Tea and coffee
Do you prefer coffee or tea? How often do you drink coffee or tea? Do most people prefer tea or coffee today Are coffee and tea popular in your country?
Vocabulary
  • Caffeine (noun) - a chemical, found for example in tea and coffee, that is a stimulant (= something that makes people more active).
  • Coffee shop (noun) - a shop where different types of coffee are sold, either to drink or as beans or powder.
  • To proliferate (verb) - to increase a lot and suddenly in number.
  • Tea room (noun) - a small restaurant where drinks and small meals, such as tea and cakes, are served.
  • Indication (noun) - a sign that something exists, is true, or is likely to happen.
  • On/at every corner (idiom) - in many places along the streets of a town or city.
  • Kitchen counter (noun) - a flat surface in a kitchen, especially on top of low furniture, on which food can be prepared.
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Questions and Answers
M: Do you prefer coffee or tea?

R: Oh, God, coffee. Coffee for days. I love the rush and the focus that you get from the caffeine. Especially with black coffee in the morning.

M: How often do you drink coffee or tea?

R: Well, every day, especially in the morning. I have it with my protein shake. And then when... Ooh, whenever I'm out with my friends or my family and we're shopping in the town, it's nice to stop by a coffee shop. like Starbucks, for example. Starbucks, pay me money.

M: Do most people prefer tea or coffee today?

R: Oh, at a guess I'd say coffee. It seems to have proliferated much further and wider than tea. I mean, you see more coffee shops than tea rooms, for example. So that's probably a good indication, isn't it? And there are more coffee-flavoured products as opposed to tea-flavoured products. At least it seems that way. I could be wrong.

M: Are coffee and tea popular in your country?

R: You would imagine so, since it seems like there's a coffee shop on every street corner, to be honest with you, and apart from two of the houses I've been in, have had supplies of it in every cupboard or even a jar on the kitchen counters.
Discussion
M: So, coffee or tea? Coffee or tea is a beverage, dear listener. Coffee is my favourite beverage. Or my favourite drink.

R: What's the difference between a drink and a beverage?

M: Beverage is a more formal word. But you can use this. Beverage. Oh, yeah, that's my favourite beverage. So that's my favourite drink. So, yeah. But usually people say just I prefer tea, I prefer coffee. Or this is my favourite drink. Like Champagne is my favourite drink, water with ice is my favourite drink. And I prefer latte. Do you say latte?

R: I say good latte when I need a latte, which is almost never. What kind of latte do you have?

M: So latte is like coffee and milk. Okay?

R: Hold on a minute. So is cappuccino. So what's the difference?

M: The difference is that in a latte. Yes? Latte?

R: Latte.

M: Yeah. So kind of like latte is more creamy. And we have less coffee in latte and more milk. But I, sometimes I do cappuccinos. Yeah.

R: Nice. Same. And I also like a chai latte, which I think is a kind of tea that comes from India. I could be wrong. But there's also matcha, which is a replacement for caffeine... Or caffeinated drinks. At least, again, I think so.

M: Caffeine, dear listener, okay? I need caffeine in my life, in my everywhere. So we pronounce it as caffeine. And I love the rush and focus you get from caffeine. So all this rush like...

R: What is the rush?

M: Rush like when you are in a rush, when you are in a hurry. But coffee gives you this, you know, like energy.

R: Yes. So rush is like a surge of energy then, isn't it? Or it can be, as well as being in a hurry.

M: Rory, but I thought tea is in your blood. What about all this tea culture in Great Britain?

R: What about all this tea culture in Great Britain? Where are all the tea rooms? I only ever go to coffee shops. So I think coffee is definitely... Or it seems to have taken over. I don't know if that's a fact or not.

M: Yes, dear listener, I've done some research on the internet. Okay? And one of the articles said that more coffee is sold than tea in the UK. Can you imagine that? So tea is becoming outdated. They say outdated, like... Like old fashioned. So even for English people.

R: Those poor English people. It's a good thing that I'm not English.
M: So, dear listener, if you enjoy coffee, you can say I can't imagine my life without coffee or without tea. Or, for example, I stick with tea. I stick with coffee, like I prefer coffee or tea. Like, oh, I enjoy a nice cup of tea, a cup of tea. If you prefer tea, you can say, for example, I enjoy herbal teas. With herbs, with different like plants. For the evening. Or ginger tea. Ginger. You know? This spicy fruit. Ginger tea when I'm ill or English breakfast tea is really common. We have this Earl Grey, Earl Grey tea. Cinnamon tea. Also in summer, we prefer iced tea or jasmine green tea. Jasmine, with this, you know? What's Jasmine?

R: Isn't Jasmine... Well, it's a spice from India but is Jasmine not extremely expensive or am I thinking of saffron?

M: Saffron is expensive. Yeah, saffron is this orange thingy. Also, you can say I prefer flavoured tea. So Earl Grey is a type of flavoured tea like we have cherry tea. Tea with fruits, spices, and berries. You can say that, oh, sometimes I drink Chinese tea. Like, for example, oolong. Oolong tea. Or yellow tea, red tea, white tea. So Chinese tea. In terms of coffee, you can say espresso. I prefer latte. Right? Black coffee. Americano. How do you say Americano? Americano.

R: Americano. Well, I said black coffee in my answer. And I also talked about coffee-flavoured products and tea-flavoured products. So even if you are not totally into your tea or your coffee, you still have some general vocabulary to talk about. Well, the subject.

M: You can also say cappuccino. Yeah? Cappuccino. Or flat white, for example. Or, for example, frappe. Frappe?

R: Frappe is like iced coffee. Yeah?

M: Iced coffee. Iced coffee. Yeah. And, you know, my favourite one is Affogato.

R: What's that?

M: Have you ever heard this? Affogato?

R: I've heard of it but I don't know what it is. I've never had it.

M: So they put a scoop of ice cream. And then they pour hot espresso. And this, you know, this taste. Like ice cream and hot coffee. Amazing. Affogato, dear listener. Okay? Beautiful. It's more of a dessert than a beverage, than a drink. Oh, it's like coffee and ice cream. So a nice dessert. You can say that you drink coffee every morning or every day. I have it with my protein shake. So you have coffee and protein shakes together?

R: Yeah, I mix it together because it's efficient that way. Some people have it separately though. I've seen this.

M: So I get to wake up and I get to fuel up. So if it fuels me up, it gives me energy, right?

R: Yes, I'm fueled up right now. Because this is my, this is my second coffee of the day. I'm going to be a lot of fun to be around later.

M: You can say it's nice to stop by a coffee shop or to stop at a coffee shop to have a coffee. Your favourite latte with coconut milk.

R: Yes.
M: You can say I drink coffee regularly. Or, if you don't, you can say, oh, I wish I could drink coffee. But my stomach can't handle too much coffee. So my stomach is not... Coffee is not good for my stomach.

R: Coffee also is not good for your anxiety either. So be careful when you drink it or any kind of caffeine, to be honest.

M: Or you can say I drink coffee regularly, or I drink tea regularly. And also I like this one. I'm leaving on a steady caffeine flow. So the flow is like you... Like flow, flow of coffee. So I'm living on coffee. I'm living on caffeine. People today prefer coffee or tea. Well, you can say at a guess. Well, if I were to guess, at a guess. Like, I'm guessing, maybe. Right? I'm taking a wild guess. At a guess, I'd say coffee. Or I'd say tea. And actually, if you read about coffee or tea online, you'll see that coffee is the winner.

R: But if you're not an expert like me, then you could probably just guess because there are lots and lots of coffee shops, but not many tea rooms. Coffee shops, tea rooms.

M: And you also said coffee seems to have proliferated. Ooh. Or coffee has proliferated. Proliferated.

R: To proliferate just means that something has increased its numbers dramatically, far and wide. So usually we talk about nuclear proliferation. But I think the proliferation of coffee shops is much more positive to talk about.

M: Yeah, and that's true. We do have some tea rooms, especially Chinese tea rooms where you can taste different Chinese teas. But far more coffee shops. And Rory made a contrast. Like coffee-flavoured products, like coffee products, different types of coffee, as opposed to tea-based products, as opposed to. Yeah? Like coffee shops as opposed to tea rooms. Tea rooms.

R: Of course, it's important to finish off my answer by saying at least it seems that way, I could be wrong. Because I have no idea about these things. And if you have no idea, you can tell the examiner. It seems that way. I could be wrong. You could use that for a lot of answers, actually. Or answers on different topics at the very least.

M: There is a coffee shop on every street corner. So coffee is, of course, really popular. I didn't get it. You said like you've been to different bars and they have tea.

R: No, no, it means... This word bar is like another way of saying but for, and then whatever you're excluding from your answer. So if I say every house bar two or barring two, it just means every house I've been to, except for two specific ones. As these jars are these cupboards, where they keep coffee and tea.

M: Oh, wow. Could you give us an example with this bar?

R: I like all books bar those which are made from recycled paper because they smell bad. I don't know. So it means I don't like the ones made of recycled paper.

M: Isn't it formal?

R: Well, yes. But also, it was a nice thing to say. Add variety.
M: So for example, everyone is leaving the village bar the very old and ill. So everyone is leaving, but the old people stay. Ooh-la-la, dear listener.

R: Oh, my God. What a controversial example sentence. Why the old and the infirm? What are you doing with them?

M: I don't know, it's the Cambridge online dictionary. Okay? It's your people. Cambridge people, Rory.

R: Not my people. They're English.

M: Scotland freedom. Yeah, Scottish people would never say this. Cheers. Yeah. Let's finish off with... What do we say, this is like fresh coffee beans. Yeah? It's like beans. The thingies?

R: Yes, but I'm drinking instant coffee. So I should just be quiet.

M: Instant coffee? Really? Oh, wow. Whoo. Instant coffee, dear listener. You... And Bob's your uncle, coffee is ready. So instant coffee. But if I have the beans, these little coffee beans, what do I do with them? I grind them and I make coffee from coffee beans.

R: Yes. You can get coffee-making machines that are quite professional these days. Two of my friends have them. They're amazing.

M: So they use coffee beans to make coffee. Yeah?

R: I think so. I don't know the fine points of it or the fine details. But yes, I think you just put the beans in, do something. And then coffee appears. Magically. It's magic. That's what it is. It's magic.

M: And then we make tea. Yeah? You can have a tea bag. Like a tea bag. Bag of tea.

R: Interestingly, you get a teaspoon, but you don't get a coffee spoon. Why?

M: Because you have coffee... Wait a second, wait a second, dear listener. Stay with me.

R: Do you know, I said that is a very idle question. Like not expecting a serious answer. But now I'm going to get one.

M: Yeah, this, this, you have this, you see?

R: What the heck is that?

M: It's the wooden thing.

R: A stirring stick?

M: Yes, yes. It's a... Dear listener, lool. It's a stirring stick. And sometimes they make it out of wood. Sometimes out of other materials. So... So we have a stirrer. Right. Thank you for listening! Tell us. Are you a coffee person? Are you a tea person? Write in the comments. What kind of coffee do you prefer? So if you were a tea person, if you were. Like, imagine that you are a tea person. What tea would you prefer? Tell us in the comments. Okay? We also have our premium episodes for you. The links are in the description. Do check them out. Okay? Speaking two and three. Fresh topics.

R: Fresh topics and fresh coffee.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!
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