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It's nine. The moka pot is on the stove, as it is every morning. Coffee is the ritual that opens the day.

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At the café, standing at the counter, the words are always the same: a coffee, please. Then we set off again.

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The need for sleep has a molecule: adenosine. It builds up through every hour we are awake.

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Caffeine has a similar shape and takes its place. The signal is covered. But adenosine is still there, waiting.

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Motorway, at night. After a strong coffee, 75 per cent drive as if it were daytime.

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After a half-hour nap, 66 per cent. After a decaf, 13.

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Coffee doesn't clear quickly: every five hours, half of it is still there.

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The nine o'clock cup is down to an eighth by midnight. The five o'clock cup, to more than a third.

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It isn't just coffee. Tea, cola, energy drinks, chocolate, painkillers: the total goes to bed with you.

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Anyone who sets off after a coffee feels awake. The need for sleep hasn't gone: it's only covered.

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Coffee covers sleepiness. It doesn't remove it. If you're sleepy: a coffee, then twenty minutes' sleep, then go.