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• Coffee is...

  • The second most widely used product in the world after oil.
  • It was worth 6 million tones per year in the mid 90's.
  • It is worth €30 billion per year to the producing countries.
  • It is a living to more than 100 million people.
  • It is consumed at the rate of 1400 million cups per day.
  • The world's second most popular drink after water.

• Move over, green tea? Recent studies indicate that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Alzheimer's, colon cancer, and diabetes compared to non-drinkers, and they're also less apt to die from heart disease. To be sure, coffee isn't for everyone: It can cause insomnia, anxiety, and irregular heartbeat in some people. But if coffee's your drink of choice, let's look at the many ways that coffee can boost your health.

• Vincent Van Gogh was a big frequenter of the café society and famously said “I have tried to show the café as a place where one can go mad.”

• Some of the worlds most powerful business, including Lloyds of London and the New York Stock Exchange, started life as a coffee houses.

• A mixture of coffee grounds and sugar, fed to a pot plant and watered regularly, will revive houseplants that have turned yellow in winter.
• Sprinkle spent coffee grounds around the base of your garden plants and it will stop snails and slugs from munching them!
• Pope Clement VIII loved coffee and authorised its use.
• When shopping for perfume, take some coffee with you in your bag and have a good sniff in between smelling each perfume to refresh your nose!
• Revolutions have been planned in coffee houses, namely the French and the American Revolutions.

• 65 countries in the world grow coffee. They are all along the equator, within the tropics.

•  Coffee is not grown anywhere in the United States except Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

• Brazil produces around 40% of the world's coffee supply.

• Drinking a single cup of coffee that has been brewing for 20 minutes provides the body with 300 phytochemicals which act as antioxidants and stay in the body for up to a month.

• More than 20 million people worldwide, work in the coffee industry.

• Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world (oil is the first.)

• Black coffee with no sugar contains no calories.

• n days gone by, Turkish bridegroom had to promise that they would always provide their new wives with coffee.Espresso Coffee has just one third of the caffeine content of ordinary coffee.

• Scientists have discovered more than 800 different aromatic compounds in coffee.

• A Belgian named George Washington invented instant coffee in 1906.Coffee has been used as a beverage for over 700 years.

• There are two species of coffee plant: Arabica and Robusta.75% of the world's coffee comes from the Coffea Arabica plant.

• October 1st is official "Coffee Day" in Japan.

• The Nicaraguan Margogpipe is the largest of all coffee beans.

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• Coffee beans are really berries. Each berry contains two beans (pips).

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•  In 1675 Charles II, King of England issued a proclamation banning Coffee Houses. He said that they were places where people met to plot against him.

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• 30% of coffee drinkers in US added a sweetener of some kind to their coffee, compared with 57% in UK. One coffee tree yields less than half a kilo of coffee per year.A coffee tree lives for between 60 and 70 years.Worldwide, more 1400 millions cups of coffee are drunk every day.Caffeine, which is found in coffee, increases the effect of some painkillers, especially aspirin and paracetamol.Love your coffee? Here are 13  facts about coffee that might surprise you.Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world. The only world commodity that is traded at higher volumes on the world market is oil.There are two basic species of coffee in the world - Robusta coffee, which is generally considered to be lower grade, and Arabica coffee, which is considered to be higher grade. Most of the coffee sold in the world is Robusta, and the largest producer of Robusta coffee in the world is Vietnam.Robusta coffee, which is often used in instant (or soluble) coffee, has more caffeine than Arabica coffee.While darker coffee roasts like French roast coffee seem stronger than light coffee roasts, they actually have less caffeine than their lighter counterparts. That’s because some of the caffeine is destroyed when the coffee beans are subjected to high heat for longer periods.Likewise, espresso has less caffeine than drip coffee. Espresso is made by forcing hot water through ground coffee under high pressure. This limits the amount of time that the water is in contact with the coffee beans, thus extracting the flavor but leaving a lot of the caffeine behind.Green coffee beans keep for up to a year with no change in quality if they are kept in a cool, dry place.  Once the coffee beans are roasted, however, they begin to lose their flavor after about 48 hours.Ground coffee loses its freshness the fastest because far more of the bean is exposed to air and light, which leach away the flavor. That’s why coffee tastes best if you grind it right before you brew it.Coffee cuppers have identified over 600 different unique flavors in coffee - rivaling the unique flavors that blend to make a glass of wine memorable. The flavor of coffee is dependent on region, climate and weather, and is affected by the way it is dried, stored and roasted.The United States imports 30% of the world’s coffee crop. That’s a full 1/3rd of all coffee grown in the world. The average U.S. adult drinks 3.4 cups of coffee a day, or about 26 gallons of coffee a year.More than 50% of U.S. adults drink at least one cup of coffee a day - but they are not the world’s largest coffee consumers. That honor belongs to Finland, followed by West Germany. Finland drinks about 5 cups of coffee per adult per day.Coffee is grown in 53 countries around the world, all of them located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The coffee industry employs more than 25 million people worldwide.Worldwide, we drink more than 400 billion cups of coffee a year. Japan ranks third in coffee consumption - so much for tea drinking, hm?Most of the world’s coffee is still picked by hand, one bean at a time. An experienced coffee picker can pick about 7 baskets of coffee beans a day, each weighing 50-100 kg. The picker will be paid between $2 and $10 per basket of coffee cherries. Once the coffee cherries are dried and roasted, the coffee beans from that basket will sell for about $110.Coffee is the second-most-traded physical commodity in the world, ranking second only to petroleum.Americans buy more coffee than any other country, totaling nearly one-third of the world’s supply with consumption estimated at 110 billion cups each year.“Starbuck” was the name of the first mate in Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.To prepare the perfect cup of coffee at home, never boil or reheat coffee, and never reuse the grounds.The coffea arabica tree from the remote highlands of Ethiopia yields the best-tasting coffee bean.To accommodate even the most finicky drinkers, Starbucks has 55,000 different drink combinations to choose from (when mixing and matching beverage types, temperature, size, sweetener, creamer, and flavor preferences).At least one web site tracks the coffee preferences of celebrities, such as Katie Holmes (half-caf grande soy latte) and Elijah Wood (quad espresso over ice).Starbucks uses its 2,500 employees at its company headquarters to serve as taste-testers for its newest drink recipes.In 1999, during the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, Washington, a group of protesters threw a metal USA Today box through the front window of a Starbucks, marking the first official rebellion against the powerful corporation.From 2000 to 2005, Starbucks tripled its U.S. store count from 2,700 to 7,500.Not only coffee, tea, and chocolate contain caffeine (an addictive additive without any taste benefit), but Sunkist Orange Soda, Barq’s Root Beer, and many other soft drinks have caffeine added to their products. Most decaffeinated drinks still contain traces of caffeine as well.

• At the end of the 16th century records show there were at least 500 cafes in Istanbul alone. The first European cafes were opened by immigrants from Asia around 1650.
• A coffee tree has a lifespan of about 50 to 70 years.
• The coffee cherries turn from yellow to orange and then bright red, 6 - 8 months after flowering.
• When it is in bloom, the coffee tree is covered with 30,000 white flowers which begin to develop into fruit after 24 - 36 hours.
• A coffee tree can flower eight times in any one year - depending on rainfall.
• There are 900 different flavours of arabica. Complex and very volatile, they deteriorate if exposed to air and light.
• The first commercially harvested coffee came from the Arabian Peninsula in the 14^th Century.
• In 1683 William Penn purchased a pound of coffee in NY for $4.68.  His books show that it cost eighteen shillings and six-pence per pound in New York, and that would buy “nearly a barrel of rum”.  It was the same year that he signed the friendship treaty with the Lenni Lenapi Indians in PA.
• In 1901 a Japanese chemist invented instant coffee.
• Coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world with over 400 Billion cups served each year and counts for 75% of the caffeine consumed in the US.  The United States is also the largest coffee consumer.
• The coffee tree is evergreen and produces what they call coffee cherries.  It takes approximately 5 years for the tree to mature and start to produce these cherries.
• The cherries are harvested, generally by hand, and go through processing where the cherries are separated.  In the dry or natural process, it is here that the ripe cherries are sent to be dried.  In the wet process, the cherries are sent to be pulped.  During this process, they are put into a machine where they are pushed against a screen where the holes are big enough only for the ripe beans to go through.  If the beans are not ripe, they are separated at this point.  Then the beans ferment for up to 36 hours.  The beans are then dried to an 11-12% moisture level.
• It’s been said that coffee stunts a child’s growth.  Nah, but too much caffeine isn’t great for a child’s diet.
• Caffeinated coffee will keep you up.  Speaking of caffeinated coffee, the darker roasts generally have less caffeine than lighter roasts.
• Caffeinated coffee may help a headache.
• Coffee will NOT help you to sober up.
• Watch where you drink your coffee and who you upset.  It’s been documented on several occasions that your irate coworker has urinated in your favorite brew!  Two include a U.S.P.S. worker and a worker in Missouri who uh...changed the flavor of their coworker’s cup' a joe!
• Avid coffee drinkers can be banned from playing in the Olympic Games if they find more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine!
• Want to make Turkish Coffee?  Turkish coffee refers to a brewing process.  This process is grinding at the finest setting and then boiling the coffee in a džezva.  To achieve the best Turkish coffee flavor, be sure to purchase coffee labeled as such.
• The first coffee trader in the US was given the license to sell in 1670.
• Coffee is the seed of a cherry from the tree genus Coffea, a tree yielding about 1kg (2lb) of coffee per year. There are more than 25 species of coffee, the 3 main commercial types being Robusta, Liberia and Arabica, the latter representing 70% of total production. It takes 42 coffee beans to make an espresso.
• Looking for the most expensive coffee in the world? “Kopi Luwak” beans
   are harvested by picking through the excrement of a marsupial called the Luwak or Palm Civet!  The Luwak eats, among other items such as insects, only the most ripe coffee cherries.  The luwak are unable to digest the bean and so they excrete it.  It is then harvested by hand.  There is only approximately 500lb yield per year due to it's um..interesting way of harvesting.  Don't be fooled by cheap prices.  Many companies offer a name but not the true product!  I tried to find the real deal online but only found one company and their prices seemed way too low at $125 per pound.  Here is some research on the safety of drinking this coffee from the University of Guelph.
• Jamaican Blue Mountain is considered the best coffee in the world.
• When Tea was taxed so highly in 1773, starting the Boston Tea Party, the Americans switched to Coffee.
• The top ten coffee producing countries are:  Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Ethiopia, India, Guatemala, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda.
• The top ten coffee consuming countries are:   United States, Brazil, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Netherlands
• Coffee is actually a fruit. It’s a cherry. There are two main types of coffee “beans” – Arabica and Robusta. Robusta plants are grown at low elevation and produce less flavorful coffee beans. However, Arabica plants are grown at high altitudes and produce the best tasting and highest quality coffee beans.
• One coffee tree yields only about one pound of roasted coffee each year.
• The popular trend towards flavored coffees originated in the U.S. in the1970’s.
• Beethoven, who was a coffee lover, was so particular about his coffee that he always counted 60 beans for each cup when he prepared his coffee.
•  Decaffeinated coffee sales are at their highest in January of each year, partially due to New Year’s resolutions.
•  While coffee is best known as a beverage of choice, coffee also can be used as a moisturizer, and fertilizer, among other unconventional uses.
• The number of coffee drinkers who prefer theirs “black” grew to 39 percent of total coffee drinkers in 2005 from 32 percent in 2004.
•  Use of sugars and artificial sweeteners among coffee drinkers is down to 34percent in 2005 from 37 percent in 2004.
• The aromas in coffee develop at the 10th minute of roasting.
• Coffee increases in volume during roasting by 18.60%.

Where did the word 'coffee' originate?

Kaffa? A province in Ethiopia where it was first discovered.
Kaaba? The holy building in Mecca.
Kavus Kai? A Persian king who was able to defy gravity and levitate by drinking coffee.
Kahwe? Meaning roasted in Turkish.
Cahouah? A hunger curing drink in Arabic.
Cohuet? Meaning strength or vigour in Arabic.

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Flavor of the Roasts

Light – light bodied and grassy, snappy and sour

Medium – full bodied, a little sweeter and balanced by aroma, snap and complexity

Dark – Spicy, rich almost chocolaty body, aroma turns to sweetness.

Very Dark – Smoky and tastes more like the process than the bean

QUOTES

 Coffee: Black as the devil, Hot as hell, Pure as an angel, Sweet as love.
-Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven.
-Jessi Lane Adams

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
-Anonymous

I believe humans get a lot done, not because we’re smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee.
-Flash Rosenberg

Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.
-Turkish Proverb

Coffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with.
-Drew Sirtors

Mothers are those wonderful people who can get up in the morning before the smell of coffee.
-Anonymous

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
-Anonymous

 IIf it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever.
-David Letterman

 I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee.
-Carly Simon

Among the numerous luxuries of the table...coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions...is never followed by sadness, languor or debility.  -Benjamin Franklin