IT is more than 350 years since the first cheerful little coffee bean found its way to British shores.

Bought across by travellers it is unclear which dock the original batch arrived at – it could even have landed at Southampton to take the country by storm.

Since its arrival it has had a huge impact in almost every aspect of everyday life.

Replacing beer as the traditional breakfast beverage the cup of java led to an increase in productivity as the caffeine fix replaced the alcohol stupor in all walks of life.

It has also laid claim to the creation of the first postal system, insurance giants and newspapers.

The nation’s favourite dish curry is even rumoured to have been introduced to the country’s taste buds in a coffee shop.

However, its work in the romance stakes was given little credence in its early years with some women blaming it for their husband’s lack of ...vitality.

This wild slander against the good bean was spread by a public proclamation although it later emerged that men had been spending the day at the ale house and trying to partially sober themselves with a hit of coffee.

In recent times the popular beverage has managed to regain its sex appeal – just look at the Gold Blend couple.

While those adverts ran for some time, there were relatively few meetings and frankly I think Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan were frogging before they got halfway down the jar.

From these solid foundations the coffee shop entered the world of romance appearing in Sex and the City, Ally McBeal and Friends – the latter incidentally was sponsored by Nescafe.

Before long real people were making dates in coffee shops as opposed to pubs and hundreds of Costas, Coffee Republics, Starbucks and Cafe Neros sprang up in London and sent their sprawling tentacles out across the country.

I have been on a number of these new fangled dates.

The drawback is that your date is unlikely to have her morals loosened by alcohol – I have found pulling out a concealed hip flask and offering to “Irish up” her Cappuccino does not go down well.

An advantage is that you get to see each other in daylight before you are in too deep.

As these become common-place, I need to find a coffee that sends the right message to potential mates.

Ideally I would like to treat myself to freshly ground Jamaican Blue Mountain most days while economic reasons should see me reaching for the jars with the blue and white stripes.

However, f or me coffee is a thing of beauty and one of the few luxuries on which I refuse to skimp.

To find my signature brew I headed to my favourite coffee shop, Choices, in Eastleigh, to sample the various drinks on offer.

I am not sensitive enough to identify with Latte or Mocha drinkers while Expressos are too small to be sipped and enjoyed.

My drink of choice therefore had to be a strong Americano which I like to think will help me establish the image of a grizzled intellectual type.

In my spare time I am going to sit in the aforementioned cafes looking fraught with my trendy coffees like a much more attractive Jean Paul Sartre and wait for the women to come rolling in.