries that actually like the taste and, in equal measure, the stimulating effects of the real thing. Although Starbucks have made a clutch of sites in Barcelona and Madrid, they are almost entirely unrepresented in France, Portugal (inheritors of a fierce coffee culture) or, needless to say, Italy. The country that bequeathed espresso, cappuccino and even latte to the world has not succumbed to the frappuccino or the double decaf macchiato and yet the Italian method of coffee making could be held responsible for this whole sorry business.