• Coffee is the world’s second largest traded commodity after oil by value
  • 1.4 billion cups of coffee are consumed
  • Arabica coffee contains over 900 different flavour compounds that react with water and change as you drink the cup
  • The world’s largest consuming nation of coffee in total is the United States of America, followed by Germany, Japan, France and Italy
  • The average coffee drinker consumes 4.6kg (10.1lb) of roasted coffee per year (world’s highest per capita is Finland at 11.4kg per year). – The coffee tree lives for about 50 years, and takes at least five years to produce the first harvest
  • The consumption of coffee received its major boost with the rise of Islam which outlawed alcohol and adopted coffee. – The typical coffee tree blooms with over 30,000 flowers, but the tree only produces a few kilograms of coffee every year
  • There are various studies to praise the health benefits of coffee such as the lowering of risk developing liver cancer as well as lowering the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
  • Wild coffee was consumed by Ethiopians in various forms (often eaten green and ground) for thousands of years
  • Coffee is the seed of a berry, green in its un-roasted state has a shelf life of over 2 years
  • Roast coffee has a shelf life of 24 hours, after that it is just getting stale
  • Once ground it can lose up to 50% of its flavour in 1 to 2 weeks!
  • Refrigeration does not increase the shelf life of roasted coffee beans; it just makes them cold
  • The type of roast affects the flavour and caffeine amount, in general the lighter the roast the higher the caffeine
  • Conditions and altitude effect coffee flavour. High altitude = Arabica, and low altitude = Robustas. The low ones are used in “can” coffee. Specialty houses use the Arabica beans every day.
  • Coffee is a unique flavour sensation, there is no “one” coffee flavour