My first encounter with Costa Coffee was the Portsmouth branch, upstairs in Ottakars (now Waterstones) bookshop. A cafe inside a bookshop seemed a great idea, especially as there were armchairs bordering the cafe area where you could sit and look at books while you enjoyed your drink. Needless to say, however, it was so popular that it was often impossible to find a table if you wanted one, especially around lunchtime.

After moving to Havant a few years ago, I would quite often go shopping in Chichester and meet a friend for coffee at Costa. We would usually spend about an hour there, and I must say we were never made to feel that we should vacate our table before we were ready to. The problem, however, with the Chichester branch is that there is very little seating on the ground floor. You have to carry your tray up a narrow staircase not easy for me with my dodgy knee, but even if you don't think you will find it a problem, you might if someone happens to be coming down the stairs at the same time. Once up on the first floor, however, the seating is comfortable and I love the view out onto Chichester Cathedral.

It was perhaps inevitable that Costa would open a branch in Southsea's Palmerston Road shopping precinct, and they did. This one has quite a few sofas inside, and in good weather you can sit at a table outside and watch the shoppers go by. When it first opened I was living in Havant and working in Southsea in the mornings, whereas my younger son was a student at Portsmouth University and lived in Southsea. Costa became the ideal place for us to meet before I had to get back home. When I moved back to Southsea last year, I discovered Coco's on Marmion Road which I prefered, but that has sadly now closed. (Vegetarian restaurant opening there soon.) The problem is that Costa is almost always crowded. My last visit to the Southsea branch was at about 8.45 one morning: I had had a fasting blood test and was waiting for the bank to open, so Costa seemed the ideal place. I was surprised that even before nine o'clock about half the tables were occupied.

Cappuccino, latte, mocha, ristrato and so on have became all the rage, of course. Some of us probably spend far too much on them. Fortunately, Costa offer three different sizes of coffee; I don't think I have ever splashed out on the largest one. Tea of course is also on offer, and if you want to be really decadent, try hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream. I usually go for cappuccino, but I

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