black coffee

[tomo]

I am very curious what is "black coffee/tea" to you.

In my country, when you say "black coffee", it automatically means coffee with "no sugar, no milk". It never contains sugar, and "without milk" is obvious by its name.

When I went to England, I heard many people saying "black or white?" for my coffee and tea, and they ask "sugar?" after that even if I answerd "black" for the first question. So, I learnt BLACK may include sugar sometimes in English, and the black in my language was not universal.
But!
Some my American friends told me BLACK is definately without sugar. Always.

Is that the matter of UK/US difference or culture?

[JACOOL]

I think in my country when they say black coffee they mean just black whether with sugar. Another thing I don't think we've a white coffee or let's say we don't have this phrase or we dont use it this way but for sure we have coffe with milk and you have to refer to it as black coffee with or without milk, the reason behind this is-as far as I believe- because you know we have the Arabian coffee so if you said "white coffee" it will be a little bit confusing. hope I made a good point.

[Casiopea]

"black coffee at its most basic is coffee at its most pure... / ... black coffee is just about presentation and sugar can be added to a cup of black coffee for extra sweetness. The only real rule of black coffee is that milk, cream, or any other type of whitener cannot be added. This is because it will change the color of the coffee, meaning that your cup of black coffee is no longer black, ..." Read more here: Black Coffee - Coffee and Caffeine