Kanji&Coffee
Kanji & Coffee is a relaxed, coffee-break podcast about language, culture, and life in Japan—brewed fresh every week.
Amber from Tokyo and Kade the expat chat about real Japanese and real experiences: subtle phrase nuances, word origins, everyday expressions, internet memes, and the kind of language you actually hear from people, not textbooks. Amber breaks down natural Japanese in an easy, approachable way, while Kade shares honest perspectives on moving to Japan and building a life here.
The conversations are slow, clear, and natural—easy to follow for Japanese listeners learning English, and perfect for English speakers who want to understand how Japanese is really used. Expect meaningful talks, cultural insights, bilingual moments, and plenty of “ohhh, that’s why” discoveries.
Grab a coffee and learn with us—one sip at a time ☕️
Kanji&Coffee
Coffee | Bilingual Friends 語 JAP/ENG #6
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This is our unscripted conversation format where we chat naturally and switch between Japanese and English in real time. Whenever one of us speaks, we repeat the same idea in the other language and if we make mistakes, we correct each other on the spot.
The goal?
To help you train your ears through real, relaxed conversation.
In this episode, we talk about Coffee.
Put it on in the background, relax, and join us with a cup of coffee. ☕
Welcome to Kanji and Coffee, your bilingual coffee break. Sate, Kohi, sweet sniper. Coffee. Alright. Oh, by the way, this coffee is really good. What kind of uh blend is it today? What kind of coffee did you prepare for us, Amber? It's good to cut it on this car.
SPEAKER_00Hi, uh Ethiopiano Mamiotska te iremashita. Today's coffee I poured with Ethiopia coffee bean. Wow. Cool. Tastes good. There is a lot of explanation or like a lot of uh expression over the coffee taste. But how do you feel this coffee tastes like?
SPEAKER_01Wow. Let me try it anyway. It's really good. I think it's well balanced. It's not very bitter and it's not very mild. Uncle E buttons domo. I know. Sonani Niga kunaindis. Niga Nigakuna. Nigakunaid Dashi. Sorotomo Maido Maido Tio. Maido Maido Tukana Maido Temunaichi. What do you think, Mr Expat? Ano Expat Sama Domoemaska.
SPEAKER_00Uhong Kajitska. I feel more sour taste from this coffee.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_00And usually we say juicy. Juicy. Kajitska juicy. Wow.
SPEAKER_01I think in English we don't use juicy for coffee. At least I cannot really imagine what a juicy coffee tastes like. Ego n sitewa. Ego nitwa do it.
SPEAKER_00Ego dewa.
SPEAKER_01Ego dewa. Juicy de Amari tskawanito moo ano chtakotonines. Also. For juicy we use for fruits, for example. Like if it's like you know. Oh what a juicy apple. Um it means it has a lot of water, kind of juice inside. Kudabano Juicy. Kohi kakniwa.
SPEAKER_00Naka Kohi no mete ano fruits, coffee bean has coffee bean is not kind of fruit, but uh it has kind of meat part of the fruit. And um and we fermentate that part and make a taste. Sometimes the taste will be like uh fruit taste like orange taste because of the sour and fermented it. Then they say juicy maybe.
SPEAKER_01I see. Wow, interesting. So, which coffee taste do you like the best, Amber? Donaji Ichibanski eska.
SPEAKER_00Kohino Kohinaji. So the snee or gastinano ahi kedo Sonanitio Nigasaja Nakte Mozoto kokugarajas. I like the Kohi taste like not so bitter, but it has kind of Kokutina dinar koky taste? Ah uh rich, you mean? Rich? No, rich, not rich. Gritchy, I have here like Gritchi or something.
SPEAKER_01Gritchy. Can you describe the taste to us?
SPEAKER_00Hi. Like we say like a nuts nuts taste and maybe we can feel similar taste when we eat uh chestnuts. You feel some of the sweetness from the chestnuts.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Can you say the word one more time? Koku. Kokudes. The only thing I can find here is uh rich, like I said, richness, fullness.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think rich is also a correct meaning but different, ne? Chica just a chiga. So when we express express the taste kok, uh we use not only bitter or sweet, we use to explain uh that you feel some of the dense or heavy taste in the mouth. For example, lamen soups koko. So no lamen no soup tongue soup doke, mm-h poka soup ramen. Maybe can say strong taste.
SPEAKER_01Okay, but I think it's the same in English then. We also say oh what a rich broth, what a rich ramen. Tapan ego to the richness, rich flavour, it's not just the taste. Like you said, the heaviness density like you described.
SPEAKER_00But oil? Maybe oiliness, so butano aburatoka. Maybe cochi beans, oil and lemon, pork oil. I think sometimes the oil tastes or hot part tastes like sweet. Yeah, I guess. Good point, yeah. Umami na umami nan that okay no tabu.
SPEAKER_01Maybe umami, but umami in English maybe also will be translated Ah no, savory done eh? Umami wa savor.
SPEAKER_00No. No? Savory is like uh uh savory wa tabu e tone. Azikenai kanjigana pan to siuke naka pan mitaina and to shopai like in a gero, aziwa sonan itsiukana.
SPEAKER_01Ah okay.
SPEAKER_00Maybe we explain sabory in Japanese uh azikanai. It's not like uh it's not sorty but has some of the taste but not strong.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay, I see. Ah, true, yeah. It is a kind of uh spice as well, right?
SPEAKER_00Not spice but uh maybe there is a umami spice company, Ajinomoto, and we call it a spice ajinomoto. Uh huh. Um it's a kind of artificial uh umami seasoning.
SPEAKER_01Ah, it looks like salt, right? Naga sato ni miren. So so so so.
SPEAKER_00So maybe also there is some of the salt, but with combined amino acid. Acid amino santo. Okay, oh interesting, yeah. Umami gamo nanga that they mo kohi no mame mo and mame dakara protein the show. Tampa kishakara.
SPEAKER_01I tambuch is sorry, is there does it have a lot of protein?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so because uh kohi bean is bean, like so bean should have protein, don't you think? Like soybeans. So I think this is makes sense. Uh no, but amino ma umami got it, colour. Tongko ramen or pork soup maybe also has a protein in the amino acid.
SPEAKER_01But it can't be that high. So it's no protein amounts. Umami.
SPEAKER_00Maybe kokku can be umami. Ma I know kanga katekiniwa kokitomoto langa ehomatope to shitori to ka shikari dzidi stahans. Shikari dusi wow. But if we explain in onomatope about koku, we can say shitori. Shikari. It means like shitoriwa. Shitori hanka a root wetty like uh wet mm wet like wet cookie. Damp, we say. Damp, uh damp damp toca uh has a shape. Heavy, okay, heavily. Maybe the taste have career shape, heavy taste, wow taste, taste has a shape.
SPEAKER_01Imagine sensory image. Yeah, I think.
SPEAKER_00Well it's a subaitomo, ima total heat heat here, subaitomo. I think the uh main taste is sour because it's getting a cold, so main tongue to the sour taste.
SPEAKER_01Ah, the taste changes with the temperature of the coffee.
SPEAKER_00Hi.
SPEAKER_01Hi, Kawanota. I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00I have uh to anatas kind of kohi wa anno he tekuto. Hi. A no, I have heard that kochi if it it gets cold, it makes more arsy taste. Ah I see or not pure pure canaka landam taste. That's the landam like. That's it the land like a laugh laugh taste. Laugh? Laugh. A rough, uh rough mm-hmm. Strong bitter, toca strong sour, to ga tsio nigami tso isami. Kuro zatsumi tukana. No, waday Ma Zatsumi dio Waday me, eh? Uh if we say Zatsumi, does mean bad meaning, but uh Kurowa Ano here to Nigamito Samiga Tsukunarukara Kurawa Samiga Tsukane. Coffee gets more sour taste and a bitter taste after cold. After getting cold, no after getting cold, so this one gets more sour taste. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, true. I've noticed uh it's actually changing since uh it when it was hot. So is it does it change from hot to cold as well? First, when you order the iced coffee, it has maybe some ice cubes inside, but after some time they melt and it becomes room temperature coffee metina. So the doom goro godo nanake temperature. Sitzum ni not chana in this.
SPEAKER_00Hi, hi, hi. I don't know them. But Ma of course uh ice merch uh to then horiato keru karata and mizika of course ice merch and um uh it gets more water in the cup so it's be more watery. Ice cohi or atamitaraha microwave. I'm not sure like if we uh warm up the ice coffee by microwave or something, and after more high temperature, yeah, does it change the taste or not?
SPEAKER_01I'm not sure. We should try and experiment. Yeah, I mean, especially for you since you're very uh you know a lot about uh coffee.
SPEAKER_00So the kohi that's I really love the coffee, but maybe I'm not very about the coffee, I just like as a fan coffee, but I'm very interested in that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean I love coffee too, but about the tastes, you have uh an assortment of different beans available, eh? Like you have many options to choose from Ethiopia or Nandake. Brazil, Brazil, Togan, Colombia, yeah, you don't know. So naka Iro na Mame Arione Nanka So Korea assortment the correction.
SPEAKER_00Assortment de wakado Eh to Assortment Wakanga solo nihungo a tata ba E to yo kana yoi Yoi Yoy Preparation Mita kanjika to keep the saved.
SPEAKER_01Hmm Assortment is like you have many options to choose from.
SPEAKER_00So the uh assortment no aso. Okay.
SPEAKER_01It's easy to remember. So assortment.
SPEAKER_00Suriga. So nanka. It's uh, because if I only drink one kind of coffee, I will be not sure is this good taste or not. Really? Uh uh it's in a taste. I will get used in that taste, so used to used to that taste, so I will be not sure the taste.
SPEAKER_01Eh for me, I think oh, I like this taste. I will buy this brand and continue drinking it.
SPEAKER_00For example, like if I drink beta coffee and next day I drink sour coffee, and the other day I drink bit again. So pai nigai with uh this is beta taste. Ah this one is sour. Ah yeah, this is actually truly this is beta taste. I can um Nikola is strong, right?
SPEAKER_01I see, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That's why you're you know so much about the different things. So so so that's why you're mm takara so. You taste it a lot.
SPEAKER_00Okay, makes sense, innit? For example, like when we eat in the meal or lunch, uh we eat something salty thing after we listed the taste by lice. Then we can feel more taste of the salty salty bakery fish or like uh any meal, miso soup or not something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I remember you actually taught me that when we went to eat uh ramen, I think. You used the water to reset the ramen flavour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, maybe I can I say that. Sometimes lava has really hot taste, like a top taste, fatigue. So that's the problem. Tashka is also cool.
SPEAKER_01So I guess you don't have a favorite drink you always order. Because usually people when they I don't know, go to Starbucks or something, they have like their go-to drink. Go-to drink is like the drink you usually order, we say naka. Go-to place, toka go-to drink. I think many people have a go-to drink and uh skina nomimono aren't I announced. Starbucks ni Konomi no nomino.
SPEAKER_00Konomi. Konomi no no.
SPEAKER_01Konomino. Konomi no nomi uno. Konomi wa it's preference. Hi, hi. Favorites. Konomi no nomimono. Hi. Konomi no no.
SPEAKER_00Hi.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh sodan, especially tokeni Starbucks uh it's more.
SPEAKER_00Karamen machiato fit.
SPEAKER_01Do you have any uh favorite to drink?
SPEAKER_00In Starbucks?
SPEAKER_01In mah, in Starbucks or in general, something, for example, cafe date.
SPEAKER_00Ma Starbucks. I don't go with Starbucks very badly kohiga, still uh Sorry, I meant in the coffee.
SPEAKER_01Ah in the coffee. In the coffee realm, in the coffee like do you etune Areas Chica Bragerito Columbia Gutemara?
SPEAKER_00Brazil and Colombia got the Marawa soy skina oy. I like Brazil and Columbia Mako hakaraka.
SPEAKER_01So you prefer your coffee black black day, it's coffee.
SPEAKER_00So it painond. Because otherwise. Okay. So then it's more caferato. For the first I was drinking cafe latte a rot because I didn't like so much about the black coffee. The more caferateo ipainon de tara dan dan to no kohi no niga dikte. I got used to drink the bitter taste of the coffee. So the day kohi mossi naimasa. Then I like the coffee.
SPEAKER_01Black coffee. Oh shit, interesting. I started with black coffee from the get-go. Get to go. From the get-go, we say Saishokara from the get-go. Get to go. From the get-go. I started with black coffee. Sai shokara. Ano Black Coffee. Iakini into oppositely oppositely I when I tried a cafe latte or a coffee with sugar, I couldn't drink it because it was too sweet for me. Because I'm not going to be able to do that. I thought, oh, but black coffee is cool. I want to try. And then, oh, it's actually really good. Alright! So, miate naka black.
SPEAKER_00So, then you can see it. Brakohio try sudden like every uh puberty boys try to uh drink black coffee but everyone patient with the beta taste and then drink.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think maybe because my mother used to drink a lot of black tea. She doesn't drink coffee but she drinks black tea.
SPEAKER_00Kocha.
SPEAKER_01I sometimes tried it. And if you don't add sugar or milk to black tea, it's also a little bit bitter. That's why maybe it was easier for me to drink black coffee because I was used to black tea.
SPEAKER_00Did you try Japanese coffee? Because this is so sweet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I noticed. Yeah, you really like uh sweet coffee, eh?
SPEAKER_00But it's not talking about a coffee. For example, the uh canned coffee which is sold by bending mashing. Canned, yeah? Canned uh canned okay. So the sguamino coolatoi a mayo and clock. That's so sweet, like it's mmm as much as same as same as much as coke level of the sweetness.
SPEAKER_01Same as coke or as much as coke.
SPEAKER_00As much as coke. Solar Solan, so I know Nanga minna Bito the Kaita Bito Bito Bito Tinoa little uh it's always lit and bito. Bito means little bit sugar. So less ma less sugar. Little sugar a bit of sugar with coffee. But even sodemo even they say that that's so sweet. Oh interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, also I noticed many I don't know if this is the same in the foreign countries. Um like a koksaito. In Japan we have kaide. A kai kai. They in Japan sometimes we use some kind of I think we say gum drop to use as to use as a sweetener. Yeah uh gum syrup nota amakunaru no yatsiga oi com shin isn't we use it a lot. A cafe day? In maybe foreign countries it's more like a not a bag of sugar, like a stick. Ah no, stick sugar. The stick, yeah, the stick, not the bag, yeah. Or we even have some kind of it looks like a mint that you drop in. It's like a small kind of cube of hardened sweetness.
SPEAKER_00A mint the Arika.
SPEAKER_01It looks like a mint, yeah. It's not a mint, but it's like a small dice of sugar. We do clink, clink. Do you want one or two, Mitana? One or two?
SPEAKER_00No. Sorry, coffee ni, oitano. Is it on the cafe? As an equipment?
SPEAKER_01I'm not sure. Maybe no. Maybe it's for home use. Tabanjibun day it's got demo micha oito.
SPEAKER_00I haven't never seen, so I cannot imagine.
SPEAKER_01I didn't see it in Japan.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So cup siri toto?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like a small white mint. Like you would take a mint, it's just a very small ball or like a diet. White. Just hardened sugar, maybe sakarinti, you know, kinda. Maybe it's sakarin? Sakarin. Oh chitotar, uh. Yeah, like just small like a sweetener, eh?
SPEAKER_00Ah, I'd got kam midock. Sakarin. Kam Kamido. Kamido. It's not uh sugar, right? Maybe it's artificial sweet taste substance. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Uh I thought the gum syrup is the same. It's is it?
SPEAKER_00Uh gum syrup uh sugar. Maybe syrup has curry because of the sugar, but uh uh the artificial sweet thing is has no sugar. Sanji uh Sanji Sor Soto. I saw like uh Japanese really like sweet coffee, I think, coffees. I saw maybe it's the same thing that foreign people really love sweet matcha drink. Sweet or drink not in it. For Japanese matcha is only the bitter taste. But in the I think the four for foreigners they love more like matcha milk latte with a sugar taste, so maybe it's the same thing, do you think?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good question, I'm not sure, but it's opposite. It's interesting, but it's true. I think many or some foreigners they are surprised if they Oh real authentic matcha experience and then they try and it's like not sweet at all. So that's really funny if they whatever Yeah, don't go. So this macho non dara sorry, big ki chao comesin amakunai si kekuniga. Sor uh sorry onka co Sono Kunino ano Nakadanadona Bun kataka ano Tabimonotoka Special Amono Sono Hokano Kunini Motikokini, Amakose toca Moto ano Popuni Silicotonio de Moto Mejani Silato.
SPEAKER_00I thought like maybe uh they try to um when they import some of the things from the another country of the culture or like a drink or food, uh they try to make more pop or like to make sweeten than to uh marginise more.
SPEAKER_01Uh to make it appeal more or to make it more interesting. So than it, so come on. Yeah, especially for I think mm I don't know if I'm um I don't know if it's correct or not, but I think maybe if it's sweeter, the more sweeter it is, the more people will like it. Tashka Yeah especially with drinks. All the famous drinks are usually sweet, like coke or red bull, monster. Tashka. Amay Moshi, noimonoga Amainara Naka Amaino Hoga. Amay Hoga. Amay Hoga Utrias. Everybody likes a lot of people like sweet drinks, eh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for tuning in and see you in the next episode.