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Jackie: For this week's podcastsinenglish.com, we're talking about coffee. Now both Richard and I drink coffee and tea but, Richard, you're really the coffee man and I'm the tea lady, aren't I?
Richard: Exactly, yes. I do love my coffee.
Jackie: You do love your coffee and did you know that in the kitchen you have got three different ways of making coffee?
Richard: [laughs] Oh, really?
Jackie: Now what we don't have now is the filter coffee maker. Do you remember we had one of those?
Richard: Yes, yes.
Jackie: Why did we get rid of that?
Richard: Well, I felt that um... the hot water drips through the coffee which is held by the filter and it wasn't going through all of the coffee. It was producing quite weak coffee, so it didn't work for me.
Jackie: Yes, for me I felt it just wasn't hot enough, the coffee.
Richard: Yes, I think that was another thing, definitely.
Jackie: Now you replaced that with a caf... cafetière.
Richard: Cafetière, or French press.
Jackie: Right
Richard: Much simpler and I don't know... I read somewhere it was the best way of making coffee.
Jackie: You did some research on it, did you?
Richard: It's simply you have the ground coffee, you add hot water, not boiling water and you just leave it for a few minutes and then pour the coffee out. Job done.
Jackie: So you get tasty coffee...
Richard: Definitely
Jackie: ...it's easy, isn't it?
Richard: Very easy.
Jackie: And they're not expensive, are they?
Richard: Very cheap. So...
Jackie: Because it's not electric, it's just er...
Richard: Exactly. And that's what we've been using... for most of the time.
Jackie: Mmm. Talking about electric I remember, a long time ago, my parents used to have a percolator.
Richard: Very popular in Britain a few years ago, but...
Jackie: Oh no, way back, way back in the seventies because it was the filter coffee makers that took over from the percolators.
Richard: Yes, the problem was the percolators it was too hot, wasn't it? Coffee beans should be made 90, 95 degrees centigrade and the percolators, it was scalding the beans.
Jackie: I think it made the coffee a little bit bitter.
Richard: Exactly, yes.
Jackie: Okay, so we've got the cafetière now...
Richard: Right
Jackie: ...and then very recently you bought a Moka pot, what did you do that for?
Richard: Yes, er... living in Portugal now, I quite fancy espressos and a Moka, is the Italian style of coffee, that produces um... much stronger, thicker coffee with more caffeine, a smaller hit if you like.
Jackie: Right
Richard: And you put that on top of the stove and makes a really good cup of coffee.
Jackie: Would you say that was easier to use than a cafetière?
Richard: No. A little bit more complicated, takes a little bit longer but does produce a really nice strong espresso.
Jackie: And they're cheap as well those little Moka pots, aren't they?
Richard: Yes, and interestingly the same design since they were invented I think in the 1920s. The very distinctive I think octagonal base and they're nearly always made of aluminium, very er... yeah, the design hasn't changed at all.
Jackie: And of course we have to admit um... well you have to admit you also have your instant coffee as well.
Richard: I do actually quite like, you know, just the granules, instant coffee, yep, I like that, it's very quick, easy. Does the job.
Jackie: But is it easier then, than to use the Moka pot?
Richard: Instant coffee?
Jackie: Yes
Richard: I suppose so, it's a different taste.
Jackie: I suppose we have to say that you don't buy ground coffee, Richard. You grind it yourself, don't you?
Richard: Yes. I think the important thing is the.. the coffee grounds should be fresh. So, we... I grind my own beans. I think that's very important.
Jackie: Right
Richard: Well, despite all these different machines that we've talked about, the most important thing obviously is the coffee itself.
Jackie: Well, the beans, yes. That's another story.
Richard: [laughs] Maybe next time.
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