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Special Coffee Fact File
1621/
"Coffee" comes from the Latin form of the genus
Coffea, a member of the Rubiaceae family which includes more
than 500 genera and 6,000 species of tropical trees and shrubs.
1622/
There are about 25 major species within Coffea, but the typical
coffee drinker is likely to be familiar with two: Coffea arabica
and Coffea canephora (variety - robusta). After planting,
arabica trees mature in 3 to 4 years, when they produce their
first crop. The arabica plant can continue to produce fruits
for 20 to 30 years. Arabica trees prefer a seasonal climate
of 59-75 degrees Fahrenheit and an annual rainfall of 60 inches.
Coffea canephora provides robusta beans. Robusta trees prefer
equatorial conditions with temperatures between 75 to 85 degrees
Fahrenheit and an annual rainfall of 60 inches.
1623/
Coffea
arabica accounts for about 70% of world coffee production;
whilst Coffea canephora accounts for most of the other 30%.
1624/
The National Coffee Association
conducts an annual survey to measure trends in coffee consumption
among Americans. Some 3,000 men and women were included in
its 2001 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey which found
that fifty-two percent of the adult population of the U.S.
over 18 years of age drink coffee every day, representing
107 million daily drinkers. With each one drinking an average
3.3 cups of coffee per day. Sixty-four percent of all coffee
is consumed at breakfast; 28% between meals; and 8% at all
other meals. Only thirty-five percent of coffee drinkers drink
their coffee black.
1625/
The Arabs were the first, not only to cultivate coffee but
also to begin its trade. By the fifteenth century, coffee
was being grown in the Yemeni district of Arabia and by the
sixteenth century it was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria and
Turkey.
1626/
History has it that when coffee was first introduced in Italy,
Italian wine merchants, their wine sales threatened by coffee,
appealed to the Pope to ban it. However, instead Pope Clementine
VIII requested that some coffee be brought to him so he could
try it. After smelling it, he liked the aroma so much he tasted
it and then proceeded to baptize coffee and pronounce it a
Christian beverage.
1627/
All coffee is grown within 1,000 miles of the equator, from
the Tropic of Cancer in the north, to the Tropic of Capricorn
in the south.
1628/
The first European coffee was sold in pharmacies in 1615 as
a medical remedy.
1629/
After brewing, espresso coffee contains 2.5% fat and filter
coffee contains 0.6% fat.
1630/
It takes 42 coffee beans to make an espresso.
1631/
Over 2000 substances (700 - 850 impacting flavour) have been
identified in green arabica beans. By comparison, wine only
has 150 flavour influencing components. Hence, coffee is one
of the most complex beverages consumed today.
1632/
Caffeine in a basic eight-ounce cup of coffee can range from
65 to 120 milligrams. Instant coffee packs a smaller punch,
with 60 to 85 milligrams, while a single shot of espresso
weighs in at 30 to 50 milligrams. By way of comparison, brewed
tea has an average of 40 mg of caffeine per serving and a
can of cola has between 38-45mg. An ounce of dark chocolate
has 20mg and an ounce of milk chocolate 6mg.
1633/
Coffee was introduced to Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks.
The world's first coffee shop, Kiv Han, opened there in 1475.
Turkish law made it legal for a woman to divorce her husband
if he failed to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.
1634/
In 1714, the Mayor of Amsterdam presented a gift of a young
coffee plant to King Louis XIV of France. The King ordered
it to be planted in the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris. In
1723, a young naval officer, Gabriel de Clieu obtained a seedling
from the King's plant. Despite an arduous voyage - complete
with horrendous weather, a saboteur who tried to destroy the
seedling and a pirate attack - he managed to transport it
safely to Martinique. Once planted, the seedling thrived and
is credited with the spread of over 18 million coffee trees
on the island of Martinique in the next 50 years. Eventually,
90 percent of the worlds coffee plants
would spread from this one plant! With it being the stock
from which coffee trees throughout the Caribbean, South and
Central America originated.
1635/
The first soluble "instant" coffee was invented
by Japanese-American chemist Satori Kato of Chicago in 1901.
The first mass-produced instant coffee wasn't until 1906 however,
when George Constant Washington, an English chemist living
in Guatemala created his brand called Red E Coffee, which
was soon followed by dozens of others.
1636/
Coffee is the world trading system's second most valuable
legal commodity (behind oil), with over 10 billion pounds
exported each year from over 70 countries. In 1996, the export
of coffee beans brought almost $2 billion to the people of
Colombia and $2.4 billion to the people of Brazil.
1637/
In 1940 the U.S. imported 70 percent of the world's coffee
crop. The percentage has dropped over the years (as other
countries consumption has increased) to a current consumption
of about a quarter of the worlds coffee supply. (The US Department
of Agriculture's 1998/99 estimate for world coffee production
was 106.8 million bags).
1638/
Cappuccino is named for the resemblance of its colour to the
robes of the monks of the Capuchin order. The first use of
cappuccino in English is recorded in 1948.
1639/
Maxwell House, is named after the hotel in Nashville Tennessee,
where the original blend was served in 1886.
1640/
Voltaire is rumoured to have had a 50 cup a day coffee habit.
And at one point during the making of "Citizen Kane"
Orson Wells had to be taken to hospital (it was said) due
to excessive coffee consumption.
Click
Here for an Article entitled 'Coffee Physics'
Click on the links below for more great
facts...
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