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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'

National Coffee Association
of the USA
The British Coffee
Association

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