How do you take your coffee? ☕🥛🍯 Improve your listening skills with Real Easy English

0:00 Hi Neil.

0:00 How are you?

0:01 I'm very well thank you, Georgie.

0:03 Are you enjoying your coffee?

0:05 I am, but it's got a bit cool now.

0:08 I prefer my coffee hot, but...

0:11 oh well!

0:12 Are you enjoying yours?

0:14 I've finished mine.

0:15 Oh, that's a shame.

0:16 It's a sad moment when I've finished

0:19 my second coffee of the day, because that's it.

0:23 I don't have more than two.

0:25 So, we're talking about coffee in this episode, aren't we?

0:29 We are.

0:30 But before we start, of course,

0:32 everyone needs to know that there is a free worksheet on our website.

0:37 That's at bbclearningenglish.com.

0:40 Yes, they can also find a free transcript, can't they?

0:44 They can, yes, at the same address.

0:52 So, Georgie, we're talking about coffee.

0:55 How much coffee, or how many coffees if we're talking

0:59 about cups of coffee– how many do you have a day?

1:03 I usually have two, and I know that you do as well,

1:07 because we drink them both in the office, don't we?

1:10 We have one cup of coffee in the morning and one usually in the afternoon,

1:16 when we need to regain some energy and alertness.

1:21 Yeah.

1:22 And so, we all know because we make each other...

1:26 at BBC Learning English, we make each other coffee,

1:29 so we know how we take our coffee.

1:33 Yes.

1:33 'How we take our coffee' is how we like it– what we like to put in it.

1:38 For example, sugar or milk.

1:41 I know that you don't like milk in your coffee.

1:45 You take your coffee black.

1:47 I do.

1:47 I like black coffee and you take your coffee white and you used to have sugar,

1:53 but you don't anymore.

1:54 That's right.

1:55 Occasionally when I'm at home I put some honey

1:59 in my coffee to make it a bit sweeter.

2:02 Eurgh!

2:02 Honey in coffee?

2:04 Yes.

2:04 Is that surprising?

2:06 I've never heard of that.

2:07 Really?

2:09 Sugar, but not honey.

2:11 But why would that be so bad?

2:14 Well, I don't know.

2:16 It's just I've never heard of it.

2:19 It's really good.

2:20 I would recommend.

2:21 OK.

2:22 So, Georgie, what happens if you don't have your coffee?

2:29 Well, in the morning if I don't have coffee, I feel very grumpy and very tired.

2:37 In the afternoon if I don't have a coffee,

2:40 it's not terrible, but I would prefer to have my afternoon coffee.

2:45 How about you?

2:46 Yeah, I need my coffee, especially in the morning,

2:50 but I don't have my coffee first thing in the morning.

2:54 Oh, interesting.

2:55 I have it, kind of, I don't know...

2:58 work time– nine o'clock.

2:59 Why is that?

3:01 I think it's too strong, too powerful.

3:03 Or maybe just the way I drink it.

3:06 What happens if you drink too much coffee?

3:08 Ooh, then it's difficult to sleep because of the caffeine.

3:14 Caffeine is that chemical in coffee and tea that makes you feel awake and alert.

3:22 But too much means you're too alert.

3:26 I don't think that caffeine has a big effect on me.

3:31 I don't think I have trouble sleeping if I drink too much coffee.

3:35 It's strange.

3:36 Yeah, because sometimes I'll have an espresso after dinner.

3:40 Really?

3:41 Yeah.

3:41 And I can still sleep.

3:43 That's crazy.

3:44 Yeah.

3:44 Lucky me.

3:45 Lucky you!

3:47 Neil, have you ever tried to cut down on coffee?

3:51 Cut down on...

3:52 You mean have less?

3:54 No, I haven't tried to cut down on coffee,

3:57 but I've tried to cut down on caffeine.

4:01 OK.

4:02 So, I...

4:03 For a while, I only drank decaffeinated coffee, or decaf, as we call it.

4:10 OK.

4:10 And how was that?

4:12 Well, I didn't miss caffeine at the time, I don't think.

4:18 It lasted for a long time, but now I drink caffeine.

4:23 I don't care.

4:31 OK.

4:31 Neil, it's time to recap the vocabulary we used in the conversation.

4:36 We used the verb 'take'.

4:38 So, Neil, how do you take your coffee?

4:40 I take my coffee black, and I know you take your coffee white.

4:45 Yes.

4:45 We also heard 'caffeine', which is the chemical that is in coffee,

4:50 which makes you feel more awake.

4:52 Yes, but you can also get decaffeinated

4:55 coffee or tea– it means there's no caffeine.

4:58 And we usually shorten that just to 'decaf'– decaf coffee.

5:03 Yes.

5:04 We also heard the phrasal verb 'cut down

5:06 on', which means you have less of something.

5:09 Yep.

5:09 And you can also say 'cut back on'.

5:12 It means the same thing.

5:13 OK.

5:14 Well, that is the end of this conversation about coffee in Real Easy English.

5:19 Yes, and if people want to watch more episodes of Real Easy English,

5:23 what should they do?

5:24 They should go to our website, bbclearningenglish.com,

5:28 where they can find a free worksheet to test what they've learned.

5:31 Goodbye for now.

5:32 Goodbye!