BBC 6 minute English-The smell of coffee
Transcript of the podcast
Note: This is not a word for word transcript
Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I’m Neil
Catherine: And I’m Catherine
Neil: Catherine, I’m going to start this programme with a quick test, just for you
Catherine: Ooo, I love tests
Neil: Complete this phrase: Wake up and smell the
Catherine: Coffee Neil! It’s coffee. I have to say, I love coffee, it’s great
Neil: OK, so do you drink much
Catherine: Well, just a couple of cups, you know
Neil: Every day
Catherine: No, every hour! I love coffee, don’t you like coffee, Neil
Neil: I do but maybe not as much as you! What’s the best thing about it
Catherine: It’s the smell. It’s got to be the smell. You know, when you open the packet, it’s great, isn’t it
Neil: Yes, but it never quite tastes as good as it smells, does it
Catherine: Well no, not really. It’s always a little disappointing. I live in hope, another cup, I think it will be better. I might change brands actually and try a different one
Neil: OK, you’ve had quite a lot of coffee today, haven’t you
Catherine: Just the usual six cups
Neil: Well, our topic today is the smell of coffee and coffee is also the subject of today’s question. The world’s biggest producer of coffee is
Catherine: Brazil! Brazil
Neil: Yes, but that’s not the question. The question is, Brazil is the biggest coffee producer, which is the second largest coffee producing country? Is it
a: Colombia
b: Vietnam
c: Ethiopia
Catherine: Right, so it’s not Brazil but I bet it’s another South American country, so I’m going to go for Columbia. Columbia, is that right
Neil: We’ll have the answer later in the programme by which time, maybe the caffeine will have left your body Catherine. Tim Hayward is a coffee shop owner. He appeared in the BBC Radio 4 programme The Kitchen Cabinet. How important does he say the smell of coffee is
Tim Hayward, Coffee shop owner
It’s absolutely vital, it’s the key thing. When you walk in to the coffee shop in the morning and that smell hits you, you’re getting physiological responses
Neil: So how important is it
Catherine: I’m feeling a bit calmer now. Tim Hayward says the smell of coffee is vital. That means it’s very important, it’s perhaps the most important thing. And he backs this up by saying that it’s the key thing. Something that’s key is something that is essential, it’s really important
Neil: And he says that when you experience the smell, when the smell hits you, you get a physiological response. This phrase means your body has a reaction to the smell of coffee. Perhaps your mouth begins to water in anticipation. Catherine, when you get a coffee, do you normally have it there or take it away
Catherine: Well, I usually take it away, although if I’m feeling really in need of a coffee hit, I might have one there and then get another one and take with me
Neil: Can you describe the container you are given when you have a coffee to go
Catherine: Yes, it’s in a tall paper cup with a lid. And the lid has a hole in it so that I can drink that lovely coffee
Neil: Don’t you think that’s a problem? I mean, we know how important the smell is, so what is the effect of the lid on that experience
Catherine: The effect of the lid
Neil: Yes. Well here’s Tim Hayward again talking about coffee being served with lids
Tim Hayward
What baffles me is that how many of the large coffee chains actually sell a product in a cup that removes the smell. So you walk into the coffee shop, you get the smell, but when you actually take the drink out you are drinking it from something that is designed to deliver the hot liquid directly past your tongue but stop any smell coming up to your nose. That’s just weird
Neil: So what is he describing there
Catherine: I see now, yes, He’s talking about the big coffee chains. A chain is a company that has lots of its stores in towns and cities sometimes around the world. I think we can all think of a few well-known coffee chains. He says that by putting a lid on take away cups, you’re actually blocking the smell – that smell that is really important to the coffee experience
Neil: Yes, and he says that he finds that weird, which is a way of saying he finds it unusual, thinks it’s strange, odd. So much so that he says it baffles him. If you are baffled by something, you find it confusing, you can’t really understand it. Here’s Tim Hayward again
Tim Hayward
What baffles me is that how many of the large coffee chains actually sell a product in a cup that removes the smell. So you walk into the coffee shop, you get the smell, but when you actually take the drink out you are drinking it from something that is designed to deliver the hot liquid directly past your tongue but stop any smell coming up to your nose. That’s just weird
Neil: That was coffee shop owner Tim Hayward. Right before we have another cup of this week’s vocabulary, let’s get the answer to the question. After Brazil, which country produces most coffee? Is it
a: Colombia
b: Vietnam
c: Ethiopia
Catherine, you said
Catherine: I said it was a: Colombia
Neil: Ah, sorry, no extra coffee for you today! The answer is Vietnam. And now on to the vocabulary we looked at. Take it away Catherine
Catherine: So the first word was vital, which is an adjective that means very important. And another word with a very similar meaning was key, meaning essential
Neil: Next we had the phrase physiological responses. Physiological refers to what our bodies do and a response is a reaction.So a physiological response is a reaction your body has to something, like the smell of coffee
Catherine: Something that baffles you, confuses you, you don’t understand it
Neil: You might find something that baffles you to be weird. This adjective means unusual or strange
Catherine: And finally, a chain is a group of shops from the same company with the same name
Neil: Well that is the end of our programe. For more from us, check out Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and our App and of course the website bbclearningenglish.com. See you soon, bye
Catherine: Bye! Fancy a coffee
Neil: I think you’ve had too much
