The smell of coffee - 6 Minute English

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, 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

bit 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, 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 but 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?

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

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 that 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.

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 it he's describing there?

Catherine: I see, 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.

And 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.

What baffles me is 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.

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See you soon, bye.

Catherine: Bye! Fancy a coffee?

Neil: I think you've had too much!