Finland holds the per-capita title, with each person man woman and child consuming more than 22 pounds of coffee a year This means, that a family of four will make about 15 cups a day.

Caffeine content is nearly identical in all shades of roasts of coffee. In fact, it is slightly less in a very dark roast.

The US Navy used to serve alcoholic beverages on board ships. When Admiral Josephus “Joe” Daniels became Chief of Naval Operations, he outlawed alcohol on board ships, except for very special occasions. Coffee then became the drink of choice, hence the term “Cup of Joe”.

Coffee berries do not ripen uniformly. The same branch may display ripe red berries, unripe green berries and overripe black berries. Conscientious pickers select only the ripe berries.

Coffee has been in use since about 900 A.D. It was first used as a stimulant, a wine, and as a medicine.

Johann Sebastian Bach was so taken by the romance of the beverage, he wrote his “Coffee Cantata” and in it hailed coffee as “the most precious of blisses….”

Irish cream and Hazelnut are the most popular whole bean coffee flavorings.

Coffee is generally roasted between 400F and 425F. The longer it is roasted, the darker the roast. Roasting time is usually from ten to twenty minutes.

Caffeine does contribute to a coffee’s flavor. Caffeine content decreases as the darkness of the roast increases.

We can recognize over 3,000 smells and can continue to notice the aroma of an espresso up to ten minutes after we have finished drinking it.

The prototype of the first espresso machine was created in France in 1822.

Italy now has over 200,000 coffee bars, and still growing.

Adding sugar to coffee is believed to have started in 1715, in the court of King Louis XIV, the French monarch.

Roasted coffee beans start to lose small amounts of flavor within two weeks. Ground coffee begins to lose its flavor in one hour. Brewed coffee and espresso begins to lose flavor within minutes.

The most widely accepted legend associated to the discovery of coffee is of the goatherder named Kaldi of Ethiopia. Around the year 800-850 A.D., Kaldi was amazed as he noticed his goats behaving in a frisky manner after eating the leaves and berries of a coffee shrub.

A good coffee picker can pick 10 baskets of coffee cherries in a day. Roasted and brewed that translates to 2,400 cups.

A pound of tea, on average, has nearly twice the caffeine of a pound of roasted coffee.

Caffeine content is directly related to the altitude at which the coffee is grown. The higher the altitude, the less caffeine. Therefore; gourmet coffees are naturally lower in caffeine than typical supermarket canned coffee blends.

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

The first “coffee break” on the moon took place at 7:27pm, July 20, 1969. It was three hours after landing and four hours before the historic walk that an astronaut on the Eagle spacecraft radioed Houston control to say, “If you’ll excuse me a minute, I’m going to have a cup of coffee.”

In general, West Coast coffee drinkers prefer darker roasted coffees while East Coast coffee drinkers prefer a lighter roast.

A scientific report from the University of California found that the steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amount of antioxidants as three oranges. The antioxidants are heterocyclic compounds which prevent cancer and heart disease.

The modern day espresso street vending cart evolved from a Boeing Company shuttle cart, purchased from surplus. It was first utilized to serve people espresso at an arts and crafts fair in Edmonds, Washington.

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.

When you travel you may notice differences in the taste of your coffee simply from the altitude at which you are located. Taste buds are less sensitive at higher altitudes than at sea level.

Ever heard of “cowboy” coffee? In the 1800′s, cowboys put their ground coffee into a clean sock and immersed it in hot water heated over the campfire.

In the Caribbean, coconuts are more common than cows and many use coconut milk instead of cow’s milk to add to morning coffee.

There are over 1,200 chemical components in coffee and over half of these contribute to the unique flavor of coffee.

The aroma and flavor derived from coffee is a result of the little beads of the oily substance called coffee essence, caffeol or coffee oil. This is not an actual oil since it dissolves in water.

Coffee is bought and sold 4 to 6 times before it finally reaches the consumer who drinks it.