I haven’t had a decent cup of real, strong coffee for days. Both cups I had for breakfast and lunch were very weak and flavoured with chicory.

Then I remembered my cooking gear. I set up my petrol stove outside my room and started boiling some water. I put some fresh coffee into my mug.

I poured the boiling water into it and waited for the grounds to sink. It took a while and wasn’t totally successful. I was looking forward to my first cup so I tried it anyway.

After I’d spat the bigger bits into the loo I rinsed my mouth out.

That’s when I had my brilliant idea.

Having already decided it was time for a new T-shirt I used my old one as a filter. Placing a clean bit over the saucepan, I carefully poured the coffee through my new filter.

Feeling rather pleased with myself I poured the filtered coffee back into my mug.

It smelt really good.

It tasted really good too but, there was a late follow through which detracted from the overall experience.

It was Ariel.

I had washed my T-shirt by hand three days ago.

It also brought back memories of hiking on Mount Mulanje in Malawi. The first night we had to wash up without any soap so we used shampoo. For several weeks afterwards, everything I drank from my mug tasted of shampoo. The shampoo had chemically bonded with the plastic mug.

I now have a metal mug.

Lessons learnt:

· Put the coffee in the saucepan not the cup.
· Get a proper filter.
· Take a nice tasting shampoo.