COFFEE FAQ'S
Germany is the world's second largest consumer of coffee in terms of volume
at 16 pounds per
person.
Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them lie along the
equator between the tropic of
Cancer and Capricorn.
An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries.
That amounts to approximately 2,000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.
The percolator was invented in 1827 by a French man. It would boil the
coffee producing a bitter
tasting brew. Today most people use the drip or filtered method to brew
their coffee.
With the exception of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, no coffee is grown in the
United States or its
territories.
Up until the 1870's most coffee was roasted at home in a frying pan over
a charcoal fire. It wasn't
until recent times that batch roasting became popular.
Each year some 7 million tons of green (coffee) beans are produced world
wide. Most of which is
hand picked.
27% of U.S. coffee drinkers and 43% of German drinkers add a sweetener
to their coffee.
The world's largest coffee producer is Brazil with over 3,970 million coffee
trees. Colombia comes
in second with around two thirds of Brazil's production.
Hard bean means the coffee was grown at an altitude above 5000 feet.
Arabica and Robusta trees can produce crops for 20 to 30 years under proper
conditions and care.
Most coffee is transported by ships. Currently there are approximately
2,200 ships involved in
transporting the beans each year.
The popular trend towards flavored coffees originated in the United States
during the 1970's.
October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.
The first coffee tree in the Western Hemisphere was brought from France
to the Island of Martinique
in the 1720's.
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