It was, perhaps, a little more formal than your average caff but there is joy in all their simple pleasures.
Anyway, mornings also start well when they start with Marmite on toast and latte from the local caff.
Now they are in dozens of caffs here in the East End - and when the looming cigarette-smoking ban finally comes into force, they will colonise London.
With our continental café culture, our Easter flower displays and now this festival, York will soon be known as the city of caffs, daffs and laughs.
The Isle of Bute's culinary reputation has never broken free from the low-rent caffs and no-frills pubs which dot the island.
One thing that is manifestly true is that it is only in caffs that you can find a decent cup of tea or a cappuccino.
My favourite thing about the caff (apart from extremely cheap and nice sandwiches and lovely strong tea) is the sign on the wall with all the things you could have to eat.
Right now I'm in an internet caff in Pisa, drinking macchiato.
Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps he heads off to the boozers and caffs of Roman Road at the weekend to gorge himself on pies and animated proletarian discussion.
He was always trying to encourage me to bunk off and go hang out in the caff at the park, but I being the goody-goody that I was always refused convinced I'd get caught.
I knew I was heading for somewhere special when the fella said, ‘Follow the sign for the public refuse tip, go past the tyre place and we're opposite the caff.’
Standards are high, thanks to careful sourcing of local ingredients, and, while this is as far from a local caff as you get, the atmosphere is friendly.
My fave caff in town was suddenly filled with a group of young people from I'm guessing central Africa.
Today's Special: Channel 4 is running a very short series of very short films about London's classic caffs.
Then they head off to the nearest caff in Tikrit and sit drinking mugs of tea all day.
I'm feeling all warm inside. Let's go and see if that nice old lady wants a cup of tea from the caff.
In my drinking days I'd have started the day with egg, bacon, beans and a fried slice in the caff, disseminating a hangover.
But this is much more than ‘an ace caff with a gallery attached’.
They simply challenged horrible second rate restaurants and dirty caffs which were closed half the time.