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INTERESTING COFFEE FACTS
C

offee may be a common beverage, but
it has a great story to tell. The start for the
lowly coffee bean has been a slow process that eventually led it into the state of
prominence that it now enjoys. And not
only that, there are also some very interesting facts about coffee that you should
know.
The enduring fascination of man with
coffee has stemmed from a rich history
that took the coffee bean from its origins in Ethiopia to its eventual spread
into worldwide consciousness. The first
coffee plants were so highly regarded by
the Arabs that they prevented its spread
to other countries by boiling the coffee
berries first before they marketed them
to prevent any chance of being cultivated
outside their territory.
Coffee, when it was first introduced in
Europe, was first known as “Arabian
Wine”. In England during the 1600’s,
coffee was considered as a medicinal
tonic or brew, probably due to its stimulating effects. The belief in its medicinal
properties became so seriously accepted that wild medical contraptions were
eventually built in order to administer a
mixture of coffee and an assortment of
heated butter, honey, and oil as accepted
treatments for the sick.
It further grew in popularity so much
so that it was commonly sold by street
vendors in street carts in typical Arabi-

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an style. This was the accepted practice
of selling coffee all around Europe until
the late 1700’s when the first French cafe
was opened. Coffee became so popular
all over Europe that by 1763, there were
over 200 coffee shops in Venice alone.
The popularity and the allure of coffee
continue to grow. Currently, about 52
percent of Americans drink coffee regularly. The average annual coffee consumption of a typical American adult is
about 400 cups, which amounts to 26.7
gallons. The United States is considered
as the world’s largest coffee consumers.
It imports an estimated 16 to 20 million
bags yearly. This is equivalent to onethird of all coffee exported in the world.
The typical coffee drinker in the US
drinks an average of 3.4 cups of coffee
per day.
In other parts of the world, coffee also
holds the same appeal. Coffee is the most
popular beverage worldwide with a yearly consumption of over 400 billion cups.
And because of this coffee has become a
highly valuable commodity in the world,
second only to oil. Scandinavia is considered to have the world’s highest per
capita annual coffee consumption, arriving at about 26.4 pounds per person.
Japan ranks top three in the world when
it comes coffee consumption.

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