25 facts about coffee

 

I LOVE coffee and couldn't imagine a life without it. It helps me wake up in the morning and it just tastes awesome! Coffee is an essential part of people's lives all over the world. Now, all the coffee-lovers: grab a cup of coffee and read through these interesting facts. I guarantee, most of this will really surprise you!!! :)

 

#1: It all started with dancing goats. Legend has it that a 9^th century Ethiopian shepherd first noticed the effect of caffeine when he saw his goats go crazy and “dance” after eating coffee beans.

#2: Originally, coffee was eaten. African tribes mixed coffee berries with fat which formed edible energy balls.

#3: All coffee in the world is grown in the “bean belt”.

 #4: In 1675, the King of England banned coffee houses claiming they were places where people met to conspire against him.

#5: 70% of the world’s population consumes Arabica coffee, which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drinks Robusta, which is more bitter-tasting but has 50% more caffeine than Arabica.

#6: Coffee grows on trees that can grow to be up to 30 feet tall but are usually cultivated to be around 10 feet (=3 meters) tall for easy picking.

 

#7: The coffee bean is actually a seed inside of a bright red berry.

#8: Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth. (Oil is the most traded)

 

#9: George Washington invented instant coffee. Wait, what??? Not the US president, but a man of Anglo-Belgian origin living in Guatemala by the name of George Constant Louis Washington invented it in 1906.

 

#10: Coffee can kill you. The lethal dose of coffee for an adult is 100 cups, so be careful… ;)

#11: There are about 50 different species of coffee.

 

#12: Coffee is the most popular and most consumed drink worldwide. Approximately 400 billion cups of coffee are being consumed each year. On average men drink 1.7 cups a day – women 1.5 cups.

#13: Scientists are researching on other uses of coffee beans. They might actually replace fossil fuel and work in motor engines in next centuries. What a cool thought – our cars could be run by coffee one day! ;)

#14: Brazil and Colombia produce more than 40% of all coffee in the world. Hawaii is the only US state that produces coffee commercially.

#15: Once a coffee-lover made a world record in consuming coffee. He drank 82 cups of coffee in 7 consecutive hours!!!

#16: New Yorkers drink almost 7 times more coffee than people of any other city in the US.
 

#17: A French doctor in the 1600s suggested Café au Laits for patients, inspiring people to begin adding milk to coffee.

#18: Also in the 1600s, there was a controversy over whether or not Catholics could drink coffee. Luckily Pope Clement VIII said it was okay.

#19: The French philosopher Voltaire is said to have drank 50 cups of coffee a day.

 

 

#20: In the ancient Arab culture there was only one way a woman could legally divorce: if her husband didn’t provide enough coffee!!!

#21: Johan Sebastian Bach wrote an opera about a woman who was addicted to coffee.

#22: Theodore Roosevelt is and was the greatest American coffee drinker, consuming a gallon a day!

#23: The first webcam was invented at the University of Cambridge to let people know if the coffee pot was full or not.

#24: Irish coffee was invented to warm up cold American plane passengers leaving from Ireland.

#25: It is said that Cowboys made their coffee by putting ground coffee into a clean sock and immerse it in cold water and then heat it over a campfire. When it was ready, they would pour the coffee into tin cups and drink it.