IN 2009, Gennaro Pelliccia's tongue was insured for 10 million pounds - a quarter of what David Beckham's legs were reportedly worth.

It isn't insured anymore, but the point of it back then was to show how the art of tasting coffee was about as intricate a skill as that of, say, a master perfumer or a wine taster. As the Master of Coffee at the UK chain Costa Coffee, Mr Pelliccia's job is just that: to distinguish the nuances in coffee flavours and ensure the quality of the blends created at the chain's main roasting plant in London.

Together with his team, one of his main jobs is to sample infusions of the Costa blends and ensure their quality is consistent before allowing them to be distributed to stores all over the world.