My friend Rob

Ohhh my! What a week! I don't want may like that again! I don't like being sad or making others sad!

I met Rob after work at his....fortunately he's right beside Piccadily so it was only a small walk to the Northern Quarter. He'd never even seen Northern Tea Power before and I was quite excited about buying him an espresso.

Wayne was excited too as he'd got the new NTP espresso blended specifically for him by Steve at Has Bean. I stupidly had a cakey biscuity cherry thing before hand so my pallet wasn't perfect for tasting. Still, it was rich with just a hint of sweetness, a reasonable crema and it felt nice in the mouth. I think it suits NTP more than the first blend, while more memorable, it was just a bit too complex even for me. Rob gave a knowing nod, saying it was brilliant, but I got the impression that it was a similar dynamic to Oz Clarke going on about a wonderful Sassicaia 1987 to James May, who is thinking that its quite similar to a Taste the Difference bottle of Blue Nun. We then both had a really nice blonde beer from Brussels! It was sweet n yummy.

We then went to this cool wee bar near Picadilly Basin that served really good real ales! Even better... it was Scottish week. I chose a Black Isle Golden Eye IPA and then went on to bore him about the golden eye ducks Rosemary and I had seen in a loch while canoeing in Speyside. The IPA was brill....floral and quite hoppy and nice in the mouth.

I decided to go home after that, even though I was meant to meet people from work in Trof. I was far too in the mood to drink to much, but I'm being more sensible with age (well....I think it's more to do with Rosemary).