Botanically speaking coffee beans are not really beans at all, but berries.It takes between 4000-5000 coffee cherries to produce a single kilogram of freshly roasted coffee.
Coffee is grown in over 50 countries of the world but is not grown anywhere on the mainland United States.
Coffee is one of the most heavily traded products in the world, second only to oil.
A coffee tree has a life expectancy of 70 years and it takes five years for a coffee tree to reach maturity.
Contrary to popular belief, darkly roasted coffees contain less caffeine than lightly roasted blends. Caffeine is burnt off during the roasting process, so consequently the longer roasted dark blends have less caffeine.
When serving coffee to guests, it is the custom that the oldest person sitting around a table is served first in Turkey and Greece.
Rather unusually, the terms ‘supremo’ and ‘excelso’ are used to indicate the large physical size of the coffee bean and not its quality as one might expect.
The human body will only be affected by caffeine up to a certain level when coffee is drunk. This level depends upon the individual. After a certain number of cups of coffee have been drunk (typically 4 in quick succession), consuming further cups will provide no further stimulation as the rest is not absorbed.
Coffee is the most popular beverage in the world apart from water and has been consumed for over a thousand years.
Soluble instant coffee was invented in 1906 by an Englishman, living in Guatemala who later moved to the USA. Interestingly his name was George Washington.
People from different parts of the world traditionally add different ingredients to enjoy their favorite drink. The Ethiopians add a pinch of salt, Moroccans’ add peppercorns, while the Mexicans add cinnamon. Drinkers in the Middle East enjoy the addition of cardamom and spices, whilst Austrians add whipped cream. Egyptian coffee drinkers like it strong and dark and rarely add cream or sugar.
