Today at The Coffee Shop , we're sharing another round of interesting facts for those of us who can't get enough of our favorite beverage. Coffee contains more than 700 substances and is rich in caffeine. The original home of coffee is probably Ethiopia. Coffee was launched in the 15th century and arrived in Europe in the 16th century with contributions from the Arabs. Today, it's one of the most popular beverages in the world. But there are other facts about coffee that you may have missed until now.
Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil. This makes the black beverage an attractive investment product. Coffee prices are determined by the London Stock Exchange and the New York Intercontinental Commodity Exchange (ICE). In 2014, its price rose 58% in 12 months, outperforming any other commodity.
The world record for coffee consumption
Coffee is generally consumed while hot and contains caffeine, a stimulant. It is produced from peeled, ground, dried, and roasted coffee beans. These berries are called beans, but this is not botanically correct. The coffee cherry is a stone fruit. It consists of two thick, hard kernels surrounded by a thin, fleshy layer.
Wondering what the world record for coffee consumption is? 82 cups in 7 hours! This is a near-fatal dose. After 100 cups, an average adult is at risk of dying. However, scientists have long agreed that coffee isn't necessarily bad for your health and can even be beneficial . Everyone knows that it's too much that's harmful, so we need to figure out where the line lies.
According to Dr. Chip Lavie, a cardiologist and co-author of a study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings (PDF), two or three cups of coffee a day are harmless and potentially beneficial to your health. Rob van Dam, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, believes four cups of coffee a day are not harmful to your health , as long as you maintain a healthy lifestyle and are not pregnant.
The Mayo Clinic study concluded that men under 55 increase their risk of death by 50% when they drink more than 28 cups per week, and the risk is double that of women. According to Rob van Dam's study, people who drink up to six cups of coffee per day do not have a higher-than-average mortality risk.
The coffee capital and the largest coffee producer
Where can you call the coffee capital? Seattle, which, incidentally, is also the birthplace of Starbucks. In the early 1970s, the company was just a small store in Seattle's former Pike Place Market. Today, Starbucks, with 22,500 stores in 64 countries and $21.5 billion in sales, is the world's largest coffee roaster and retailer.
One-third of coffee production originates in Brazil. No country in the world has as much impact on the coffee market as Brazil, a traditional producer. This world power exports two billion beans annually. This amount represents one-third of global production.
The perfect moment and the ideal amount for an espresso
According to some studies, the best time to have a cup of coffee is at 2:15 PM. This is precisely when we have the least energy. As we know, caffeine has a stimulating effect. Coffee has been shown to improve alertness, concentration, and endurance.
Did you know you need 40 coffee beans to make an espresso? Roasting coffee beans is responsible for more than 700 aromatic molecules. Roasted beans are sold both ground and unground.
The biggest coffee consumers and the most expensive coffee
Worldwide, we drink 1.6 billion cups of coffee every day: Scandinavians are the biggest consumers . The Scandinavian countries are definitely the world's biggest coffee lovers. Scandinavians drank an average of 4.3 cups of coffee per day during the period 2002β2006. The Finns led with 5.4 cups per day. In Belgium and Luxembourg, consumption during this period was 3.8 cups per day.
The Dutch drank 3.2 cups per day during this period. The European Union as a whole consumes 2.2 cups per day per person. The British drink primarily tea. Their coffee consumption is limited to 1.2 cups per day. Outside of Europe, the largest coffee consumers are in the United States and Canada . Coffee consumption is not as popular in producing countries, except for Brazil, Colombia , and Costa Rica.
In the United States, people drink 400 million cups a day. This amount could fill 14 Statues of Liberty. Not surprisingly, in terms of volume, Americans are the world's biggest drinkers of black liquor. Collectively, they consume 164 billion cups a year, which corresponds to 400 million a day.