April 29, 2022

10 Fun and Interesting Facts About Coffee

It goes without saying that we love all things coffee! Here are our ten most fascinating facts about coffee!

1. There's a coffee made from poo.

Originating from Indonesia, the Kopi Luwak is one of the most sought after coffees in the world. It’s produced with the help of the adorable palm civet who eat the coffee cherries and then… pass the beans. The unique fermentation process that occurs as the beans travel through the civet’s digestive tract is said to offer a smooth finish and very distinctive flavour to the final brew.

2. Coffee beans are fruit pits and not beans.

While they do look a lot like beans, coffee “beans” are actually the seed, or pit, of the fruit that grows on coffee trees. Coffee trees grow small, bright red fruit called coffee cherries,

3. If the coffee had no smell, it would only be left with a bitter or sour taste because of the organic acids.

Most of what we taste we actually smell. The only sensations that we pick up in our mouth are sweet, sour, bitter, umami and salty. Without its smell, coffee would have only a sour or bitter taste due to the organic acids. Try it with your next cup of coffee – hold your nose as you take your first sip.

4. The world consumes about 2.25 billion cups of coffee each day.

Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world daily. Over 90 percent of coffee production takes place in developing countries—mainly South America—while consumption happens primarily in industrialized economies.

5. Brazil is known to be the largest producer of coffee.

Brazil is a true powerhouse of coffee production. The country single-highhandedly produces nearly 40% of the world’s coffee supply.

6. Coffee grounds can beautify your skin

Coffee grounds make a great exfoliant. The grounds do not dissolve in water, which makes them good at scrubbing away dead skin cells. Results of a study from 2013 suggest that substances in coffee also help to promote healthy skin.

7. Roasting gives color and taste to coffee beans.

Roasters usually want to enhance coffee's own flavours and decide the roast degree. Typically light roasted coffees are more acidic, and dark roasted coffees are more bitter. Also fruity flavours are more common on light roasts, and roasty and burnt flavours are more common on dark roasted coffee.

Before roasting, coffee beans are blue-green. They change to brown because of the production of melanoidins. These are polymers that form when sugars and amino acids combine under heat. Chaff, or silverskin, will also come off during roasting

8. Coffee helped Olympic Athletes

Brazil couldn’t afford to send its athletes to Los Angeles for the 1932 Olympics, so the government sent them in a ship full of coffee which was sold on the way to finance their trip.

9. The world's first webcam was created to watch coffee

Researchers at the University of Cambridge set up a webcam to watch the coffee pot in their computer lab so they wouldn't walk to the break area only to find an empty pot. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.

10. Decaf is not "caffeine free."

In one regular cup of coffee there are about 95 – 200 milligrams of caffeine. If you drink an 8-ounce cup of decaf, there are about 2 – 12 milligrams of caffeine in it. Although it is significantly less, caffeine is still present in a decaf beverage.