Facts about Coffee

By Gabriel Adams
Having become a regular part of our daily life, coffee has not been given much thought except for people wondering every now and then about the health benefits that it has on them. But there’s more to just the great taste and the caffeine rush we get with every cup of our favorite coffee.

Here are some interesting facts about coffee that you probably did not know:

Coffee is . . .

• The second most widely used product in the world next to oil
• The second most popular drink next to water
• Grown in 65 countries around the world
• The means of living for 25 million families around the world
• Consumed at the rate of 1.4 million cups every day
• Produced largely in Brazil, Indonesia, Columbia, India, Mexico, Vietnam, Uganda
• Consumed largely in the US, Brazil, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom

Coffee was . . .

• First discovered by a young goat herd in the highlands of Ethiopia in the ninth century
• Originally used by the Arabs as a form of medicine and for religious purposes
• Forbidden in Rome when a priest prohibited the people to drink the beverage because it was believed to be the drink of the devil
• First commercially harvested in the fourteenth century from the Arabian Peninsula
• First imported on a large scale by the Dutch
• First known as “Arabian wine” when it was introduced in Europe

• First mass-produced by George Constant Washington, an English chemist in 1906

Coffee . . .

• Beans are actually berries, which contain two beans known as “pips”
• Farmers get a mere 4 cents for every pound of coffee that they pick by hand
• Is celebrated in Japan every first of October, which they have officially marked as Coffee Day for the entire country
• With flavor originated in the 1970s in America
• Ships are used to transport beans around the world (approximately 2,500 ships every year)
• Plants can produce coffee beans up to 30 years under proper care and good conditions
• The “coffee belt” refers to the regions in the equator where most coffee trees are grown
• Is not produced in the United States of America (not counting Hawaii and Puerto Rico)

The first . . .

• Coffee berries were boiled before they were marketed because the Arabs did not want the plants cultivated outside their territories
• Coffee houses were called ?penny universities? as every cup of coffee would only cost you a penny
• Coffee-serving caf? (Le Procope) opened in Paris in 1968 and is still in business today
• Instant coffee was invented by Satori Kato, a Japanese-American chemist in 1901
• Freeze-dried coffee Nescafe was invented by a Nestl? company in Switzerland in 1938
• Coffee filter was invented by a housewife from Germany, Melitta Bentz

From its origin to production and to the many changes that it has undergone up to this date, coffee continues to remain a significant part of our everyday living. That shouldn?t come as a surprise, not with the great stories that come with every cup we have. Coffee is an integral part of many societies and economies around the world.

So, have you learned anything about coffee?

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Free Articles provided by The Free Library

Facts that the Free Library doesn’t know about coffee…

By Cupofgooglecaffeine.info

• Coffee is grown in Zimbabwe in the eastern highlands

• The Zulus used to eat a mix of Coffee and other herbs before going into battle

• A Coffee shop in Amsterdam does not necessarily sell coffee…

Other Coffee topics

Maurice Clemmons, the suspect accused of shooting dead four policemen in a coffee shop in a Seattle suburb, has been shot dead by officers in the US city.

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A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.

Pot 1 contained Carrots, Pot 2 contained Eggs and Pot 3 contained ground Coffee.

She let them sit and boil; without saying a word…

Once they had been like that for about 20 minutes, she ladled them out into 3 bowls respectively.

Now turning to her daughter, she asked, ‘ Tell me what you see…’

‘Carrots, eggs, and coffee,’ she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardboiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, ‘What does it mean, mother?’

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

‘Which are you?’ she asked her daughter. ‘When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
To summarise:

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

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Referring to http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=562508 on google answers about a cup of starbucks. One wonders, how much caffeine is in a starbucks tall cup of decaf? Click the above and find out from google answers.

Other Answers:

http://www.chacha.com/question/how-much-caffeine-is-in-a-starbucks-tall-french-pressed-coffee

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/396366

Interesting, think about your next cup of decaffeinated caffeine.

That link again from google answers concerning Starbucks tall cup of decaf: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=562508