Fascinating Facts About Coffee

 Fifty-seven percent of all coffee is consumed at breakfast. Thirty-four percent is consumed between meals, while thirteen percent is consumed at all other meals.

During World War II, Nescafé became so popular that the entire production of its U.S. plant (about 1 million cases a year) was reserved for military use only.

Bach composed the Coffee Cantata in honor of the drink. Beethoven was also an avid coffee drinker, preferring a blend made from 60 beans per cup.

In the 1700s, a French naval officer, Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, stole a cutting from the King’s coffee tree in Jardin des Plantes in Paris and took it to the Caribbean island of Martinique. Fifty years later, there were an estimated 18 million coffee trees there.

In 1997, no less than 100 billion cups of Nescafé were drunk worldwide. That’s an average of more than 3,000 cups per second.

A coffee tree takes about 6 years to produce its first “cherries.” The beans themselves are the stones of the coffee cherries.

The word ‘coffee’ originates from the Arabic word ‘kaweh,’ meaning strength and vigor.

Thirty-seven percent of coffee drinkers drink their coffee black, while 63% add a sweetener and/or creaming agent.

Once in Europe, coffee fell under harsh criticism from the Catholic church. Many felt the Pope should ban this new beverage, calling it the drink of the devil. To their surprise, the Pope, already a coffee drinker, blessed coffee, declaring it a truly Christian beverage.

A key component to determining the grade and quality of coffee is cupping, where each batch of coffee is tasted and scrupulously judged for acidity, aroma, body, and overall flavor. And yes, cuppers take coffee breaks.

On a typical day, approximately 49% of the U.S. population drinks coffee.

In Brazil alone, over 6 million people are employed in cultivating and harvesting over 3 billion coffee plants.