Living and travelling overseas has been an interesting experiment. Since my departure from Sydney some three years ago, I have been able to experience different cultures and broaden my perceptions of the world in which we live. Though on a smaller scale, I have simply enjoyed discovering the minor differences in everyday life. Take the culture of coffee for example. Back home in Australia, we are lucky enough to drink great, Italian-grade coffee; the UK is unfortunately infested with Starbucks and a swarm of Starbuck-like chains, and on the small island of Mauritius, the stuff can hardly even be found - they prefer their vanilla tea. So, what is coffee like in France?

Me: Un espresso s'il vous plait
Waiter: Un café ?

The first thing I noticed during my first few outings with friends was that people usually had an espresso somewhere along the line. Whether it was a morning drink to wake oneself up or a post-meal beverage at a restaurant, the choice was always the same. Espresso. Actually, they just call it "café" even though that's a rather broad term. If you want something else, you would have to be more precise. For example, café au lait or café crème. Weird isn't it?

The whole espresso (or café) drinking thing was only ever a casual observation. It appeared relatively normal and I drank the stuff now and again. But then I started working, and that's when I noticed how addicted the French really were to this biting beverage.

Paulin: Tu veux un petit jus ?

How many espressos can a Frenchman drink? A lot apparently. So much so that making a short one from the communal espresso machine was perhaps my first lesson in French office culture. Yes, we have a proper espresso coffee machine with uses individual doses of ground coffee. Not one of those 10-types-of-coffee-in-one abominations found in most workplaces. I don't think our workplace is particularly special in having this either. It appears to be the norm here in Paris.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, coffee. The French love it. Some of my work colleagues down about 4-6 espressos every day, and that's only at work. Who knows how much more they drink before and after hours? If my flatmate Emmanuel is any example to go by, then I'm guessing it would be a fair amount. He is a coffee fiend. He pumps out the stuff from his little espresso machine non-stop on any given day. And for him, the "coffee headache" is a frequently visited experience.

I haven't been a huge fan of drinking multiple espressos throughout the day. Back home in Australia, I used to only have one warm, thick latte in the mornings. But like eating lots of cheese, espresso drinking has become a bit of a habit for me. It's an omnipresent part of French life that I have found easy to settle into. You can't fight the machine. Even McDonald's sells the stuff.