The 37-year-old – who has changed his name to just Winter – is on a mission to visit every Starbucks on the planet.

Now he can tick two more off his coffee checklist after stopping off at the Sunderland and Dalton Park branches on his global tour.

Despite visiting more than 9,000 stores worldwide, the Texan says chains here have a charm of their own.

After getting lost in Seaham, he arrived at the Dalton Park branch, in Murton, just after closing but, hearing about his mission, staff served him anyway.

Speaking about his Wearside and East Durham Starbucks experience, Winter said: "I've got to say something for these UK stores, even though they close early, the baristas have almost always been willing to talk to me, and I think I have had a 100 per cent success record of getting coffee when I asked.

"This is in sharp contrast to baristas in America who are often reluctant to even speak to me through the door, or to answer the phone if I'm calling after hours.

"One even called the police when I showed up a few minutes after closing."

He added: "I don't know the reason for this. Perhaps Brits are more polite than Americans? Perhaps it's the fact that I'm American and have come all the way to the UK to visit their stores?"

Because of the mammoth task he has undertaken, Winter says he only gets a taster of the stores he visits and never gets to spend much time in any of them.

He explained: "One of the downsides of having so many Starbucks to visit is that I do not always have time to fully take in a location. I face further schedule pressures because, here in England, most stores close several hours earlier than in America."

Winter, who has no official link to the brand, has been sampling Starbucks stores in the U.S. and beyond for the past 10 years.

As part of his mission, he has to drink a cup of coffee in every shop he visits, usually a 4oz tester cup of regular brewed coffee.

He plots his trips on his website starbuckseverywhere.com.
However, the former computer programmer doesn't visit franchise shops, such as those in train stations, only actual stores.

After five weeks spent in Britain, he is working his way down the country before heading over to the continent to sample their Starbucks.