Coffee Facts and Trivia

• Approximately 3,400 cups of coffee are consumed every second of the day around the world. Coffee is the second most valuable product in the global economy, creating annual sales of $70 billion. Half of all Americans start their day with a cup of coffee. 57% of all brewed coffee is consumed at breakfast. Black coffee is preferred by about 40% of coffee drinkers. The average coffee drinker consumes three cups per day.
• Coffee is a member of the large Rubiaceae family, comprising the genus Coffea, first described by C. Linnaeus in 1717. The two main species cultivated commercially are Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, which includes the extremely widespread Robusta variety. Arabica, the oldest known and most widespread species, originated not in Arabia, as its name suggests, but from Ethiopia, where it grew in immense stands on high plateaus. Canephora was discovered in Africa towards the end of the 18th Century. Together, these two species account for 99% of the world's coffee.
•   Coffee was originally brewed from raw, green beans to yield a tea-like beverage. Arabians first began roasting and grinding coffee in the late 13th Century. As the brew spread in popularity from Constantinople to Venice, then Vienna, and the European capitals, it was condemned by religious leaders of all faiths for its supposed intoxicating effects. Initially, coffee was sold by pharmacists, and then in cafes, which became notorious as hangouts for intellectuals and artists. Today, despite possessing virtually no nutritional or health benefits of any kind, coffee is the most popular beverage in the world, with more than 500 billion cups consumed each year.
•  The word "coffee" is derived from an Arab word, qahwa, which means literally: "that which prevents sleep." The Italian word capuccino means "little hood" and originally referred to the Capuchin friars, a Roman Catholic order of monks. Cappucino coffee reminded 14th Century coffee drinkers of these friars' brown robes with pointed hoods. Taking a bath in coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp is a traditional Japanese therapy for reducing wrinkles. In 1734, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote an opera titled The Coffee Cantata, in which the heroine sings: "coffee is more delicious than a thousand kisses, and sweeter than muscatel wine”.
• The first documented coffee plantation in Hawaii occurred in 1813, unsuccessfully. In 1825, coffee was cultivated in Manoa Valley at the behest of the governor, rapidly spreading to all the isles. As the sugar industry prospered, many coffee farms were converted to sugarcane. By 1920, virually all of the commercially grown coffee in the Hawaiian Islands was cultivated in Kona.
• Coffee beans are the seeds of a fruit, picked when red, and acquire their familiar brown color and enticing aroma only upon roasting. Of the two predominant species, Arabica beans are of superior quality, producing the finest flavors when grown at high altitudes in semitropical climates. Robusta beans require less care and thrive in low altitudes, and have twice the caffeine. Most commercial coffee is Robusta, often with a small percentage of arabica beans added for flavor. In contrast, almost all gourmet coffee is Arabica.
• Coffee is processed by either of two methods: the dry ("natural") method or the wet ("washed") method. In the dry method, coffee berries are sun-dried for several weeks on elevated racks or screens, which are covered at night to prevent spoilage. The dried berries are then husked prior to grading and roasting. In the wet method, the outer pulp is removed by machine. The beans are then placed in large fermentation vats. Finally, the beans are washed and dried, either in the sun or in drying machines.
• Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them lie along the equator between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.
• An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2,000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.
• The percolator was invented in 1827 by a French man. It would boil the coffee producing a bitter tasting brew. Today most people use the drip or filtered method to brew their coffee.
• With the exception of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, no coffee is grown in the United States or its territories.
• Up until the 1870's most coffee was roasted at home in a frying pan over a charcoal fire. It wasn't until recent times that batch roasting became popular.
• Each year some 7 million tons of green beans are produced world wide. Most of which is hand picked.
• 27% of U.S. coffee drinkers add a sweetener to their coffee.
• The world's largest coffee producer is Brazil with over 3,970 million coffee trees. Colombia comes in second with around two thirds of Brazil's production.
• Hard bean means the coffee was grown at an altitude above 5000 feet.
• Arabica and Robusta trees can produce crops for 20 to 30 years under proper conditions and care.
• Most coffee is transported by ships. Currently there are approximately 2,200 ships involved in transporting the beans each year.
• The popular trend towards flavored coffees originated in the United States during the 1970's.
• October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.
• The first coffee tree in the Western Hemisphere was brought from France to the Island of Martinique in the 1720's.
• Coffee has been a popular beverage in many forms for more than a thousand years throughout many parts of the world. With this fascinating history comes many stories covering so many coffee subjects. We hope you enjoy this interesting collection of coffee facts and information.
• Annual coffee consumption worldwide was estimated in 2003 to be over 400 billion cups. While these 2003 statistics are the most recent available, it is established that coffee consumption throughout the world continues to grow. 400 billion cups per year is a huge number. That's over 1.4 billion cups of coffee per day. The United States is responsible for almost 35 percent of the coffee consumption at 400 million cups every day.
• Coffee is the second largest traded commodity surpassed only by Oil, the world's world's largest traded commodity.
• The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) estimates the specialty coffee revenue in 2006 at over $12.2 billion in sales. Over 75% of this business occurs in coffee cafes and coffee beverage retailers.
• According to a 2008 National Coffee Association (NCA) study, daily gourmet coffee consumption has increased 3% this year (2007) over last year (2006), while daily coffee consumption of any kind is down 2% for the same time period. Gourmet coffee includes espresso based drinks. The NCA poll surveyed more than 6000 adults over the Internet and by telephone in January and February of 2008.
• Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata about coffee between 1732 and 1734. Coffee has been a popular beverage for hundreds of years and the coffee houses were a frequent gathering place throughout Europe, including Leipzig, Germany where Bach resided in 1732. The coffee cantata was more of a satirical comedy and tells an amusing story of coffee addiction considered a social problem in the eighteenth century.
• The first wholesale coffee roasting company in America started business in 1790. That same year, the first advertisement for coffee in a newspaper was published. What is believed to be the first coffee roasting plant in America started operations at
  4 Great Dock Street
  in New York City, now
  Pearl Street
• If the French invented Cafe Society, the Italians definitely own the rights to Espresso Society. There are over 200,000 espresso bars throughout Italy today.
• The first rudimentary espresso machine prototype was created in France in 1822. Luigi Bezzera patented the first espresso machine in 1901, a steam driven design. Desiderio Pavoni purchased the patent from Bezzera in 1905, and through additional experimentation was able to produce better results by using a more optimum brew temperature of 195 degrees at 8-9 BAR of pressure. La Pavoni was the first manufacturer of espresso machines used in coffee houses. Modern day espresso in the commercial establishment is attributed to the Gaggia piston lever Crema Caffe machine, first introduced in 1947.
• The popular latte is predominantly an American phenomena. If you ask for a latte in Italy, you'll get a glass of milk, most likely warm milk. When in Italy, if you want a latte as you know it in America, you'll need to ask for a caffe latte (coffee with milk).
• The first coffee filter was invented in 1908 by Melitta Bentz, a housewife from Dresden, Germany. She created the filter using blotting paper. The Melitta Bentz and her husband Hugo Bentz started the Melitta Bentz company that same year in 1908. The Melitta brand is synonymous with coffee filters to this day.
• In 1901, the first invention of "instant" coffee is attributed to a Japanese American chemist Satori Kato in 1901. The first mass-produced instant coffee is credited to an English chemist George Constant Washington in 1906. The Nestle company in Switzerland invented and introduced Nescafe, the first freeze-dried coffee, in 1938.
• Legend has it in 1907, a cup of Maxwell House Coffee was served to President Theodore Roosevelt and he was overheard to comment that it was "good to the last drop". The Cheek-Neal Coffee Company registered the trademark slogan "Maxwell House Good to the last drop" in 1926. The Postum Cereal Company purchased the assets of Cheek-Neal including Maxwell House Coffee in 1928, which, through several corporate acquisitions, became General Foods in 1929. In 1989, Kraft and General Foods combined to form Kraft General Foods which owns Maxwell House Coffee today.
• In Japan, over 10,000 coffee cafes called "Kissaten" serve the consumer demand in just Tokyo alone. Japan is the third highest coffee consuming nation in the world today.
• Contrary to what most people think, espresso coffee actually contains about 1/3 the caffeine level of a normally brewed cup of coffee. This is partially due to the fact that espresso is typically made using top premium arabica beans. Arabica beans have a lower caffeine content than robusta beans found in many coffee blends used for standard brewing.
• On average, the live expectancy of a properly cared for coffee plant is 40 to 50 years, with some plants living as long as 100 years.
• A mature coffee plant yields about 5 pounds of green (un-roasted) coffee beans per year. That results in less than one pound of coffee beans after roasting (roasting removes most of the water present in the green coffee beans). It takes about 4000 coffee beans to produce a pound of coffee. And roughly 50 coffee beans to produce one cup of coffee.
• On average, an acre of coffee trees can produce as much as 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. There are two coffee beans contained within each cherry. This yields approximately 2000 pounds of beans after processing. Which translates to about 400 pounds of coffee beans after roasting. It takes a lot of coffee trees, and vast amounts of acreage to produce the volume of coffee consumed each day.
• The popular Cappuccino coffee drink is named after the Capuchin monks due to the similarity in color of the coffee drink to monk's robes.
• In the 1950s, the average price for a cup of coffee was 10 cents with some places still selling a cup for as low as 5 cents. And that included the refills. The typical place to buy a cup of coffee was either a coffee shop or a roadside diner. Although a penny bought a more in the 1950s than in the 1650s, ten cents for a cup of coffee was not all that more expensive than in the popular coffee houses of England during the 17th century. Coffee houses in England flourished during the 17th and 18th century as common gathering places for the learned and educated (and the common folks too) and were called "penny universities" with a penny being the price for a cup of coffee.
• The popular phrase "cup of joe", referring to a cup of coffee, was made popular during WWII. Enlisted men (General Infantry) in the U.S Army were fondly referred to by the slang phrase G.I. Joe, made popular by a comic strip distributed by King Features Syndicate, which first appeared in newspapers in 1942. Coffee was an immensely popular beverage consumed by enlisted men during WWII, hence the establishment of the popular phrase "cup of joe" from G.I. Joe.
• According to a recent American Chemical Society study and white paper, over a thousand volatile compounds have been identified in coffee. Coffee certainly involves a complex chemistry. Approximately 40 of these components have been demonstrated to contribute to the actual smell and aroma of coffee. One interesting determination counters the traditional thinking that caffeine is responsible for the bitter taste in coffee. However, caffeine concentrations are simply too low in coffee to influence or cause a bitter taste. The research has isolated two primary compounds as significant contributors to coffee's bitterness, chlorogenic acid lactones and hydroxylated phenylindanes. Clear as mud (or coffee that is).
• People who drink coffee are less likely to commit suicide than people who don’t.
• Did you know that prior to the 1600’s; the favorite breakfast drink was beer? Since then, coffee has become second only to oil as the world’s most valuable commodity.
• The first coffee shop opened in 15th-century Constantinople, where the Turks thought the drink was an aphrodisiac.
• It is estimated that 100 million Americans drink a total of 350 million cups of coffee a day.
• 52% of the American adult population (age 18+) drinks some type of coffee beverage on a daily basis, averaging about 3.2 cups per day.
• If you like your espresso coffee sweet, you should use granulated sugar, which dissolves more quickly, rather than sugar cubes; white sugar rather than brown sugar or candy; and real sugar rather than sweeteners which alter the taste of the coffee.
  
  "Cowboy coffee"? It was said they made their coffee by putting ground coffee into a clean sock and immerse it in cold water and heated over campfire. When ready, they would pour the coffee into tin cups and drink it.
  
  Caffeine is on the International Olympic Committee list of prohibited substances. Athletes who test positive for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine may be banned from the Olympic Games. This level may be reached after drinking about 5 cups of coffee. Ouch! Any coffee athletics out there?
  
  The word "coffee" was at one time a term for wine, but was later used to describe a black drink made from berries of the coffee tree. This black drink replaced wine in many religious ceremonies because it kept the Mohammedans awake and alert during their nightly prayers, so they honored it with the name they had originally given to wine.
• The word 'cappuccino' is the result of several derivations, the original of which began in 16th century. The Capuchin order of friars, established after 1525, played an important role in bringing Catholicism back to Reformation Europe. Its Italian name came from the long, pointed cowl, or cappuccino, derived from cappuccio, "hood," that was worn as part of the order's habit. The French version of cappuccino was capuchin, from which came English Capuchin. In Italian cappuccino went on to describe espresso coffee mixed or topped with steamed milk or cream, so called because the color of the coffee resembled the color of the habit of a Capuchin friar. The first use of cappuccino in English is recorded in 1948 in a work about San Francisco. There is also the story line that says that the term comes from the fact that the coffee is dark, like the monk's robe, and the cap is likened to the color of the monk's head.
• Both the American Revolution and the infamous French Revolution were born in coffee houses. The American Revolution grew from roots planted by patriots in the Green Dragon (some say it was the Green Lion) Public House in the Lloyd's District of London. The infamous French Revolution happened in 1789 when the Parisians, spurred on by Camille Desmoulins's verbal campaign, took to the streets and two days later the Bastille fell, marking the overthrow of the French Government and changing France forever.
• When the beans reaches the temperature of 400F during the roasting process, the beans "crack." The bean develop oils in a process called pyolysis. The outer part of the beans darkens. When the beans "crack" a second time, the hot beans are then dumped from the roaster and cooled immediately, usually with cold air. During the process of roasting coffee beans, coffee oil gathers in pockets throughout the bean. This substance is forced out to the surface of the beans of darker roasts, as moisture is lost. Hence the bean has this oily appearance.
• Coffee beans are graded in various ways. Example: Kenya coffees are graded as A, B and C. AA is the best coffee. In Costa Rica, coffees are graded as Strictly Hard Bean, Good Hard Bean, Hard Bean, Medium Hard Bean, High Grown Atlantic, Medium Grown Atlantic, and Low Grown Atlantic. Those coffee beans from Colombia are labeled as "Supremo" "Excelso", "Extra" and the lowest grade, "Pasilla".
• Turkish bridegrooms were once required to make a promise during their wedding ceremonies to always provide their new wives with coffee. If they failed to do so, it was grounds for divorce! (Ouch!)
  
  The Italians drink their espresso with sugar, the Germans and Swiss - with equal parts of hot chocolate, the Mexicans - with cinnamon, the Belgians - with chocolate. Moroccans drink their coffee with peppercorns, the Ethiopians - with a pinch of salt. Coffee drinkers in the Middle East usually add cardamom and spices. Whipped cream is the favorite amongst Austrians. The Egyptians are extremely fond of pure and strong coffee. They seldom add sugar to it, nor milk nor cream. They serve unsweetened coffee to mourners and sweetened coffee at weddings. The Italians are the unrivaled World Masters of Espresso.
• Special studies conducted about the human body revealed it will usually absorb up to about 300 milligrams of caffeine at a given time. About 4 normal cups. Additional amounts are just cast off, providing no further stimulation. Also, the human body dissipates 20% of the caffeine in the system each hour.
• In Yugoslavia, small coffee places are known as kafano, where the owners takes your order, brew and serve you coffee. It is usually served in a long-handled open pot known as devza (that should be cezva, pronounced "keffa." In Turkey it's called an Ibrik), and the coffee is poured into tiny demitasse-type cups. This is like an espresso, but it has the full impart of caffeine. Done right, it rewards the drinker with a remarkable coffee experience.
• One time in Germany, the government hired a special force known as Kaffee Schnufflers, to sniff out illicit coffee roasters and smugglers. It was an intense campaign brought about by King Frederick who did not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be depended upon. Fortunately he failed for he too loved coffee.
• During the American Civil War the Union soldiers were issued eight pounds of ground roasted coffee as part of their personal ration of one hundred pounds of food. And they had another choice: ten pounds of green coffee beans.
• Cafe Procope was the first true Paris coffeehouse. It was opened in 1689 by a former lemonade vendor, Francois Procope. The cafe faces the Theatre Francais, where it drew the artists and actors of the day.
• At one time in England, certain merchants were angered when coffee was introduced. Those selling ale and wine felt threatened when coffee became more popular. They even launched a campaign to persuade Charles II to issue an order to suppress coffeehouses. Fortunately, public outcry forced the order to be retracted. That was on January 8, 1675.
• Kolschitzky, a Polish, opened Vienna's first coffeehouse, the Blue Bottle. He even saved the beans from the flames when the Turkish troops who left them were fleeing from the city.
• In the homes of the Bedouins, coffee is generally served plain with ginger or cardamom. It gives off a yellow color and a very sweet taste. Sometimes ginger is added instead of cardamom. The Bedouins would greet the guest in honour with "Allah wa Sablan", meaning, "My home is your home".
• Ugandans mix green beans with sweet grasses and various spices, dry them, and then wrap these in grass packets, which were then hung in their homes. It serves as talisman and as decoration.
• Coffee most exacting rite of passage is known as "cupping" or cuptasting. It is the act of assessing the qualities of a particular batch of beans by freshly roasting, brewing, and tasting it. It is the work for serious and talented professionals.
• Coffee berries start as green berries in early stage of growth, turns yellow, red, then dark crimson when it is finally ripe and yields the best coffee. In fact, according to the rule of "FIVE": Arabica coffee plant takes about "FIVE" years to mature and produce its first crop. A healthy coffee tree will produce only about "FIVE" pounds of green beans per year, but only about "ONE-FIFTH" of a pound meets the rigid sorting standards to be sold as "Specialty Coffee."
• We say coffee beans although they are really berries.
• Dorothy Jones of Boston was the first American coffee trader. It was in 1670 that she was granted a license to sell coffee.
• Japan is now the third largest consumer of coffee. They even know to improve their skin, and reduce wrinkles, by bathing in coffee grounds that were fermented with pineapple pulp. Amazing! Beats mud-bathing.
• Crema is a golden-browish foam that covers a freshly brewed cup of espresso. It is only made by a high-pressured method of extraction. An even thicker layer of crema also helps keep the heat and aroma of espresso. Enjoy!
• "Expresso is not a word; it comes from the same root as "express" as in "The Express Train." The term is ESPRESSO. It comes from the Latinate root for "Press", or "Under Pressure". In many places if you order "expresso", you will be politely ignored.
• In Greece and Turkey, it is the custom that the eldest is served coffee first.
• Espresso macchiato is a cup of espresso "marked" with a spoonful of the foam from steamed milk, whereas latte macchiato is a cup of steamed milk "marked" with a small dash of espresso.
• During the American Civil War, when coffee was scarce, the citizens of New Orleans used chicory as substitutes. Today, they would have their coffee with chicory, which is mixed with quantity of strong black coffee and hot, rich milk.
• There is a difference between the strength and body of the coffee? The strength of the coffee refers to how much coffee is there in the brew, whereas the body is a measure of the richness (or heaviness) of the coffee taste.
• In the coffee world, "excelso" or "supremo" do not indicate the quality of the beans, but rather, the size of the beans.
• Vacuum pot brewer was invented by a Scottish engineer, Robert Napier, in about 1840. It has two glass or metal globes that fit together to make a seal. A plug, often attached to a spring seats in the upper globe.
• In the old days in Constantinople, the first coffeehouses were called qahveh khaneh (schools of wisdom) because they were the meeting places of men of arts and literature.
• A kahveci is a person who is skilled in preparing Turkish coffee.
• In 1690 the Dutch founded the East India Coffee trade when they introduced coffee in Java (Indonesia).
• At one time there was a group of women who formed Women's Petition Against Coffee (WPAC). That was in London in 1674. They complained that their men were always at the coffee houses, and not being at home as needed during domestic crises.
• Turkish coffee is traditionally brewed in a circular brass pot known as an ibrik. It is used to brew a cup that is thicker and sweeter than the usual coffee that we are accustomed to.
• Coffee was brought into Costa Rica from Cuba by a Spanish traveller, Navarro, in 1779. Hence it is not their native plant.
• Will's in Covent Garden became a favourite meeting place for writers and poets. Many famous people, including Dr. Johnson, who compiled the first English Dictionary, visited the Turk's Head Coffee House.
• The requirements for making of good espresso is summarized by the 4 "M"s: Macinazione (the correct griinding of coffee blend), Miscela (coffee blend), Macchina (the espresso machine) and of course, Mano (barista).
• Beethoven who was a coffee lover, was so particular about his coffee that he always counted 60 beans each cup when he prepared his brew.
• Luigi Goglio invented a one-way valve that could be laminated onto layered, oxygen-permeable packaging material.
• Louis XV was rumoured to have spent USD15,000/- per year on coffee for his daughters. And Voltaire supposedly drank 50 cups a day.
• The French was the first to innovate a crude espresso machine. The Italians then perfected this machine and became the first to manufacture it.
• The first coffee advertisement was a handbill distributed in 1651. It read: "The Virtue of the coffee drink first publicly made and sold in England, by Pasqua Rosee...in St. Michael's Alley Cornhill...at the Signe of his own head." It is now housed in the British Museum.
• In 1511, Khair Beg, Mecca's corrupt governor, attempted to ban the coffee drink, fearing that it might foster public opposition to his rule. He even summoned experts from every walk of life to testify against coffee.
• It was a locksmith who, in 1665, first invented a coffee mill in London.
• It was in 1530 that the first coffeehouse was opened in Damascus, Syria. Istanbul, Turkey opened its first coffeehouse in 1554.
• Mr. Jacobs opened England's first coffee house in Oxford in 1650. It was two years later that another coffee house was opened in London by a Greek, Pasqua Rosee, in partnership with Daniel Edwards, an Englishman. By 1700 some two thousand such coffee shops were established.
• The Turks brought coffee to Austria when their army surrounded Vienna in 1683, laying siege to the city.
• In 1785, the coffee revolt broke out in Prussia because coffee consumption was restricted to the nobility, the clergy and high officials.
• Before coffee was introduced as a stimulant, it had been a social custom in Aden to chew the fresh leaves of "qat", as it had a mild narcotic effect.
• The three biggest coffee drinkers in the world are the Americans, the French and the Germans. They consume some 65% of the total world's consumption of coffee.
• The coffee bean is called "bunnu" in Arabic.
• It was the Dutch who literally brought the coffee plant to the rest of the world. They brought the first coffee plant from Mocha in Yemen to Holland in 1616. Their first cultivation was in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1658.
• A good cuptaster has not only got to have a good tongue and nose, but a good mouth and good health as well.
• Nicaragua Margogipe is the largest of coffee beans.
• Mr. G. Washington, an Englishman who lived in Guatemala, invented instant coffee. He discovered soluble coffee in 1906 and three years later was able to put his products on the market.
• 1 kilogram of roasted coffee requires 4,000 - 5,000 coffee beans.
• The original Cappuccino machines were true works of art in the inimitable Italian style. Massive, ornate, and impressive steam machines designed to brew coffee and foam milk in a stimulating and entertaining ritual. Much of the enjoyment of this exotic Italian classic was watching the server make it in the elegant Cappuccino machine, with skill and showmanship.
• The inventors of Cappuccino decided that it's preparation should be as dramatic as it's distinguished taste and appearance. So they designed an appropriately impressive Cappuccino machine.
• In the 17th century, for unknown reasons, an English king forbade his subjects to congregate anywhere coffee was sold.
• The word "tip" dates back to the old London coffeehouses. Conspicuously placed brass boxes etched with the inscription, "To Insure Promptness," encouraged customers to pay for efficient service. The resulting acronym, TIP, has become a byword.
• Until the tenth century, coffee was considered a food. Ethiopian tribesmen would mix the coffee berries with animal fat, roll them into balls, and eat them on their nomadic journeys!

 

Open Mon - Fri from 6:30am to 5:00pm
Sat 8:00am - 4:00pm


BrewingGrounds
41658 Fenwick St
Leonardtown, MD 20650
(301) 475-8040

Or FAX your order to: (301) 475-8658

tim@gobrewinggrounds.com