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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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1

GLOSSARY

decaf – decaffeinated; without caffeine (the substance that makes people feel
alert and awake)
* Xander can only drink decaf in the evening, or else he has trouble falling
asleep.

coffee – a drink made from passing hot water over ground coffee beans
* Hal begins each day with a cup of hot coffee.

to go – to be packaged so that one can eat or drink something outside of the
store or restaurant where it is sold
* Are you going to sit at a table, or do you want this to go?

roast – a measure of how long the coffee beans have been cooked over a hot
fire, especially how dark in color they appear
* This is a medium-roast coffee with flavors of chocolate and cinnamon.

drip – coffee that is brewed (made) by passing hot water over ground coffee
beans; the way coffee is typically made in someone’s home
* This drip coffee is really bitter. I think you used too much coffee and not
enough water.

espresso – very strong, dark coffee made by pushing steam (hot water vapor)
through coffee beans very quickly
* Many people like to drink espresso after their meal.

Americano – a drink made by adding hot water to a small amount of espresso
* The coffee shop didn’t have any brewed coffee, so they made me an
Americano for the same price.

latte – a drink made by putting espresso in a cup and then adding steamed milk
that has a lot of air in it
* Jillian’s favorite drink is a vanilla latte.

room – space; an area that is set aside for some particular purpose
* Do you have room in your garage to store these boxes for a few months?

cream – a high-fat dairy product; the fatty substance that rises to the top of a
container of cow’s milk
* Yevgeny’s doctor told him to try to lower his cholesterol by using nonfat milk
instead of cream in his morning coffee.

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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2

sweetener – a substance that makes something taste sweeter, such as sugar,
honey, and saccharin
* People with diabetes need to use artificial sweeteners instead of real sugar.

pump – the amount of liquid dispensed (released from a bottle) by pushing the
top of the bottle down one time
* Becca uses one pump of lotion for her face and neck, and another pump for her
elbows.

syrup – a thick, sweet liquid used to sweeten other foods
* Do you want some maple syrup on your pancakes?

packet – a small container made from paper or cardboard, usually containing a
single portion (something meant to be used or eaten by one person at one time)
* Just pour the contents of the packet into a 20-ounce bottle of water to make
lemonade.

sugar – glucose, fructose, sucrose, etc.; a sweet-tasting substance with the
chemical formula

C

n

H

2n

O

n

* How many teaspoons of sugar are in a can of regular soda?

foam – many very small bubbles in a liquid; froth
* Why do these ocean waves have so much foam on them?

to start over – to begin again, usually because one’s first attempt failed
* About one minute into her speech for her Italian class, Candy forgot what she
had planned to say. She asked, “Can I start over?”

loose leaf – small pieces of dried tea leaves that are put in hot water to make a
cup of tea
* Randy used too much loose leaf tea, so the drink was really strong.

tea bag – small pieces of dried tea leaves that are held in a small paper bag that
is put in hot water to make a cup of tea
* Mariah’s tea had a lot of small pieces floating in it, because the tea bag broke
open.

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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3

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Which of these drinks contains milk?
a) Espresso
b) Americano
c) Latte

2. Which of these is a sweetener?
a) Cream
b) Sugar
c) Foam

______________


WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

drip
The word “drip,” in this podcast, means coffee that is brewed (made) by passing
hot water over ground coffee beans: “This drip coffee maker has a timer, so that
it can start making coffee before we wake up, to be sure the coffee is hot and
ready when we get up.” Informally, when talking about medicine and healthcare,
a “drip” can refer to an IV, or a small bag of liquid with a tube connected to a
needle in a patient’s skin to transfer liquids into the blood: “When Jacques
became dehydrated, the nurse put him on a saline drip.” Finally, a “drip” can also
be the sound of a drop of liquid falling onto something else: “The drip from the
kitchen sink is keeping me awake. Could you please fix it?”

room
In this podcast, the word “room” means empty space, or an area that is set aside
for some particular purpose: “This conference facility has room for up to 200
attendees.” The phrase “leg room” refers to having enough space for one’s legs
to relax comfortably when seated: “Bryan is almost seven feet tall, so he never
has enough leg room when flying.” The phrase “elbow room” describes having
enough space to move around comfortably: “Let’s move this meeting next door
so we can have some elbow room.” Finally, the phrase “room for” can refer to an
opportunity to have or do something or to make something happen: “Your speech
was good, but I think there’s room for improvement.” Or, “He presented a lot of
good reasons for supporting the organization, but there’s still room for argument.”

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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4

CULTURE NOTE

Independent Coffeehouses

In recent years, “coffeehouses” or “coffee shops” have become popular meeting
places in the United States, especially in the “Pacific Northwest” (the
northwestern part of the country, especially Oregon and Washington). Most
coffeehouses have comfortable “couches” (soft seats for two to three people) and
small tables “configured” (positioned) to “promote” (encourage) conversations in
small groups. Modern coffeehouses have “soft” (quiet) music, often jazz, “dim”
(not very bright) lighting, and interesting artwork on the walls. Sometimes the
coffeehouse “features” (shows) “pieces” (artwork) by local artists, and those
pieces may be available for purchase.

Almost all coffeehouses offer free “wi-fi” (an Internet connection that computers
can connect to without cables). Customers are allowed to stay in the
coffeehouse for a long time as long as they purchase something. Many self-
employed people work in coffeehouses and/or meet with clients there. Students
are often “found” (seen) studying at coffeehouses when they want a “change of
environment” (wanting to do one’s activities in a different place from where one
normally does those things).

Many “independent” (small, private businesses that are not part of a national or
international chain) coffeehouses are “community-oriented” (thinking about the
community) and host community events. For example, they might have “poetry
readings” (opportunities for poets to read their poems aloud), “book signings”
(opportunities for writers to sign their books for readers), and music
performances. Some independent coffeehouses have special evenings for
“crafts” (art done by hand) or “board games” (games played at a table with dice,
cards, and other small pieces). Other independent coffeehouses invite politicians
to speak to members of the community. These coffeehouses also encourage
local organizations to “book” (reserve) space for their meetings.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – b

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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5

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 795: Ordering
Coffee and Tea.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 795. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com. Download a Learning Guide from our website today.
It gives you the complete transcript of everything we say, along with vocabulary
words, definitions, sample sentences, culture notes, comprehension questions, a
free trip to Hawaii. I mean everything is included in our Learning Guide – except
that trip to Hawaii!

This episode is about ordering coffee and tea. I think I’ve had a little too much
coffee this morning, but we’ll go ahead and start the dialogue now. Let’s get
started.

[start of dialogue]

Jermaine: I’d like a decaf drip, to go.

Drew: Would you like our light or dark roast?

Jermaine: I’ll just have whatever’s freshly brewed.

Drew: Are you sure you don’t want to try an espresso, an Americano, or a latte?

Jermaine: No, just a decaf coffee.

Drew: Sure, no problem. Would you like it hot or cold?

Jermaine: Hot, please.

Drew: Would you like any room for cream?

Jermaine: No, thanks.

Drew: Would you like some sweetener? A couple of pumps of syrup maybe?

Jermaine: No, I’ll add a couple of packets of sugar myself.

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

6

Drew: Oh, I’m sorry. I added some foam from another drink to your coffee by
accident. I’ll have to start over. Did you say you wanted the light or dark roast?

Jermaine: Forget it. Let’s keep it simple. Give me a cup of tea.

Drew: Would you like that hot or cold, sweetened or unsweetened, loose leaf or
in a tea bag?

[end of dialogue]

This dialogue is about two of my favorite topics: coffee and tea. I’m not sure if I
mentioned, but recently I started drinking coffee again. Now, those of you
who’ve listened to many of our podcasts know that I’m usually – or have been, I
should say, a tea drinker. I particularly like the Starbucks tea, the Vente Earl
Grey Latte at seven pumps of vanilla, nonfat, no foam. However, more recently
I’ve gone back to drinking coffee again. It used to bother my stomach, but for
some reason, maybe I’m getting older and my stomach doesn’t care anymore,
but I’ve been able to drink coffee a lot more. So, I’m very excited about this
episode, talking about coffee and tea.

Jermaine begins by saying, “I’ll have a decaf drip, to go.” Now Jermaine is at a
café or a coffee shop or a coffee house, a place where you would buy coffee and
tea, so he’s ordering a cup of coffee. He says he wants a decaf drip, to go.
“Decaf” is short for “decaffeinated,” that’s when you drink coffee that doesn’t
have the caffeine that gets you awake or, for some people, overly excited. I don’t
drink decaf coffee, unless it’s late at night and I know I need to go to sleep soon.
“Coffee,” of course, is a drink made from putting hot water through grounded
coffee beans. When we say something is “to go” we mean we are going to take
it with us, we’re not going to drink it there at the café. In the United States, it’s
very popular to get coffee to go; in other countries, it’s not as popular. But in the
U.S., many, many people, maybe most people who go to a café or to a place like
Starbucks get their drink to go, meaning they have a plastic or a paper cup and
they’re able to take the drink with them in their car or wherever they’re going.
“Drip” (drip) refers to coffee that is made usually in someone’s home, but in a
Starbucks or in a café a drip coffee is the coffee that they’ve already made. It’s
usually coffee that has been made in the last 30 to 60 minutes; it’s not coffee that
they have to make specially for you. It usually changes; the kind of coffee
changes every day depending on the café you go to. But a “drip coffee” is just
the regular coffee, whatever it is that they’re serving today; you’re not asking for
anything special.

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

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So Jermaine asks for a decaf drip, to go. Drew says, “Would you like our light or
dark roast?” The “roast” (roast) is how long the coffee beans have been cooked
over a hot fire, and usually when you roast the coffee beans for a long time the
beans get dark and it gives the coffee a different taste – a different flavor. You
can have a dark roasted coffee, a medium roasted coffee, and a light roasted
coffee, and the light roast doesn’t have as strong of a taste as the darker roast.

Jermaine says, “I’ll have whatever’s freshly brewed.” “To brew (brew) coffee”
means to mix the coffee with hot water. We might also talk about brewing beer,
but that’s when you have a different process of boiling some liquid in the process
of making beer. But when we’re brewing coffee, it just means adding the hot
water to the coffee or pouring the hot water through the coffee, which is the way
it’s usually done. Jermaine says he wants whatever’s “freshly” brewed – recently
brewed.

Drew says, “Are you sure you don’t want to try an espresso, an Americano, or a
latte?” These three words: “espresso” (which many Americans pronounce
“expresso” as though there were an “x” in there but there isn’t), “Americano,” and
“latte” are Italian words, because the Italians, many people believe, have some of
the best coffee or prepare some of the best coffee in the world. An “espresso” is
a very dark, strong coffee that is made by pushing hot water through the coffee
very quickly in a special machine called an “espresso machine.” Nowadays,
many people have espresso machines in their houses. I have one, but I don’t
usually drink espresso. An “Americano” is a drink made by taking the espresso
and adding some additional hot water so that it isn’t quite as strong. In many
countries, in Italy for example, when you order a coffee you’ll get an espresso.
So if you want something more like an American coffee you have to ask for an
Americano. A “latte” is coffee with milk; “latte” is the Italian word for milk. In this
case it’s hot milk – steamed milk, and usually you add what are called “shots” of
espresso. A “shot” is just a small amount of liquid.

But Jermaine doesn’t want any of that. He says, “No, just a decaf coffee.” “Drew
says, “Sure, no problem. Would you like it hot or cold?” Some people like cold
coffee. Jermaine says, “Hot, please.” Drew then says, “Would you like any room
for cream?” “Cream” (cream) is something that comes from a cow; it has a lot of
fat in it. It is the part of the milk that rises to the top of a milk container from
cow’s milk, so it’s sort of a very fatty kind of milk. It’s a liquid that people often
put in coffee; sometimes they just put in milk – regular milk. “Room” means
space. In this case, when someone says “I want room for cream,” they mean
they want the person working at the café, sometimes called a “barista,” to pour
the coffee in a cup but leave room in the cup for some cream, and then the
customer, the person buying the coffee, can add the amount of cream or milk

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

8

that they want. In many cafés you can just say, “I’d like a coffee with room,” and
you don’t even have to say “room for cream,” they understand what you mean.
So if you really want to sound like a native speaker, you go into a café and you
say, “Yeah, I’d like a large drip coffee with room, please,” and they’ll know that
you want room for cream so they will leave some extra room in the cup.

Jermaine says, “No, thanks.” He doesn’t want room for cream. Drew says,
“Would you like some sweetener?” “Sweetener” is something that, of course,
makes the drink sweeter; sugar is the most obvious kind of way of sweetening a
drink. But nowadays we have artificial sweeteners, things that kind of taste like
sugar; they don’t really, but they make something sweeter. You can also make
something sweeter by putting “syrup” in it, which is basically a liquid kind of
sugar. Syrup (syrup) comes in many different flavors; you could have vanilla
syrup, for example, in your coffee. I don’t like that, but some people do. Drew
actually asks Jermaine if he wants a few pumps of syrup. A “pump” (pump) is
just a small amount of syrup. It’s the way that they measure the amount of syrup
in a café, because it comes from a bottle and the bottle on the top of it has a
device called a “pump,” which is what you use to remove liquid from something
by drawing it upwards.

Well, Jermaine doesn’t want any syrup. He says, “I’ll add a couple of packets of
sugar myself.” A “packet” is a small container of something. Usually when you
go to a café or some restaurants, you will get sugar or sweetener in a “packet,” a
little container made out of paper. Drew says, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve added some
foam from another drink to your coffee by accident.” “Foam” is when you have a
lot of very small “bubbles,” little bits of air in the liquid, and this might happen if
you are, for example, steaming the milk. You are heating the milk up very quickly
by using hot air, and that air produces small bubbles of air that can cause foam
on the top of the milk that you are steaming. Some people, when they have a
latte drink or a drink with milk in it, don’t want the foam. But Drew has
accidentally added foam to Jermaine’s drink. She tells Jermaine that she’ll start
over, she’ll make his drink again. She says, “Did you say you wanted the light or
dark roast?”

Jermaine says, “Forget it. Let’s keep it simple. Give me a cup of tea.” Drew
says, “Would you like that hot or cold, sweetened or unsweetened, loose leaf or
in a tea bag?” There are different ways of preparing tea, just as there are
different ways of preparing coffee: hot and cold, sweetened or unsweetened –
with sugar or without sugar. Also, the tea can be put into the hot water directly,
or it can be put into a tea bag. When you use a tea bag, when you’re done
making tea, when the tea has been in the hot water long enough you can then
pull the tea out easily by just removing the bag. When you put tea in loose leaf,

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

9

that means the tea goes right into the water; there’s no bag that you can use to
take it out when you don’t want it there anymore. But people who drink their tea
with loose leaf tea don’t really care, usually they just leave it in there until they’re
done drinking and then they clean it out later.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Jermaine: I’d like a decaf drip, to go.

Drew: Would you like our light or dark roast?

Jermaine: I’ll just have whatever’s freshly brewed.

Drew: Are you sure you don’t want to try an espresso, an Americano, or a latte?

Jermaine: No, just a decaf coffee.

Drew: Sure, no problem. Would you like it hot or cold?

Jermaine: Hot, please.

Drew: Would you like any room for cream?

Jermaine: No, thanks.

Drew: Would you like some sweetener? A couple of pumps of syrup maybe?

Jermaine: No, I’ll add a couple of packets of sugar myself.

Drew: Oh, I’m sorry. I added some foam from another drink to your coffee by
accident. I’ll have to start over. Did you say you wanted the light or dark roast?

Jermaine: Forget it. Let’s keep it simple. Give me a cup of tea.

Drew: Would you like that hot or cold, sweetened or unsweetened, loose leaf or
in a tea bag?

[end of dialogue]

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ESL Podcast 795 – Ordering Coffee and Tea

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

10

You don’t need to add sweetener to our dialogues; they’re already sweet. That’s
because they’re made by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Tse.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. I don’t know what that means,
either. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again here on ESL
Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,
hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational
Development.