kāfēi suīrán yǒudiǎnr kǔ, dànshì tā xíguàn bù jiā táng hē.

Although coffee is a bit bitter, he is used to drinking it without sugar.

Breakdown of kāfēi suīrán yǒudiǎnr kǔ, dànshì tā xíguàn bù jiā táng hē.

• 不bù: not
• 喝hē: to drink
• 他tā: he
• 但是dànshì: but

Questions & Answers about kāfēi suīrán yǒudiǎnr kǔ, dànshì tā xíguàn bù jiā táng hē.

Why does the sentence use both 虽然 and 但是? Could we drop one of them?

The pattern 虽然 … 但是 … is a fixed pairing that means “although … (yet) …”.

• 虽然 = although / even though
• 但是 = but / however

In spoken and informal written Chinese:

• You can often drop one side:
  • 虽然咖啡有点儿苦，他还是不加糖喝。
    (Although the coffee is a bit bitter, he still drinks it without sugar.) — dropped 但是
  • 咖啡有点儿苦，但是他习惯不加糖喝。
    (The coffee is a bit bitter, but he’s used to drinking it without sugar.) — dropped 虽然

But in textbook / careful style, keeping both 虽然 and 但是 is very common and feels complete and clear, especially for learners.

Why is 虽然 placed after 咖啡 instead of at the very beginning?

Both of these are correct:

1. 咖啡虽然有点儿苦，但是他习惯不加糖喝。
2. 虽然咖啡有点儿苦，但是他习惯不加糖喝。

They differ only in focus:

• 虽然咖啡有点儿苦 …
  Neutral; you introduce the whole idea “the coffee is a bit bitter” as the although part.
• 咖啡虽然有点儿苦 …
  Puts slight emphasis on 咖啡 as the topic first: “As for the coffee, although it’s a bit bitter, …”

Both are very natural. Chinese often likes to state the topic first (咖啡 here), then add information about it, so version 1 feels very normal in conversation.

What does 有点儿 add here? Why not just say 咖啡苦?