Fascinating facts about coffee…

Coffee Fact #29: Drinking coffee makes you brainy! It gives a ‘special’ boost to the brain beyond its caffeine content. (See details)

Coffee Fact #28: Panama produces only 0.1% of the world’s coffee. But it includes Panama Geisha coffee, the world’s most expensive brew!

Coffee Fact #27: Beethoven was such a huge coffee lover that he’d count out exactly 60 beans per cup before making his brew.

Coffee Fact #26: Hawaii was the only state in America that grew coffee. Good coffee requires high altitudes, tropical climates and rich soil. Only one state, Hawaii, can provide this. It was producing coffee even before it was a state. But now farms in California have recently started growing premium coffee bushes too.

Coffee Fact #25: Sprinkle your coffee with cinnamon, which has been proven to speed up your metabolism and which will increase the amount of fat you burn. (Details here)

Coffee Fact #24:Caffeine relieves post-workout muscle pain by up to 48%. (See details)

Coffee Fact #23:Caffeine can stimulate hair growth on both balding men and women. (See research)

Coffee Fact #22: A recent Japanese study found that men who consume 1-2 cups of coffee a day reduce their risk of dying from a cardiovascular-related disease by up to 38%

Coffee Fact #21: A study published in 2011 by Harvard showed that women who drank four or more cups of coffee per day had a 20% lower risk of becoming depressed. WARNING: Consult your Doctor before consuming four cups of coffee per day.

Coffee Fact #20: Caffeine reduces the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases by up to 60%.

Coffee Fact #19: A regular cup of black coffee (excluding milk or cream) is extremely low in calories. A typical cup of black coffee contains between 1-5 calories. TIP: If you’re looking for an energy boost make a fresh cup of coffee instead of drinking a 330ml can of Coke which contains 139 calories and nine teaspoons of sugar!

Coffee Fact #18: Coffee is a rich source of disease-fighting antioxidants, which have been proven to boost athletic performance, improve your mood and reduce the chance of getting colon and liver cancer.

Coffee Fact #17: Harvard researchers tracked coffee consumption and found long-term coffee drinkers have a reduced risk of getting Type Two diabetes compared to people that didn’t drink coffee

Coffee Fact #16: Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system by sending direct signals to fat cells, telling them to break down the cells and releasing them into the blood stream to be used as energy. TIP: Lay off the milk and sugar, this will only slow down your metabolism.

Coffee Fact #15: Coffee cherries look like the cherries we eat, except each cherry normally contains two beans and there is less fruit pulp.

Coffee Fact #14: Coffee “beans” are really the seeds of the fruit called coffee cherries. These cherries are plump and bright red in colour.

Coffee Fact #13: A good coffee picker can pick about 100 kgs of coffee cherries in one day. This equals about 25kgs of green coffee beans.

Coffee Fact #12: Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by an goat herder named Kaidi. His goats become frisky and danced after chewing on the coffee berries.

Coffee Fact #11: It takes about 8,000 hand-picked green coffee beans to make a one kilogram of coffee.

Coffee Fact #10: 40% of the world’s coffee is produced by Columbia and Brazil.

Coffee Fact #9: The word “espresso” comes from Italian and means “expressed” or “forced out”. A cup of espresso is made by forcing very hot water, under high pressure, through finely ground, compacted coffee.

Coffee Fact #8: The word cappuccino comes from the resemblance of the drink to the clothing of the Capuchin monks.

Coffee Fact #7: 1600 million cups of coffee are drunk each day worldwide.

Coffee Fact #6: Coffee is the second most popular drink in the world after water.

Coffee Fact #5: 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihoods.

Coffee Fact #4: Most arabica coffee is picked by hand except in Brazil where the ground is flatter and machines can be used.

Coffee Fact #3: The coffee sold as “instant” can legally contain stones and other debris picked up off the ground.

Coffee Fact #2: Robusta coffees contain 40 – 50% more caffeine than the more popular arabica coffees.

Coffee Fact #1: Darker roasted coffee tastes stronger, but actually contains less caffeine than light or medium roasts.