Betty: Oh—yes? Father, a husband?
Slowpoke: I swear you can't have him—
Betty: Till I give up coffee? Oh well—coffee—let it be forgotten—dear father—I will not drink—none!
Slowpoke: Then you can have one!
Betty (Aria): Today, dear father—do it today. (He goes out.) Ah, a husband! Really this suits me exactly! When they know I must have coffee, why, before I go to bed to-night I can have a valiant lover! (Goes out.)
Tenor (Recitative): Now go hunt up old Slowpoke, and just watch him get a husband for his daughter—for Betty is secretly making it known "that no wooer may come to the house, unless he promises me himself, and has it put in the marriage contract that he will allow me to make coffee whenever I will!"
"Ah, How Sweet Coffee Tastes—Lovelier Than a Thousand Kisses, Sweeter Far than Muscatel Wine!"
Opening bars of Betty's aria in Bach's Coffee Cantata, 1732