Join Our Mailing List 

Coffee Fact #35
Germany is the world's second largest consumer of coffee in terms of volume at 16 pounds per person.

Just your not-so-average Coffee Trivia to Stimulate the Brain.

1.Barista is a title given to one who has mastered the art of making espresso beverages.
2.Latte is the Italian word for milk. If you request a latte in Italy, you will be served a glass of milk.
3.The espresso machine was invented in France but was perfected and first manufactured in Italy at the turn of the 20th century.
4.It takes approximately 2,000 coffee cherries to yield about one pound of coffee beans.
5.Cheap truck stop style coffee in the Midwest is sometimes referred to as “Swedish gasoline.”
6.The popularity of iced coffee drinks has been attributed to the French colonial troops in North Africa, who took up drinking the chilled beverages to “beat the heat.”
7.The Evolution of Coffee

It was first eaten as food; the berries were mixed with fat and rolled into balls to carry on long journeys.

It was also drunk as a fermented wine.

It was then taken as a medicine.

Finally, it was roasted and brewed as a beverage.

Coffee has been in existence at least as long as man.
8.The first coffee tree was discovered growing wild in Ethiopia, Africa. It was a species of the Arabica plant.
9.The word coffee likely derives from the root meaning of the Arabic word gahwa, a word which may be translated as “wine” or as “excitement.”
10.The Arabs are generally believed to be the first to brew coffee.
11.In the early 1400’s, alcohol was forbidden by the Koran, and coffee soon became the replacement beverage. It was drunk both at home and at coffeehouses.
12.Lloyd’s of London began as Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse.
13.William Penn purchased a pound of coffee in New York in 1683 for $4.68. One pound of coffee in New York in 1683 was worth 4 acres of land!
14.Milk as an additive to coffee became popular in the 1680’s when a French physician recommended that café au lait be used for medicinal purposes.
15.Bach wrote a coffee cantata in 1732.
16.In the year 1763 there were over 200 coffee shops in Venice, yet the world’s first public restaurant in Paris would not open until 1770.
17.The heavy tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773, causing the Boston Tea Party, resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. Drinking coffee was an “expression of freedom.”
18.Abraham Lincoln never had anything more than a cup of coffee for breakfast.
19.Sans Caffeine is a French phrase meaning “without caffeine.” Sanka, the decaffeinated coffee, was packaged in 1903.
20.The first commercial espresso machine was manufactured in Italy in 1906.
21.The “coffee break” in the American workplace came about during World War II. Employers found that their employees would work longer and harder if they were supplied with a coffee break during their shifts. U.S. studies shortly thereafter reported that 10,000 marriages a year were directly traceable to romances which began during these coffee breaks.
22.The French philosopher, Voltaire, reportedly drank fifty cups of coffee a day.
23.Raw coffee beans soaked in water and spices are chewed like candy in many parts of Africa.
24.For reducing wrinkles and improving their skin, the Japanese have been known to bathe in coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp.
25.Full-bodied coffee has become more popular in recent years. Among the trends of the gourmet coffee revolution.
26.Coffee as a world commodity is second only to oil.
27.Coffee trees are evergreen and grow to heights above 15 feet.
28.It takes approximately 4 to 5 years before an Arabica coffee plant matures and produces its first crop (about 2 pounds of coffee.)
29.Brazil and Colombia together produce approximately 45% of the world’s coffee.
30.Hawaii is the only state of the United States in which coffee is commercially grown.
31.Coffee is bought and sold as many as four or five times before it reaches the end consumer.
32.Darker roasted beans contain less acid and slightly less caffeine than lighter roasted beans.
33.A kola nut contains more caffeine than a coffee cherry.
34.After the decaffeinating process, processing companies no longer throw the caffeine away; they sell it to pharmaceutical companies.
35.Germany is the world's second largest consumer of coffee in terms of volume at 16 pounds per person.
36.Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them lie along the equator between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn
37.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.
38.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.
39.Each year some 7 million tons of green beans are produced world wide. Most of which is hand picked.