7 Things You Didn't Know About Coffee

 

Coffee is one of the world's favorite beverages and the second most valuable legally traded commodity in the world, second only to oil.  Experts estimate that 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day worldwide.  But, how much do you know about your favorite brew?  Keep reading to learn 7 buzz-worthy facts about your good old cup of joe. Tara Moore/Taxi/Getty Images The US People Drink More Coffee Than Anyone Else In the World About 83% of the adult people in the USA drink coffee, averaging three cups of coffee per person per day.  That's 587 million cups of joe every single day.  It's no wonder that the world's two largest coffee chains --- Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts --- are both based in the United States.  Starbucks has over 13,000 stand alone coffee shops in the United States, meaning that you can never get more than 130 miles away from a Frappucino. Hotel Finca Rosa Blanca. Akila McConnell, licensed to About.com   The Coffee Bean Isn't a Bean The coffee bean isn't a bean.  What we call the coffee bean is actually the seed of the coffee cherry, or the fruit of the coffee tree.  The coffee cherry is ripe when it turns bright red.  Then, it is picked, rinsed, and the pulp is removed from the seed/bean.  Most coffee berries have two coffee beans/seeds within but certain berries will only have one bean/seed, which are called peaberries.  Peaberries have a stronger flavor and are prized as premium coffee blends. Hop over to this slideshow to read about the entire process of how your coffee moves from seed to cup. More » 1850: A servant serves coffee to a group of Yemeni coffee merchants who have set up camp in the desert on their way to Mocha. Hulton Archive/Getty Images   The Word Coffee Owes Its Origin to Many Languages The word “coffee” has roots in several languages. In Yemen, which is where the coffee plant was discovered and one of the earliest cultivators of coffee, the bean was called qahwah, which was a truncated form of qawhat al-bun, meaning "wine of the bean."  The Muslim trade routes brought coffee to the Middle East where the Turks called the liquid kahveh.  The Dutch called the brew koffie and brought the liquid to England along their trade routes with Asia and Africa, which finally became coffee in English. More » Good quality coffee versus bad quality coffee. Akila McConnell, licensed to About.com Ice Water Will Tell You if Your Coffee Was Roasted Well If you're standing in the grocery store bewildered by the array of coffee --- ranging from $1 per pound to $12 per pound --- I've got one simple trick that will help you determine if the coffee you're purchasing is high quality roasted coffee.  Just put one tablespoonful of ground coffee on top of a glass of ice water.  If your coffee stays on top of the water and does not leach into the water after a few minutes, it's been roasted properly.  If it leaches, then it's either over-roasted or under-roasted. Keep reading this post to learn more about why this trick works.   1674, A 'women's petition' against the debilitating effects of drinking coffee, the stimulating hot beverage containing caffeine. Hulton Archive/Getty Images  17th Century Women Wanted to Ban Coffee In the 17th century, coffee became popular in England and continental Europe.  Many believed that coffee had intoxicating properties like alcohol, which led some clergy to ban it in their towns.  And, a (pretty hilarious) anonymous women's petition in 1675 proposed the ban of coffee because of the "grand inconvenience" when coffee "enfeebled" and "eunuch'd" their husbands. Jump over to this post to read more about the history of coffee. More » Latte art. Carlina Teteris/Moment You Can Get Barista Trained and Learn How to Make Latte Art At Espresso Academy in Florence, Italy, you can spend days perfecting the art of making coffee.  Learn how to become a barista in a two day course or take an advanced class on latte art.  If you can't make it over to Europe, Intelligentsia Coffee Shop offers public tasting and education classes at each of their retail locations in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.  For example, you can take a 3 hour Barista training class for $200 or a tour of their roasting works for $50. Jump over to this post to learn more about seven great coffee tours and experiences across the world. More » Coffee and coffee beans. Anthony Dawson/Moment   Coffee Might Just Be Good For Your Health Coffee might just be a superfood because its antioxidant properties combined with caffeine has been shown to: reduce mortality from heart disease reduce the risk of diabetes, dementia, colon cancer, cirrhosis, gallstones, and Parkinson's disease provide headache relief and asthma relief So, you can feel good about picking up your cup of coffee tomorrow morning.  But, don't drink too much!  Overconsumption of coffee can increase your death rates. More »   Source : www.about.com