Talking about coffee

Introduction Georgie and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about coffee – the hot (...or cold!) drink that gives us energy when we are tired. Learn how to talk about whether you take your coffee black or white, and find out what surprising ingredient Georgie sometimes adds to her coffee... Vocabulary take (your) coffee (white/black) prefer your coffee (with milk/without milk) caffeine chemical which naturally occurs in coffee and tea, as well as other food and drink, which helps people to stay alert decaffeinated / decaf with caffeine removed or reduced cut down on / cut back on have less of something   Transcript Georgie Hi Neil. How are you?   Neil I'm very well thank you, Georgie. Are you enjoying your coffee?   Georgie I am, but it's got a bit cool now. I prefer my coffee hot, but... oh well! Are you enjoying yours?   Neil I've finished mine.   Georgie Oh, that's a shame.   Neil It's a sad moment when I've finished my second coffee of the day, because that's it. I don't have more than two.   Georgie So, we're talking about coffee in this episode, aren't we?   Neil We are. But before we start, of course, everyone needs to know that there is a free worksheet on our website. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.   Georgie Yes, they can also find a free transcript, can't they?   Neil They can, yes, at the same address. So, Georgie, we're talking about coffee. How much coffee, or how many coffees if we're talking about cups of coffee – how many do you have a day?   Georgie I usually have two, and I know that you do as well, because we drink them both in the office, don't we? We have one cup of coffee in the morning and one usually in the afternoon, when we need to regain some energy and alertness.   Neil Yeah. And so, we all know because we make each other... At BBC Learning English, we make each other coffee, so we know how we take our coffee.   Georgie Yes. How we take our coffee is how we like it – what we like to put in it. For example, sugar or milk. I know that you don't like milk in your coffee. You take your coffee black.   Neil I do. I like black coffee and you take your coffee white and you used to have sugar, but you don't anymore.   Georgie That's right. Occasionally when I'm at home I put some honey in my coffee to make it a bit sweeter.   Neil Eurgh! Honey in coffee?   Georgie Yes. Is that surprising?   Neil I've never heard of that.   Georgie Really?   Neil Sugar, but not honey. Georgie But why would that be so bad?   Neil Well, I don't know. It's just I've never heard of it.   Georgie It's really good. I would recommend.   Neil OK. So, Georgie, what happens if you don't have your coffee?   Georgie Well, in the morning if I don't have coffee, I feel very grumpy and very tired. In the afternoon if I don't have a coffee, it's not terrible, but I would prefer to have my afternoon coffee. How about you?   Neil Yeah, I need my coffee, especially in the morning, but I don't have my coffee first thing in the morning.   Georgie Oh, interesting.   Neil I have it, kind of, I don't know... work time – nine o'clock.   Georgie Why is that?   Neil I think it's too strong, too powerful. Or maybe just the way I drink it.   Georgie What happens if you drink too much coffee?   Neil Ooh, then it's difficult to sleep because of the caffeine. Caffeine is that chemical in coffee and tea that makes you feel awake and alert. But too much means you're too alert.   Georgie I don't think that caffeine has a big effect on me. I don't think I have trouble sleeping if I drink too much coffee. It's strange. Yeah, because sometimes I'll have an espresso after dinner.   Neil Really?   Georgie Yeah. And I can still sleep.   Neil That's crazy.   Georgie Yeah. Lucky me.   Neil Lucky you!   Georgie Neil, have you ever tried to cut down on coffee?   Neil Cut down on... You mean have less? No, I haven't tried to cut down on coffee, but I've tried to cut down on caffeine.   Georgie OK.   Neil So, I... for a while, I only drank decaffeinated coffee, or decaf, as we call it.   Georgie OK. And how was that?   Neil Well, I didn't miss caffeine at the time, I don't think. It lasted for a long time, but now I drink caffeine. I don't care.   Georgie OK. Neil, it's time to recap the vocabulary we used in the conversation. We used the verb take. So, Neil, how do you take your coffee?   Neil I take my coffee black, and I know you take your coffee white.   Georgie Yes. We also heard caffeine, which is the chemical that is in coffee, which makes you feel more awake.   Neil Yes, but you can also get decaffeinated coffee or tea – it means there's no caffeine. And we usually shorten that just to decaf – decaf coffee.   Georgie Yes. We also heard the phrasal verb cut down on, which means you have less of something.   Neil Yep. And you can also say cut back on. It means the same thing.   Georgie OK. Well, that is the end of this conversation about coffee in Real Easy English.   Neil Yes, and if people want to watch more episodes of Real Easy English, what should they do?   Georgie They should go to our website, bbclearningenglish.com, where they can find a free worksheet to test what they've learned. Goodbye for now.   Neil Goodbye! Now try this... Watch The London Letter Challenge. Download a free worksheet. Discover more programmes for your level.  Find all our latest programmes.