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Does anybody else out there think that different drinks takes better out of certain mugs? We have a variety of mugs in our house ranging from bone china to more chunky ones. I have one little green mug in particular that no one else in the house dares to use for fear of having something happen to it. It's a mug I bought in a craft shop in Bournemouth nearly 30 years ago and to me, that mug was born to have milky coffee in it. If ever I am feeling poorly, that is the mug I turn to for comfort. It's not the prettiest mug in the house, but it's my favourite.

This year when the January sales were on, we bought a Nespresso coffee machine. The coffee from it is superb, the best home made coffee. But the spout that the coffee comes out of is fairly low and some mugs simply don't fit underneath it. I had bought 2 lovely slim, short, white Sophie Conran mugs from Portmeirion but I've been looking for some more. So today I popped into a new shop that has opened in town. The Steamer Trading Cook Shop. I spent ages looking round the lovely homeware and kitchen equipment downstairs and then noticed that there was an upstairs too. There were 2 walls filled with mugs. And in the middle of them all, were some lovely Emma Bridgewater mugs, duck egg blue, just 3" tall and 3" in diameter with 'white coffee' written in white along the inside and outside of the rim. They called out to me - "Buy me" I walked round the store some more, picked up a few other mugs but they weren't the right size, they didn't feel right in my hand. And in my mind, I could hear the blue ones "Me ... pick me ... take me home" And so I did, I bought two and as soon as I got home, I plugged in the machine, washed up the new mugs, and had a cup of coffee. They were a good choice. I think they are destined to be some of my favourites!