COFFEE

Important facts about coffee

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

·          Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them lie along the equator between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.

·          An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2,000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.

·          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.

·          With the exception of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, no coffee is grown in the United States or its territories.

·          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.

·          Each year some 7 million tons of green beans are produced world wide. Most of which is hand picked.

·          Major per-capita consumers of coffee are Canada, the United States, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Nordic countries.

·          27% of U.S. coffee drinkers and 43% of German drinkers add a sweetener to their coffee.

·          The world's largest coffee producer is Brazil with over 3,970 million coffee trees. Colombia comes in second with around two thirds of Brazil's production.

·          Hard bean means the coffee was grown at an altitude above 5000 feet.

·          Arabica and Robusta trees can produce crops for 20 to 30 years under proper conditions and care.

·          Most coffee is transported by ships. Currently there are approximately 2,200 ships involved in transporting the beans each year.

·          The popular trend towards flavored coffees originated in the United States during the 1970's.

·          October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.