Fantastic Facts about Coffee!

 

We were doing some research this morning on the web and came across some interesting facts about coffee (thanks to the Gourmet Coffee Club)…but no doubt there are many many more fantastic facts out there about the black stuff we drink on a daily basis.  If you come across other facts about coffee (or indeed tea for that matter), then drop us a comment and let’s see how many we can get added to the list…

Here’s a starter for 10:

1.  Germay is the world’s second largest consumer of coffee in terms of volume at 16 pounds per person.

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

3.  An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cheries.  That amounts to approximately 2000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.

4.  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.

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

6.  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.

7.  Each year, some 7 million tons of green beans are produced world wide – most of which is hand picked.

So there you go…let’s see what other fantastic facts we can add to the list…