18 Facts about Coffee
1. Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum. Worldwide coffee production tips the scales at about 6 million metric tons.
2. New Yorkers drink almost 7 times more coffee than other cities in the US.
3. It takes five years for a coffee tree to reach maturity. The average yield from one tree is the equivalent of one roasted pound of coffee.
4. People who buy coffee primarily at drive through windows on their way to work will spend as much as 45 hours a year waiting in line.
5. Of the various botanical species of coffee trees in the world, only two are extensively cultivated commercially; Arabica and Robusta.
6. The average person who buys coffee outside the office to consume at work will spend the equivalent value of a round trip plane ticket to Florida every year.
7. The rise of Islam contributed greatly to the popularity of coffee. The religion prohibited drinking alcohol, but coffee was considered an acceptable drink.
8. However, sixteenth-century Muslim rulers banned coffee because it was unusual stimulating effects.
9. It used to be custom in Turkey that if a husband did not provide his wife with coffee, it was grounds for divorce
10. The first coffee house in Europe opened in Venice in 1683, while coffee was available in Europe as early as 1608, mostly for the rich.
11. The expression “a cup of Joe” to denote coffee, was first coined during WWII, when American servicemen (G.I. Joe) were identified as big coffee drinkers.
12. The largest coffee-producing nation, Brazil, is responsible for 30 to 40 % of total world output.
13. The lethal dose of caffeine is roughly 100 cups of coffee.
14. In the late 1800’s, Chase and Sanborn put out a flier on how to read the coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup (like a fortune teller).
15. Coffee Is Actually A Fruit. Coffee beans are actually the pits of berries. The coffee berries, sometimes called coffee cherries, are an edible fruit that have coffee beans inside. They are only called 'beans' because of their resemblance to beans. Coffee cherries usually contain two “beans”, except for the single bean peaberry anomaly. Cherries with three beans are deemed to be a sign of good luck.
16. A Belgian living in Guatemala invented the first instant coffee in 1906 and later immigrated to the United States. His name, ironically enough, was George Washington.
17. Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth. Oil is the first.
18. Kopi Luwak, the world’s most expensive coffee (up to $600 per pound) is the beans excreted by a Sumatran wild cat.
18 Facts about Coffee
