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COFFEE FACTS

  • Coffee is the most popular drink worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year.

  • Last year in Britain, £730 million was spent on coffee.

  • Britain consumes 500g of coffee per person, per year.

  • It takes 42 coffee beans to make an espresso.

  • Over half of the espresso consumed in the UK is drunk in the South East of the country.

  • On average, men drink more coffee than women (1.7 cups per day vs 1.5 cups).

  • 37% of coffee drinkers drink their coffee black; while 63% add a sweetener such as sugar.

  • Instant coffee accounts for 13% of all coffee drunk.

  • 57% of coffee is drunk at breakfast; 34% between meals and 13% at other meals.

  • It is estimated that more than 100 million Americans drink a total of 350 million cups of coffee a day.

  • About half of all American adults have a cup of coffee to start their day.

  • The USA is the world's largest consumer of coffee, importing 16 to 20 million bags annually (2.5 million pounds), representing 1/3 of all coffee exported.

  • More than half of the United States population consumes coffee typically drinking 3.4 cups of coffee a day.

  • The first European coffee was sold in pharmacies in 1615 as a medicinal remedy.

  • Cappuccino is so named because of the drink's peak of foam which resembles the cowl of a Capuchin friar's habit.

  • Flavoured coffees are created after the roasting process by applying flavoured oils specially created to use on coffee beans.

  • Espresso contains less caffeine than any other roast.

  • Coffee was first known in Europe as Arabian Wine.

  • Bach wrote a coffee cantata in 1732.

  • The US Navy used to serve alcoholic beverages on board ships. However, when Admiral Josephus "Joe" Daniels became Chief of Naval Operations, he outlawed alcohol on board ships, except for very special occasions. Coffee then became the drink of choice, hence the term "Cup of Joe".

  • The heavy tax on tea imposed in 1773 on the colonies that resulted in the "Boston Tea Party" resulted in America switching from mainly drinking tea to coffee. To drink coffee was an expression of freedom.

  • Italians do not drink espresso during meals. It is considered to be a separate event and is given its own time.

  • In Greece and Turkey, the oldest person is almost always served their coffee first.

  • In the ancient Arab world, coffee became such a staple part of family life that one of the causes allowed by law for marital separation was a husband's refusal to produce coffee for his wife.

  • Raw coffee beans, soaked in water and spices, are chewed like candy in many parts of Africa.

  • Coffee represents three-quarters of all the caffeine consumed in the USA.

  • For reducing wrinkles and improving their skin, the Japanese have been known to bathe in coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp.

  • Citrus flavours have been added to coffee for several hundred years.

  • The Europeans first added chocolate to their coffee in the 1600's.

  • Our sense of smell, more than any of our other senses makes our final judgement on coffee.

  • With alcohol forbidden by the Koran in the early 1400's coffee soon became the replacement drink.

  • The French philosopher, Voltaire, reportedly drank fifty cups of coffee a day.

  • Decaffeinated coffee sales are at their highest in January due to people's New Year resolutions.

  • Scandinavia has the world's highest per capita annual coffee consumption, 26.4 pounds.

  • The Arabs flavoured their coffee with spices during the brewing process.

  • Iced coffee in a can has been popular in Japan since 1945.

  • The human body will absorb just 300 milligrams of caffeine at a given time. Additional amounts are cast off and provide no additional stimulation. The human body dissipates 20% of the caffeine in it's system per hour.

  • Wild medical contraptions used to exist to administer a mixture of coffee and an assortment of heated butter, honey and oil to treat the sick.

  • Regular coffee drinkers have about 1/3 less asthma symptoms than those of non-coffee drinkers according to a Harvard researcher who studied 20,000 people.

  • Australians consume 60% more coffee than tea, a sixfold increase since 1940.

  • Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.

 

Cup of Coffee
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