Think you know about the coffee you drink? We have compiled 20 facts that may just surprise you!
- How many coffee beans does it take to make just one espresso? Answer, an amazing 42 coffee beans make one espresso
- Coffee is really a fruit. This is because the coffee beans we use are actually the seeds of a cherry like berry that grows on bushes. We call them ‘beans’ because they have a bean like appearance.
- There are two main types of coffee that you will buy commercially. They are Robusta and Arabica. Robusta has a more bitter taste, high caffeine content and grows at lower altitude than Arabica. Arabica is considered the better quality coffee.
- n the UK 80% of UK households buy instant coffee to drink at home.
- Single serve coffee pods are increasingly popular, particular among the group called the millennials (aged 16-34). They account for 16% of all coffee pod buyers.
- Coffee shops continue to grow. 16% of us visit a coffee shop at least once a day and 80% of people who visit a coffee shop do so at least once a week.
- Coffee is one of the most researched products in the world which is kind of reassuring when you consider how much we drink! Around 4 to 5 cups of coffee a day can contribute to a healthy diet and is associated with certain health benefits including alertness, decreasing cognitive decline and possibly reducing the risks of some cancers.
- Beethoven was an ardent coffee drinker, so was Teddy Roosevelt who drank a gallon of coffee every day!
- In 1932 Brazil couldn’t afford to send its athletes to the Olympics in Los Angeles, so they loaded the ship with coffee and sold it along the way!
- In 1674 the ‘Women’s Petition against Coffee’ was launched. They said that coffee was turning British men into ‘useless corpses’ and wanted coffee banned for men under 60.
- Starbucks is named after Starbuck the 1st mate in Moby Dick
- After coffee beans have been decaffeinated coffee companies sell the caffeine to soft drinks companies and pharmaceuticals.
- Decaf coffee is not completely caffeine free, an 8 ounce cup of decaf contains between 2 and 12 milligrams of caffeine compared to between 95 and 200 milligrams in a standard cup of coffee.
- The word coffee comes from the Arabic meaning ‘wine of the bean’. The word coffee entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie borrowed from the Turkish kahve borrowed from the Arabic qahwah.
- The world consumes over 2 billion cups of coffee every day, you are not alone!
- One of the world’s most expensive coffees is percolated from elephant dung! In Northern Thailand Black Ivory Coffee is Arabica beans eaten by elephants and then collected from their dung. Very smooth apparently!
- In America new York is the biggest coffee drinking state, New Yorkers drink almost 7 times more coffee than other cities in the US
- In Italy espresso is regulated by the Italian Government as it is considered an essential part of daily life.
- Brewed espresso has 2.5% fat, filtered coffee has 0.6% fat.
- The average age of a Barista in Italy is 48.