Who knew? Some insights to ponder over during your coffee break.
- Lighter roasts have more caffeine than dark roasted coffees. Even though darker roasted coffee has more flavour, roasting the coffee actually burns off some of the caffeine.
- Surprisingly, coffee stays warmer when you add cream. Coffee with added cream cools about 20% slower than plain black coffee.
- The largest coffee cup was created in 2014 in South Korea by Caffee Bene and it held over 3,700 gallons of the black stuff.
- Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day whereas in the UK we drink around 90 million cups daily.
- The average person needs to consume about 30 milligrams of caffeine to feel its rousing effects. With just a small amount of caffeine, the brain, blood vessels, muscles, and digestion become more efficient and athletic ability, alertness and cognitive ability are all heightened.
- Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth and 40% of the world’s coffee is produced by Colombia and Brazil.
- In November 2012, Robert Dahl was awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of coffee pots. The German man owns a staggering 27,390 pots.
- There have been five attempts to ban coffee at various times through history; in Mecca in 1511 coffee was thought to stimulate radical thinking; 16th century Italian clergymen thought it to be satanic; in 1623 the Ottoman leader Murad IV punished coffee drinkers with beatings; in 1746 the Swedish government made it illegal to even have coffee cups and dishes in your possession. Then in 1777, coffee fell out of favour with Frederick the Great of Prussia who believed it interfered with the country’s beer consumption.
- Kopi Luwak, the world’s most expensive coffee (up to £500 per 500g) is made from coffee beans eaten and then excreted by a Sumatran wild cat.
- Italians only drink cappuccino, café latte, latte macchiato etc. in the morning, and never after a meal. Ordering a milky coffee at any other time of day is frowned upon. So when in Italy, do like the Italians!
