Fun Facts About Coffee

Whether you drink it or not, you can’t deny the prevalence of coffee in today’s world. With coffee shops on every block and with many homes containing some sort of method to brew it, coffee has found its way into Hong Kong culture. Coffee represents our innate need to connect, to mediate, and to focus which is why the drink has become so immensely popular. Coffee has had a robust history since its discovery and there are few very unique facts about coffee that are almost too interesting to believe. Don’t believe us? Check out these interesting facts about coffee.

Coffee is a Fruit

They’re not actually beans, they’re berries. These berries grow on bushes and can be red or green in colour, with each colour creating a different coffee taste once roasted. The pit of these berries are roasted to make coffee and are only called coffee beans because they look similar to a bean in this form.

Coffee was Discovered by a Goat Herder

Yup, you read that right. It’s believe that coffee was first discovered by a goat herder somewhere in Ethiopia the 1500s. Apparently the herder noticed his goats eating some of the coffee berries and the observed a stark change in their behaviour and how it often kept the goats awake for long periods of time.

Coffee Was Originally Chewed

According to historians, the first African tribes would ingest coffee by grinding the berries together, throwing in some animal fat, and then rolling it all into tiny edible balls.

October 1st is National Coffee Day

Its first official date was October 1, 2015, as declared by the International Coffee Organization.. National Coffee Day was first launched in Milan and was used to promote the fair trade coffee industry. Many coffee companies offer free coffee or goodies on this day.

Decaf Coffee Sustains the Soda Industry

Decaf coffee doesn’t occur naturally meaning that the caffeine needs to be chemically extracted from the beans. So what do you do with a bunch of leftover caffeine? Sell it to the soda pop industry. The caffeine in your favourite soda is likely a derivative of decaf coffee.

The First Webcam Watched a Coffee Pot

Workers at the University of Cambridge were the first to create and use a webcam. What mind-blowing scientific purpose did they create this now essential invention? To watch a coffee pot, of course. The workers were tired of finding the coffee pot empty so they created a webcam to monitor when more coffee needed to be made.

Coffee Helped Extend the Life of the World’s Oldest Cat

Believe it or not, the Guinness World Record holder for the “Oldest Cat Ever” was a 38-year old cat named Cream Puff, who apparently drank a cup of coffee every morning of her life.

Coffee May Have Health Benefits

Cream Puff may have been on to something with her regular consumption of coffee. Research has been shown that if you drink coffee regularly you may see additionally health benefits such as reduced risk of diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

There Have Been Several Attempts to Ban Coffee Throughout History

While there have been many instances in history where coffee was attempted to be banned there are few that are worth noticing. Such as in Mecca in 1511 as it was believed to stimulate radical thinking and idleness. In 1674 the creation of the “Women’s Petition Against Coffee” claimed that coffee was responsible for turning British men in to “useless corpses” and proposed a ban for anyone under the age of 60 to consume it. In 1746, Sweden banned both coffee and coffee paraphernalia (like cups and saucers etc.) with police confiscating any that they could find.

Beethoven Loved Coffee

Beethoven was a notorious coffee lover who had a particular way he enjoyed to drink it. He made sure that each cup was made with exactly 60 coffee beans.

Finland Consumes the Most Coffee

Coffee may not grow in this country but the people in Finland sure love to consume it and consume more of it than any other country in the world.

The Average American Spends $1000 on Coffee Each Year

I mean, if you love coffee that much it’s probably worth it.

The Most Expensive Coffee in the World is Made with Poop

Yes, you read that right. “Kopi Luwak” is the most expensive coffee in the world. It originally comes from Indonesia and is made coffee beans that have first been digested from a small cat called the Asian Palm Civet. These coveted beans are extracted from the civet’s droppings, cleaned, roasted and brewed.

Instant Coffee has been Around for Nearly 250 Years

Instant coffee was first created in England in 1771 but it wasn’t mass produced until 1910 in the US where it was first patented.

Coffee Helped Brazilian Olympians in 1932

In 1932, the Brazilian government couldn’t afford to send its athletes to Los Angeles for the Olympics, so the government loaded up its athletes on a ship full of coffee which was sold on the way to finance their trip. Brazil is still one of the leading producers of coffee today.