Hello.
This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I'm Sam.
And I'm Neil.
Did you have a cup of coffee
this morning, Neil?
Oh yes, I can't start the
day without my morning cup
of coffee...
or two... or three!
And what do you like about
coffee so much?
Well, that lovely smell
for one thing!
And,
of course, it wakes me up
and gets me ready to
face the world.
Ah, you mean the
caffeine hit - the effect
of caffeine, which is a
natural stimulant, on your
brain making you feel
more awake.
Do you think,
maybe, you're...
addicted to coffee?
It's not just me, Sam.
Have
you seen how busy coffee shops
are nowadays?!
Full of people
enjoying delicious coffee
from all around the world!
Well, it wasn't always like
that, Neil.
The first coffee
to reach Britain in the
17th century took months to
arrive by sea.
It was made
by boiling raw coffee beans,
and apparently tasted awful!
In this programme, we'll be
looking into the history of
coffee in Britain, and
as usual, we'll be learning
some related vocabulary too.
But before that, I have a
question for you.
The earliest coffee to
arrive in Britain took its
name from the port in
Yemen it was shipped from.
So, what was it called?
Was it:
a) Cappuccino?
b) Mocha?
or
c) Latte?
I'll say b) Mocha.
OK.
I'll reveal the answer
later in the programme.
Britain's love affair with
coffee started with the
opening of London's first
coffee shop in 1652.
People loved the effect -
coffee made them more
talkative and brighter, it
kept them awake for longer,
and the drink became more
and more popular.
Within a
decade over eighty new
coffee shops had opened in
the City of London alone.
By the 1800s, though, tea
had replaced coffee as the
most fashionable drink,
partly because it was drunk
by Queen Victoria.
Listen as
Judith Hawley, an expert on
18th century literature,
takes up the story with BBC
Radio 4 programme, In Our Time.
It became more of a working-class
drink.
So, there were coffee
shacks and carts like these
sort of little street carts
that you get still in London,
and you get all over New York,
that is a cheap, quick drinks
to perk you up.
And the
Temperance Movement sponsored
coffee taverns to try to wean
working men off going to
the pub for lunch.
So, it moved.
It declined seriously and has
never fully recovered even
in the current coffee boom.
In the 17th century there was
a coffee boom - an increase
in its popularity.
One of
the reasons was that coffee
perks you up - gives you more
energy and makes
you more active.
Drinking coffee was also
supported by a social group
called the Temperance Movement,
who campaigned to make alcohol
illegal.
They used coffee to
wean men off alcohol - make
them gradually stop using
something they had
become addicted to.
Coffee changed British society
and continues to do so today.
Here's Professor Judith Hawley
again, talking to BBC Radio 4's,
In Our Time, about the
situation today.
I think if we look at the way
coffee consumption is going
today it seems to me to set out
two quite radical alternatives
for the world.
One is the
world of corporate coffee, the
coffee chains existing on a
low wage economy.
So, you have
that kind of mass coffee market
on the one hand.
One the other
hand you have these microlot
estates, Fairtrade coffee, the
sort of hipster coffee which
is as varied and as
interesting as fine wines and
is made in an artisanal way.
Many customers today are
turning away from large coffee
chains like Starbucks, in
search of a more responsibly
sourced cup of coffee.
One example of this is
Fairtrade, an ethical standards
scheme which guarantees a
fair price for coffee producers
in South America, Africa and Asia.
Another recent development is
the use of microlots - small plots
of land which grow specialised
coffee beans prized for their
high quality and unique flavour.
Fairtrade and microlot coffee
are part of a shift in focus
towards quality, artisanal
coffee - coffee made by hand,
in the traditional way by
skilled growers.
It's
artisanal coffee that's often
sold in smaller, independent
coffee shops preferred
by trendy hipsters.
So, coffee in Britain has come
a long way from the days it
travelled for months by sea
from faraway places like
Ethiopia and Java - which
reminds me, Sam, what was the
answer to your question.
I asked Neil which city gave
its name to the first coffee
to arrive in Britain
in the 1600s.
I guessed it was b) Mocha,
which happens to be
my favourite drink.
Well, you guessed right
because that was the correct
answer!
You certainly know
your coffee, Neil.
Right, let's recap the
vocabulary we've used in
this programme on the
history of coffee, a drink
which can perk you up -
give you more energy
and make you feel awake.
Many people drink coffee
for the caffeine hit - the
way caffeine, which is
contained in coffee, stimulates
your body and mind.
The effect
can be so strong you might
have to wean yourself
off it - gradually stop using
something which is bad for you.
Fairtrade coffee refers to a
scheme which ensures that coffee
farmers receive a fair price
for growing their product,
while a microlot is a small
plot of land specialising in
coffee beans of a very high
quality or unique flavour.
Finally, artisanal describes
something made by artisans -
skilled workers who make things
by hand in a traditional way.
Once again, our six minutes up.
I'm off to get myself a
hot steamy mocha.
Bye for now!
Goodbye!