Some Facts About Coffee

It’s all started with the Dancing Goat

Legend has it…. Ethiopian shepherds first noticed the effects of caffeine when they saw their goats appearing to become frisky and “dance” after eating coffee berries.

Originally, coffee was eaten.

African tribes mixed coffee berries with fat which formed edible “energy balls”!

The rise of Islam contributed greatly to the popularity of coffee. The religion prohibited drinking alcohol, but coffee was considered an acceptable drink.

All coffee in the world grows in the BEAN BELT. The “bean belt” is the area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows coffee.

In 1675, the King of England banned coffee houses, claiming they were places where people met to conspire against him. (No Coffee Drinking- By Order of the King, Coffee shops are now decreed to be “Terrorist Slumbers Parties”)

70% of the world consumes Arabica coffee, which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drinks Robusta, which is more bitter-tasting but has 50% more caffeine than Arabica.

Coffee grows on trees.

They can grow to be up to 30 feet tall, but are cultivated to be around 10 feet (3 meters) tall for easy-picking.

The bean is actually a seed inside of a bright red berry.

Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth. The Oil is the first. Clearly humanity has a thing for black drippy liquids. Coffee berries are picked, dried and stripped down until all that’s left is a green bean. The beans are roasted at around 500F. After a few minutes, the bean will “pop” and double in size. A few minutes after that, the bean will “pop” one more. The second pop means the bean is done. The bean is now ready to fulfill its destiny.

George Washington invented instant coffee!

A Belgian man living in Guatemala by the name of George Washington invented it in 1906.

Espresso: |e-spres-oh|

It’s not a particular type of bean, roast or blend. Espresso is just a way that coffee isprepared: shooting pressurized, hot water through finely ground coffee.

Facts About Coffee

Americano

The term “Americano” comes from America GIs during WWII. They would order espresso with water to dilute the strong flavor. Furthermore, the term “cup of joe” comes from American servicemen (GI Joes) in WWII being seen as big coffee drinkers.

Caffeine- How it works:

In your brain there’s something called Adenosine and it only wants to hang out with certain receptors. When these two get together, you become drowsy. When caffeine shows up, it attaches to the receptors so that Adenosine cannot. Your pituitary gland sees this and thinks there’s an emergency, so it tells tha adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. In addition, caffeine bumps up your dopamine levels. The result…. A Caffeine High!