Exploring British Tea Culture and Language

Coffee Break English, Season 1, Episode 9. Hi everyone and welcome back to Coffee Break English. My name's Josie. And I'm Mark. How are you today, Josie? I'm fine, thank you, Mark. How are you? I'm very well. And I think I am in need of a hot drink. Ah, maybe a cup of tea? Perhaps, who knows? That would be a good idea. Because in today's episode, we're talking all about tea. Even though it's Coffee Break English, perhaps we should rename this episode and call it Tea Break English for one episode only. Yes. And also in today's episode, we're talking about when to use the gerund form of the verb and when to use the infinitive. Okay, let's hear from Susan, who's going to tell us about... For many people, when they think of Britain, they think of tea. 63% of people in the UK drink tea every day, and many people love drinking it so much that they can't imagine living without it. Portuguese priests and merchants brought tea from East Asia to Europe in the 16th century, and drinking tea quickly became popular in Britain. In 2016, a list was made of countries who drank the most tea, and Ireland and the UK were numbers two and three. Only people in Turkey drink more tea than we do. Most British people need to have a cup of tea as soon as they wake up in the morning, and usually they have English breakfast tea with milk and sometimes sugar. Some people prefer to have their tea without milk and some people like drinking other types of tea, but this is the most popular way to make it. A cup of very strong tea with lots of sugar is called builder's tea because this is usually how builders drink their tea during their working day. When someone visits your house in the UK, the first thing you do is ask if they would like to have a cup of... tea. It's difficult to find someone who says no to this question. Lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea when they are quite young because it is an important skill to have. But it's not just tea which is important in the UK. What we eat with it is too. In the past, many people had tea at about 4pm with cakes and sandwiches. This was called afternoon tea. But now, we drink tea whenever we want, usually with a biscuit or two or three. Most people enjoy dipping or dunking their biscuit in their tea before eating it. The word tea can have another meaning in different parts of the country. For some people, tea is the meal they eat in the evening, which other people call dinner. In fact, some people even use the word dinner to describe their meal. dinner instead of lunch. So, in the UK, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner, or breakfast, dinner and tea, but you can have a cup of tea whenever you want. Thank you, Susan. Are you a tea drinker, Josie? I have to say, no, I don't like tea at all. Me neither. We must be quite unusual British people. Yes, I definitely prefer coffee, I have to say. Me too. Okay, let's go back through the text. For many people, when they think of Britain, they think of tea. 63% of people in the UK drink tea every day. And many people love drinking it so much that they can't imagine living without it. Yes, so... quite a lot of people drink tea every day, 63%. And Susan says many people love drinking it. So before, I said that today we're focusing on when to use the gerund and when to use the infinitive form of the verb. Let's think about what that gerund form is. If we take the verb drink and we add ing to the end, then it becomes the gerund. So drinking. That's right. But the infinitive form of the verb, this is just the natural form of the verb with no changes, nothing added to it. So to drink is the infinitive form. Okay. In this phrase, we use drinking because in British English, after the verbs love, light, hate and don't like, we usually use the gerund form to talk about something in general that we like or we don't like. So, I like reading. I love going to the cinema. I don't like playing football. That's right, yes. And later in this sentence, we have another example of the gerund. British people love drinking tea so much that they can't imagine living without it. Now, in this case, we need to use the gerund form of living because after the verb imagine, we just have to use the gerund. It's the rule. We don't say imagine to live. Always imagine living. Okay, let's continue on. Portuguese priests and merchants brought tea from East Asia to Europe in the 16th century, and drinking tea quickly became popular in Britain. Yes, so Portuguese priests and merchants. What is a priest, Mark? A priest would be a person who performs religious... duties. That's right, yes. And what about merchants? Well, a merchant is someone who sells something. We don't use this word so much now, but in the past, a merchant was someone who went to a place and bought something and sold it to someone else. They traded. Okay, so these merchants brought tea to Britain. in the 16th century. In 2016, a list was made of countries who drank the most tea, and Ireland and the UK were numbers two and three. Yes, so in 2016, we can say 2016 or 2016. It's a bit longer. And you'll also hear in US English in 2016 without the and. That's right. There are actually three options. Okay. So this list was made of countries who drank the most tea. Yes. So drank is an irregular past simple of drink, drink, drank, drunk. Okay. Only people in Turkey drink more tea than we do. Most British people do. need to have a cup of tea as soon as they wake up in the morning. And usually they have English breakfast tea with milk and sometimes sugar. So most British people need to have. After the verb need, we always use this infinitive form of the verb to have. We don't say need having with the gerund. So I need to drink a cup of tea. Josie, what's the rule about need to do something? That's a good question. For most of the verbs which we talk about today, there isn't actually a rule for if we use the gerund or the infinitive after them. This is quite annoying because there's no rule to learn. But the best way to learn about when to use the gerund or infinitive is just to notice the verbs as you see them and to learn them as you go. Don't try to learn a big list of verbs. And that's what Coffee Break English is for, to help you. get more experience of English and interesting texts. Exactly. Okay, let's continue on. Some people prefer to have their tea without milk, and some people like drinking other types of tea, but this is the most popular way to make it. Yes, so some people prefer to have their tea. Mark, could we say some people prefer having their tea? Yes, we could. Some people prefer having their tea or some people prefer to have their tea. Both work. That's right. So prefer is quite a flexible verb. We can use the gerund or the infinitive after it. A cup of very strong tea with lots of sugar is called builder's tea because this is usually how builders drink their tea during their working day. So a cup of very strong tea, a cup of tea which you leave the tea bag in for a long time. This is called builder's tea. What's a builder, Mark? A builder is someone who builds or makes repairs on a house or a building, for example. That's right. We could also call them a construction worker, maybe. And Susan says that this is how builders usually drink their tea during their working day. I think this is a bit stereotypical. I would agree. Yes, I think not all builders drink their tea like this. We have a builder at the moment doing some work in our garden, and he doesn't drink builder's tea. He likes a peppermint tea. Oh, wow. So there we go. Builders can like other types of tea. Absolutely. OK, let's take a quick break there and you might want to make yourself a cup of tea. Each episode of the Coffee Break English podcast is free and you can use our podcast to help you improve your English. But there's more. That's right. We have a full course available on our website. which will help you make faster progress and understand everything much better. For every lesson, we offer videos, bonus audio recordings, lesson notes with exercises, and vocabulary lists in lots of languages. All this is available on the Coffee Break Academy, so visit coffeebreakacademy.com. Welcome back. Today we are talking about tea. And we're also talking about when to use the gerund and when to use the infinitive form of the verb. Okay, let's continue then. When someone visits your house in the UK, the first thing you do is ask if they would like to have a cup of tea. This is definitely true, isn't it? Yeah. Does it work this way in your house, Josie, because you don't like tea? Yes, in my house, I never have any tea in my cupboards. So it's a problem when people want a cup of tea in my house. My wife really likes tea, so she always has a cup of tea. We always have tea in our house. Ah, that's lucky. Okay, in this sentence, we have another verb. which is followed by the infinitive, you ask if they would like to have a cup of tea. After the verb would like, we always use the infinitive, to have. And this is true for all verbs which have would before them. For example, would love to have a cup of tea. Would hate to have a cup of tea. But be careful because after the verb like without would, we can use the gerund form, the ing form. So I can say, I like drinking tea, but I would like to drink tea. Okay, shall we continue? Let's go. It's difficult to find someone who says no to this question. Lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea when they are quite young because it is an important skill to have. So lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea. Learn is another verb after which we always use the infinitive form of the verb. So I could say, at the moment, I am learning to speak Portuguese. Perfect. And what about the word skill? Josie, what is a skill? A skill is basically something that you can do, an ability. Okay, but it's not just tea which is important in the UK. What we eat with it is too. In the past, Many people had tea at about 4pm with cakes and sandwiches. This was called afternoon tea. Yes, so I think that this is a stereotype that people have about the UK. Many people say to me, ah, you are British, you have tea at 4pm or at 5pm. I think now, afternoon tea... can be quite fashionable. It can be quite popular to go to a restaurant or a cafe to have afternoon tea for a special occasion with your friends. That's right, but it's not something that we do every day, is it? Indeed, definitely not. Now, we drink tea whenever we want, usually with a biscuit or two or three. Yes, so the word biscuit. Be careful of the pronunciation. We don't pronounce it bis-gu-it. It's just bis-kit. Okay. Most people enjoy dipping or dunking their biscuit in their tea before eating it. So here we have two quite difficult words, dipping and dunking. They're verbs, to dip and to dunk. What do they mean, Mark? Well, if you dip something into a liquid, it means you put it into the liquid for a short time and then pull it out. Exactly. Yep. So that's what lots of people do with their biscuits in their tea. And to dunk is just another way of saying this. Okay, you would dunk a biscuit in tea, but you would perhaps dip a paintbrush in a tin of paint. That's right, exactly. Okay, the word tea can have another meaning in different parts of the country. For some people, tea is the meal they eat in the evening, which other people call dinner. Yes, so a meal is just breakfast, lunch or dinner. The general word for these. So in fact, some people even use the word dinner instead of lunch. So in the UK, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner or breakfast, dinner and tea. But you can have a cup of tea whenever you want. This is quite confusing. Isn't it, Mark? It is. For you, what do you call the three meals of the day? Well, when I was young, when I was a child, we used to say breakfast, dinner and tea. But now I normally say breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ah, interesting. I usually say breakfast, lunch and tea. Ah, okay. And some people in the UK refer to their evening meal as supper. That's right. There's yet another word to use for this. It's very complicated, but the most important thing, as Susan said, is that you can have a cup of tea whenever you want. Yeah, that's right. Let's listen again to the text and listen out for those gerunds and infinitives. For many people, when they think of Britain, they think of tea. 63% of people in the UK drink tea every day and many people love drinking it so much that they can't imagine living without it. Portuguese priests and merchants brought tea from East Asia to Europe in the 16th century and drinking tea quickly became popular in Britain. In 2016 A list was made of countries who drank the most tea. And Ireland and the UK were numbers two and three. Only people in Turkey drink more tea than we do. Most British people need to have a cup of tea as soon as they wake up in the morning. And usually they have English breakfast tea with milk and sometimes sugar. Some people prefer to have their tea without milk. And some people like drinking other types of tea, but this is the most popular way to make it. A cup of very strong tea with lots of sugar is called builder's tea, because this is usually how builders drink their tea during their working day. When someone visits your house in the UK, the first thing you do is ask if they would like to have a cup of tea. It's difficult. to find someone who says no to this question. Lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea when they are quite young because it is an important skill to have. But it's not just tea which is important in the UK. What we eat with it is too. In the past, many people had tea at about 4pm with cakes and sandwiches. This was called afternoon tea. But now we drink tea. whenever we want, usually with a biscuit or two or three. Most people enjoy dipping or dunking their biscuit in their tea before eating it. The word tea can have another meaning in different parts of the country. For some people, tea is the meal they eat in the evening, which other people call dinner. In fact, some people even use the word dinner instead of lunch. So, in the UK, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner, or breakfast, dinner and tea, but you can have a cup of tea whenever you want. OK, that's the end of this episode. We hope you've enjoyed it. If you would like to access the bonus materials, including lesson notes, vocabulary lists in multiple languages, video versions, and the bonus audio materials, you can find all of these at the Coffee Break Academy. Just visit coffeebreakacademy.com. That's right, Mark. And if you'd like to practice your English, you can also do so on social media. Just search for Coffee Break English on Facebook and on Instagram, where we post regular language challenges and cultural information. And this week… we'll be asking you about food and drink in your country. Okay, I'm looking forward to finding out what your favourite food and drink is. Thank you, Josie. Thank you, Mark. We'll be back soon with the next episode, the final episode in this season of Coffee Break English. Until then, thanks and goodbye. See you next time.

Coffee Break English, Season 1, Episode 9. Hi everyone and welcome back to Coffee Break English. My name's Josie. And I'm Mark.

How are you today, Josie? I'm fine, thank you, Mark. How are you?

I'm very well. And I think I am in need of a hot drink. Ah, maybe a cup of tea? Perhaps, who knows?

That would be a good idea. Because in today's episode, we're talking all about tea. Even though it's Coffee Break English, perhaps we should rename this episode and call it Tea Break English for one episode only.

Yes. And also in today's episode, we're talking about when to use the gerund form of the verb and when to use the infinitive. Okay, let's hear from Susan, who's going to tell us about...

For many people, when they think of Britain, they think of tea. 63% of people in the UK drink tea every day, and many people love drinking it so much that they can't imagine living without it. Portuguese priests and merchants brought tea from East Asia to Europe in the 16th century, and drinking tea quickly became popular in Britain. In 2016, a list was made of countries who drank the most tea, and Ireland and the UK were numbers two and three. Only people in Turkey drink more tea than we do.

Most British people need to have a cup of tea as soon as they wake up in the morning, and usually they have English breakfast tea with milk and sometimes sugar. Some people prefer to have their tea without milk and some people like drinking other types of tea, but this is the most popular way to make it. A cup of very strong tea with lots of sugar is called builder's tea because this is usually how builders drink their tea during their working day.

When someone visits your house in the UK, the first thing you do is ask if they would like to have a cup of... tea. It's difficult to find someone who says no to this question. Lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea when they are quite young because it is an important skill to have.

But it's not just tea which is important in the UK. What we eat with it is too. In the past, many people had tea at about 4pm with cakes and sandwiches.

This was called afternoon tea. But now, we drink tea whenever we want, usually with a biscuit or two or three. Most people enjoy dipping or dunking their biscuit in their tea before eating it.

The word tea can have another meaning in different parts of the country. For some people, tea is the meal they eat in the evening, which other people call dinner. In fact, some people even use the word dinner to describe their meal.

dinner instead of lunch. So, in the UK, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner, or breakfast, dinner and tea, but you can have a cup of tea whenever you want. Thank you, Susan.

Are you a tea drinker, Josie? I have to say, no, I don't like tea at all. Me neither. We must be quite unusual British people. Yes, I definitely prefer coffee, I have to say.

Me too. Okay, let's go back through the text. For many people, when they think of Britain, they think of tea. 63% of people in the UK drink tea every day. And many people love drinking it so much that they can't imagine living without it.

Yes, so... quite a lot of people drink tea every day, 63%. And Susan says many people love drinking it.

So before, I said that today we're focusing on when to use the gerund and when to use the infinitive form of the verb. Let's think about what that gerund form is. If we take the verb drink and we add ing to the end, then it becomes the gerund. So drinking. That's right.

But the infinitive form of the verb, this is just the natural form of the verb with no changes, nothing added to it. So to drink is the infinitive form. Okay.

In this phrase, we use drinking because in British English, after the verbs love, light, hate and don't like, we usually use the gerund form to talk about something in general that we like or we don't like. So, I like reading. I love going to the cinema. I don't like playing football. That's right, yes.

And later in this sentence, we have another example of the gerund. British people love drinking tea so much that they can't imagine living without it. Now, in this case, we need to use the gerund form of living because after the verb imagine, we just have to use the gerund.

It's the rule. We don't say imagine to live. Always imagine living. Okay, let's continue on.

Portuguese priests and merchants brought tea from East Asia to Europe in the 16th century, and drinking tea quickly became popular in Britain. Yes, so Portuguese priests and merchants. What is a priest, Mark? A priest would be a person who performs religious...

duties. That's right, yes. And what about merchants? Well, a merchant is someone who sells something.

We don't use this word so much now, but in the past, a merchant was someone who went to a place and bought something and sold it to someone else. They traded. Okay, so these merchants brought tea to Britain.

in the 16th century. In 2016, a list was made of countries who drank the most tea, and Ireland and the UK were numbers two and three. Yes, so in 2016, we can say 2016 or 2016. It's a bit longer. And you'll also hear in US English in 2016 without the and. That's right.

There are actually three options. Okay. So this list was made of countries who drank the most tea. Yes.

So drank is an irregular past simple of drink, drink, drank, drunk. Okay. Only people in Turkey drink more tea than we do. Most British people do.

need to have a cup of tea as soon as they wake up in the morning. And usually they have English breakfast tea with milk and sometimes sugar. So most British people need to have.

After the verb need, we always use this infinitive form of the verb to have. We don't say need having with the gerund. So I need to drink a cup of tea. Josie, what's the rule about need to do something?

That's a good question. For most of the verbs which we talk about today, there isn't actually a rule for if we use the gerund or the infinitive after them. This is quite annoying because there's no rule to learn. But the best way to learn about when to use the gerund or infinitive is just to notice the verbs as you see them and to learn them as you go.

Don't try to learn a big list of verbs. And that's what Coffee Break English is for, to help you. get more experience of English and interesting texts. Exactly. Okay, let's continue on.

Some people prefer to have their tea without milk, and some people like drinking other types of tea, but this is the most popular way to make it. Yes, so some people prefer to have their tea. Mark, could we say some people prefer having their tea? Yes, we could. Some people prefer having their tea or some people prefer to have their tea.

Both work. That's right. So prefer is quite a flexible verb.

We can use the gerund or the infinitive after it. A cup of very strong tea with lots of sugar is called builder's tea because this is usually how builders drink their tea during their working day. So a cup of very strong tea, a cup of tea which you leave the tea bag in for a long time. This is called builder's tea.

What's a builder, Mark? A builder is someone who builds or makes repairs on a house or a building, for example. That's right.

We could also call them a construction worker, maybe. And Susan says that this is how builders usually drink their tea during their working day. I think this is a bit stereotypical. I would agree.

Yes, I think not all builders drink their tea like this. We have a builder at the moment doing some work in our garden, and he doesn't drink builder's tea. He likes a peppermint tea.

Oh, wow. So there we go. Builders can like other types of tea. Absolutely.

OK, let's take a quick break there and you might want to make yourself a cup of tea. Each episode of the Coffee Break English podcast is free and you can use our podcast to help you improve your English. But there's more.

That's right. We have a full course available on our website. which will help you make faster progress and understand everything much better. For every lesson, we offer videos, bonus audio recordings, lesson notes with exercises, and vocabulary lists in lots of languages. All this is available on the Coffee Break Academy, so visit coffeebreakacademy.com.

Welcome back. Today we are talking about tea. And we're also talking about when to use the gerund and when to use the infinitive form of the verb.

Okay, let's continue then. When someone visits your house in the UK, the first thing you do is ask if they would like to have a cup of tea. This is definitely true, isn't it?

Yeah. Does it work this way in your house, Josie, because you don't like tea? Yes, in my house, I never have any tea in my cupboards. So it's a problem when people want a cup of tea in my house. My wife really likes tea, so she always has a cup of tea.

We always have tea in our house. Ah, that's lucky. Okay, in this sentence, we have another verb. which is followed by the infinitive, you ask if they would like to have a cup of tea. After the verb would like, we always use the infinitive, to have.

And this is true for all verbs which have would before them. For example, would love to have a cup of tea. Would hate to have a cup of tea.

But be careful because after the verb like without would, we can use the gerund form, the ing form. So I can say, I like drinking tea, but I would like to drink tea. Okay, shall we continue? Let's go.

It's difficult to find someone who says no to this question. Lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea when they are quite young because it is an important skill to have. So lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea.

Learn is another verb after which we always use the infinitive form of the verb. So I could say, at the moment, I am learning to speak Portuguese. Perfect.

And what about the word skill? Josie, what is a skill? A skill is basically something that you can do, an ability.

Okay, but it's not just tea which is important in the UK. What we eat with it is too. In the past, Many people had tea at about 4pm with cakes and sandwiches.

This was called afternoon tea. Yes, so I think that this is a stereotype that people have about the UK. Many people say to me, ah, you are British, you have tea at 4pm or at 5pm.

I think now, afternoon tea... can be quite fashionable. It can be quite popular to go to a restaurant or a cafe to have afternoon tea for a special occasion with your friends. That's right, but it's not something that we do every day, is it?

Indeed, definitely not. Now, we drink tea whenever we want, usually with a biscuit or two or three. Yes, so the word biscuit.

Be careful of the pronunciation. We don't pronounce it bis-gu-it. It's just bis-kit. Okay. Most people enjoy dipping or dunking their biscuit in their tea before eating it.

So here we have two quite difficult words, dipping and dunking. They're verbs, to dip and to dunk. What do they mean, Mark? Well, if you dip something into a liquid, it means you put it into the liquid for a short time and then pull it out. Exactly.

Yep. So that's what lots of people do with their biscuits in their tea. And to dunk is just another way of saying this. Okay, you would dunk a biscuit in tea, but you would perhaps dip a paintbrush in a tin of paint.

That's right, exactly. Okay, the word tea can have another meaning in different parts of the country. For some people, tea is the meal they eat in the evening, which other people call dinner. Yes, so a meal is just breakfast, lunch or dinner. The general word for these.

So in fact, some people even use the word dinner instead of lunch. So in the UK, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner or breakfast, dinner and tea. But you can have a cup of tea whenever you want.

This is quite confusing. Isn't it, Mark? It is.

For you, what do you call the three meals of the day? Well, when I was young, when I was a child, we used to say breakfast, dinner and tea. But now I normally say breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Ah, interesting. I usually say breakfast, lunch and tea. Ah, okay. And some people in the UK refer to their evening meal as supper.

That's right. There's yet another word to use for this. It's very complicated, but the most important thing, as Susan said, is that you can have a cup of tea whenever you want.

Yeah, that's right. Let's listen again to the text and listen out for those gerunds and infinitives. For many people, when they think of Britain, they think of tea. 63% of people in the UK drink tea every day and many people love drinking it so much that they can't imagine living without it.

Portuguese priests and merchants brought tea from East Asia to Europe in the 16th century and drinking tea quickly became popular in Britain. In 2016 A list was made of countries who drank the most tea. And Ireland and the UK were numbers two and three. Only people in Turkey drink more tea than we do.

Most British people need to have a cup of tea as soon as they wake up in the morning. And usually they have English breakfast tea with milk and sometimes sugar. Some people prefer to have their tea without milk. And some people like drinking other types of tea, but this is the most popular way to make it.

A cup of very strong tea with lots of sugar is called builder's tea, because this is usually how builders drink their tea during their working day. When someone visits your house in the UK, the first thing you do is ask if they would like to have a cup of tea. It's difficult. to find someone who says no to this question.

Lots of British children learn to make a cup of tea when they are quite young because it is an important skill to have. But it's not just tea which is important in the UK. What we eat with it is too.

In the past, many people had tea at about 4pm with cakes and sandwiches. This was called afternoon tea. But now we drink tea.

whenever we want, usually with a biscuit or two or three. Most people enjoy dipping or dunking their biscuit in their tea before eating it. The word tea can have another meaning in different parts of the country. For some people, tea is the meal they eat in the evening, which other people call dinner.

In fact, some people even use the word dinner instead of lunch. So, in the UK, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner, or breakfast, dinner and tea, but you can have a cup of tea whenever you want. OK, that's the end of this episode.

We hope you've enjoyed it. If you would like to access the bonus materials, including lesson notes, vocabulary lists in multiple languages, video versions, and the bonus audio materials, you can find all of these at the Coffee Break Academy. Just visit coffeebreakacademy.com.

That's right, Mark. And if you'd like to practice your English, you can also do so on social media. Just search for Coffee Break English on Facebook and on Instagram, where we post regular language challenges and cultural information. And this week… we'll be asking you about food and drink in your country. Okay, I'm looking forward to finding out what your favourite food and drink is.

Thank you, Josie. Thank you, Mark. We'll be back soon with the next episode, the final episode in this season of Coffee Break English. Until then, thanks and goodbye.

See you next time.

Transcript for:Exploring British Tea Culture and Language

Transcript for:
Exploring British Tea Culture and Language