There are few places or products about which I write only in superlatives, but if it is the very best coffee in the world you want, there is only one address and that is "Higgins-Coffee Man" in London. There are good coffee shops and suppliers in many cities, but not one of them holds a candle to the charm, the history or the quality and choice of coffees offered by Higgins.

Simply stated, if coffee is your passion, Higgins is the firm to consult. From the window display of large wood bowls piled high with coffee beans to the collection of antique coffee grinders, and including the paneled interior with dozens of copper canisters, brass scales and sacks of unroasted beans, everything here announces that this is one of the greatest coffee shops in the world. With coffees from Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Mysore, Java and Ethiopia, this is a place where selling coffee is like selling fine wines. Customers may sample any coffee before they buy and all coffee sold in the shop is roasted and, if requested, ground on the premises.

In addition to pure coffees such as Colombian Medillin Excelso, Mysore, Tanzanian Double Chagga, Jamaican Blue Mountain, Guatemalan Maragogype, Ethiopian Mocha, Brazillian Santos Supreme, Kenyan Estate, Sumatra Blue Lintur and Costa Rican San Roque, the company also offers their own blends, specialty blends and customer-designed blends.

Although the shop is definitely worth visiting, the company also has a world-wide mail order service. To be placed on their mailing list, to receive catalogues and to make personal orders write to the store: H.R. Higgins, Coffee Man at 79 Duke Street, W1M 6AS, London. For commercial information and orders letters should be addressed to "Wholesale Department, 10 Lea Road, Industrial Park, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN 9 1AS,

© Daniel Rogov