Help yourself to a coffee, etc., add your name to the list, and mark off your first coffee. Please pay promptly. Other coffee alternatives include the Bread Garden, located next-door in Forestry, or the Farm. An excellent question. It is considered bad form to take cookies and but not attend the talk.
Tea is an institution for the grads.
They are often home-made. Recruiting season is prime season for free goodies, as the lunch remainders are often made available in the department lounge. FoGS' description of the university process, as described by Senate. Pointer to FoGS' Handbook of Graduate Supervision . Mention beer night.