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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the website bbclearningenglish.com.
See you soon, bye.
Catherine: Bye! Fancy a coffee?
Neil: I think you've had too much!