At the start of this year I bought a caftière. Overcome with January thriftiness, I was determined to kick my coffee shop habit and make my own filter coffee every day.

The caftière is still in its box.

Happily, though, the reason is not the lure of the grande-skinny-hazelnut-latte that I can get next door (I now laugh at such gimmickry), but the joy of the Nespresso capsule. A Nespresso machine magically appeared in the offices of The Lady some months ago and I have been gleefully indulging in their Grand Crus ever since. I am convinced that brand ambassador George Clooney will pop in soon.

Coffee craziness in mind, I was delighted to be invited to the launch of the Nespresso London flagship store this week. Sleek, sophisticated and spacious, this store doesn't just sell coffee - it sells a lifestyle.

To mark the occasion, they have paired up with The Square's two-Michelin starred chef Phil Howard to create a range of recipes using coffee as an ingredient. The ingenious Phil has paired the flavour with dishes you might expect, such as granola, with those you would not. Coffee-crusted Scotch egg, anyone?

Combining coffee with sweet dishes is a time-tested technique. Phil revealed that incorporating the flavour into savoury dishes proved more tricky, but he pulls it off with characteristic panache. Along with the granola (delightfully crisp) and Scotch egg (even more delightfully crisp), during the breakfast session with sampled duck liver parfait with coffee nougatine, tonka bean crème brûlée with hazelnut oil and coffee, and pavé of bitter chocolate with burnt orange and ristretto coffee.

For a java-lover like myself, it was heaven, but I'd wager even non-coffee-drinkers would be equally enthralled. More often that not the flavour was mild, and served to highlight the inherent sweetness of all the dishes.

Besides, when you get to eat crème brûlée before 9am, where can you go wrong?

To see a selection of Phil's exclusive recipes, click here

For more information, please visit www.nespresso.com