1.  Coffee cherries usually contain two “beans”, except for the single bean peaberry anomaly.  Cherries with three beans are deemed to be a sign of good luck.

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

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

4.  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.

5.  Crema is a golden-browish foam that covers a freshly brewed cup of espresso.  It is only made by a high-pressured method of extraction.  An even thicker layer of crema also helps keep the heat and aroma of espresso. Enjoy!

6.  Espresso macchiato is a cup of espresso “marked” with a spoonful of the foam from steamed milk, whereas a latte macchiato is a cup of steamed milk “marked” with a shot of espresso.

7.  In the old days in Constantinople, the first coffeehouses were called “Qahveh Khaneh” (schools of wisdom) because they were the meeting places of men of arts and literature.

8.  Dark roasted coffees actually have LESS caffeine than medium roasts.  The longer a coffee is roasted, the more caffeine burns off during the process.

9.  Espresso has 1/3 of the caffeine of a regular cup of coffee, because a shot of espresso is only exposed to water for 25 – 30 seconds.

10.  Sprinkle used coffee grounds around the base of your garden plants and it will stop snails and slugs from munching them.  Also a mixture of those coffee grounds and sugar will revive houseplants that have turned yellow in winter.

11.  Decaffeinated coffee still contains a scosh of caffeine.  The process of decaffeinating beans generally utilizes chemicals such as ethyl acetate and dichloromethane, which is what gives decaf coffee that strange aftertaste.  Unless, of course, you use the Swiss Water method of decaffeinating.

12.  ”Hard” bean means that the coffee was grown at an altitude above 5000 feet.

13.  The word “coffee” was at one time a term for wine, but was later used to describe a black drink made from berries of the coffee tree.  This black drink replaced wine in many religious ceremonies because it kept the Mohammedans awake and alert during their nightly prayers, so they honored it with the name they had originally given to wine.

14.  A coffee tree has a lifespan of about 50 to 70 years.

15.  Some of the world’s most powerful businesses, including Lloyds of London and the New York Stock Exchange, started life as coffee houses.

16.  Coffee cherries usually contain two “beans”, except for the single bean peaberry anomaly.  Cherries with three beans are deemed to be a sign of good luck.

17.  Black coffee with no sugar contains no calories.

18.  Both the American Revolution and the infamous French Revolution were born in coffee houses.

19.  Coffee beans are graded in various ways. Example: Kenya coffees are graded as A, B and C.  AA is the best coffee.

20.  In the coffee world, “excelso” or “supremo” do not indicate the quality of the beans, but rather, the size of the beans.

21.  Is there a difference between the strength and body of coffee?  Absolutely!  The strength of the coffee refers to how much coffee is there in the brew, whereas the body is a measure of the richness (or heaviness) of the coffee taste.

22.  Until the tenth century, coffee was considered a food.  Ethiopian tribesmen would mix the coffee berries with animal fat, roll them into balls, and eat them on their nomadic journeys!

23.  The word “tip” dates back to the old London coffeehouses.  Conspicuously placed brass boxes etched with the inscription “To Insure Promptness” encouraged customers to pay for efficient service.  The resulting acronym, TIP, has become a byword.

24.  When did milk in your coffee become popular?  It was recommended by a French physician in the 1680’s as “café au lait” for medicinal purposes.

25.  ”Cappuccino” is so named because the drink’s peak of foam resembles the color of the robes worn by the Cappuicine Monks (cowl of a Capuchin friar’s habit).

26.  A scientific report form the University of California found that the steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amounts of antioxidants as three oranges.  Amazing!

27.  The first European coffee was sold in pharmacies in 1615 as a medicinal remedy.

28.  In the ancient Arab world, coffee became such a staple part of family life that one of the causes allowed by law for marital separation was a husband’s refusal to produce coffee for his wife.  Ouch!

29.  Before the first French cafe in the late 1700′s, coffee was sold by street vendors in Europe, in the Arab fashion.  The Arabs were the forerunners of the sidewalk espresso carts of today.

30.  For reducing wrinkes and improving their skin, the Japanese have been known to bathe in coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp.

31.  The heavy tax on tea imposed in 1773 on the colonies that resulted in the “Boston Tea Party” resulted in America switching from mainly drinking tea to coffee.  To drink coffee was an expression of freedom.

32.  Coffee was first known in Europe as Arabian Wine.

33.  Bach wrote a coffee cantata in 1732.  Interesting!

34.  It takes approximately 42 coffee beans to make a shot of espresso.

35.  The US Navy used to serve alcoholic beverages on board ships.  However, 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“.

36.  The French philosopher, Voltaire, reportedly drank fifty cups of coffee a day.

37.  Italians do not drink espresso during meals.  It is considered to be a separate event and is given its own time.

38.  The Europeans first added chocolate to their coffee in the 1600′s.

39.  In Italy, espresso is considered so essential to daily life that the price is regulated by the government.

40.  Coffee sacks are usually made of hemp and weigh approximately 132 pounds when they are full of green coffee beans.  It takes over 600,000 beans to fill a coffee sack.

41.  Over 5 million people in Brazil are employed by the coffee trade.  Most of those are involved with the cultivation and harvesting of more than 3 billion coffee plants.

42.  Frederick the Great, king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, had his coffee made with champagne and a bit of mustard.  Hmmm …

43.  Over-roasted coffee beans are very flammable during the roasting process.

44.  ”Latte” is the Italian word for milk.  So if you request a latte in Italy, you’ll be served a glass of milk.

45.  After the decaffeinating process, processing companies no longer throw the caffeine away; they sell it to pharmaceutical companies.

46.  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.  , of course, he had to try them!

47.  Regular coffee drinkers have about one-third less asthma symptoms than those non-coffee drinkers. (So says a Harvard researcher who studied 20,000 people.)

48.  The average age of an Italian barista is 48 years old.  A barista is a respected job title in Italy.

49.  The first Parisian cafe opened in 1689 to serve coffee.  It is not only still there, but is touted as the oldest operating cafe in the world.

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

51.  Citrus has been added to coffee for several hundred years.

52.  Over 10,000 coffee cafes plus several thousand vending machines, with both hot and cold coffee, serve the needs of Tokyo alone.  Wow!

53.  In December 2001, Brazil produced a scented postage stamp to promote its coffee.  The smell should last between 3 and 5 years.

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

55.  Espresso is not referring to a particular type of bean, but to a drink.  More specifically it is a type of coffee brewing method.

56.  Ever hear of “cowboy coffee“?  It was said that they made their coffee by putting grounds into a clean sock, immersing it in cold water, and heating it over the campfire.  When ready, they would pour the coffee into tin cups and drink it.

57.  In Sumatra, workers on coffee plantations gather the world’s most expensive coffee by following a gourmet marsupial who consumes only the choicest coffee beans.  By picking through what he excretes, they obtain the world’s most expensive coffee – ‘Kopi Luwak’ – which sells for over $100 per pound.

58.  Kona coffee trees produce fragrant white blossoms known as “Kona Snow”.  Though the flowers are short-lived, they are highly aromatic with a scent between orange and jasmine.

59.  Coffee is a hot trade commodity in our world – second only to oil.  Wow!  Oil to fuel our cars, and coffee to fuel our brains …

60.  Coffee, if it were taxed like wine, would be more expensive than wine.