Ten fascinating facts about coffee

Source: Photo by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

1. Coffee is big business

As you can imagine, with this much coffee being drunk, there’s a lot of money to be made. According to experts, around $433 billion is spent of coffee every year. Out of this, $5 billion is spent in the US alone.

2. South America produces most of the world’s coffee

Places like Brazil and Columbia produce around 81 million bags of coffee per year. Each of these bags weights around 60kg, which means these countries export around 5 million tons of coffee.

3. Brazil is the world’s oldest coffee producer

Speaking of South America, did you know that Brazil is the largest coffee producer? According to experts, they’ve held this position for more than 150 years now, making them one of the world’s oldest coffee producers.

4. Finland drinks the most coffee

Strangely enough, Fins are the world’s biggest coffee drinkers. In this country, each citizen consumes an incredible 12kg of coffee each year. After this, the next three countries with the highest consumption are Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.

5. Coffee was discovered by goat herders

Legend has it that coffee was first discovered by goat herders. They noticed that eating coffee plants made their goats more energetic. These herders then made a drink with the beans discovered that it had the same effect.

Source: Photo by Alexas Fotos from Pixabay

6. Coffee was a target of prohibition

Like alcohol, more than one person has tried to ban coffee. The first recorded example of this was in 1511, when the drink was banned in Mecca. Another was in Italy where it was banned because some people believed it to be satanic. Coffee was also banned in Sweden curing the 18th century, due to its ties to communists.

7. It’s possible to drink too much coffee

Believe it or not you can actually overdose on coffee. That being said, this is extremely difficult. You’d have to drink about 30 cups in around 10 minutes.

8. Coffee makes you live longer

Scientists have found that people who drink coffee tend to live longer. Consuming around 3-4 cups per day is correlated with reduced cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, as well as Parkinson’s.

9. Coffee is great for people on a diet

If you’re trying to lose weight, drink black coffee. This drink has about one calorie, and will help reduce your food intake.

10. Coffee is also a great exfoliator

Left over coffee grounds are also make a great exfoliator. Rubbing them over your face removes dead skin and also makes it feel smoother and look brighter.