20 Coffee Facts - One of North America's Favorite Beverages

One of the most popular beverages in North America is a cup of hot coffee. Many North Americans consume these beverages every day, and so few know anything about the history of coffee or even how it is produced. The following 20 facts, from the very well known to the obscure, will give you a little bit of insight into that morning beverage we all love to consume - coffee:

1) Coffee is a hot beverage brewed from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant.

2) The seeds are harvested from the fruit of coffee plants, which are called coffee cherries.

3) These seeds are harvested twice a year; Once from the south of the equator between April and May and the second time from the North of the equator between September and March.

4) Once ripe, the coffee cherries are picked and the seeds are extracted. The seeds, referred to as green coffee, are then roasted where they double in size and turn into the dark chocolate brown colour to form the familiar coffee bean.

5) Roasting only begins when the temperature inside the seed reaches 200°C.

6) Once roasted the coffee beans are sorted into categories and labeled as light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark, or very dark.

7) Darker roasts are smoother in flavor because they have less fiber content and more sugar. Lighter roasts have more caffeine and may taste bitterer.

8) Decaffeinated coffee is produced when the coffee seeds are still green by soaking the seeds in hot water or steaming them, then using a solvent to dissolve the caffeine containing oils.

9) The majority of decaf coffee is only 97 to 99% decaffeinated.

10) Coffee drinking is reported to have originated in Ethiopia in the 9th century, although the earliest credible evidence of beverages made with coffee appears in Yemen in the middle of the 15th century.

11) Coffee was used in Muslim states as an alternative to wine in religious ceremonies. As a result many Christian nations originally banned the 'Muslim' beverages.

12) Coffee became more widely accepted after Pope Clement VIII deemed it a Christian beverage in 1600.

13) Even though it is now considered the national drink, coffee was originally banned in Ethiopia by the Orthodox Christian Church until 1889.

14) Coffee is now grown in over 50 countries worldwide.

15) Brazil is the top exporter of coffee, followed by Vietnam.

16) As of 2006, green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, just behind crude oil.

17) On average, total coffee intake is about a third of that of water in North America.

18) It takes approximately 140 litres of water to grow the coffee beans required for one cup of coffee.

19) The concept of fair trade coffee was developed in the Netherlands by the Max Havelaar Foundation.

20) According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, coffee contains more antioxidants than typical servings of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries and oranges.

Whether you have brewed it at home, or purchased your morning cup of coffee from the local coffee shop, the next time you take a sip of one of North America's favorite beverages take a minute to reflect upon the 1200 years of its history and be thankful for the process that it takes to get the coffee to your lips. That morning cup of coffee may just be that much more enjoyable if you do.

For freshly roasted coffee with a great selection, check out Morning Coffee Shop's website, Morningcoffeeshop.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Scobie

The Benefits of Buying Whole Bean Coffee

Many people do not understand that it is vital to purchase your coffee as whole beans. And why would they? Many retailers sell their coffee products pre-ground, as if it is no problem at all. I would like to strongly disagree with that fact because the issue of freshness in your coffee beans is at stake!

When you're purchasing whole bean coffee, it is necessary that you are mindful of when it was roasted. Not very many people have the luxury of living close to an artisan coffee roaster, so otherwise, consider looking at online retailers that ship the whole coffee beans when they are freshly roasted. This is incredibly necessary if you want to have quality in your coffee bean purchase, rather than dealing with stale and lackluster flavors in your coffee beans.

On top of that, consider the fact that if you purchase beans pre-ground in a grocery store, then they will already be quite stale. When you freshly grind your coffee beans, they will begin to lose their freshness within 30 minutes. 30 minutes! This means that there is absolutely no way that coffee that you purchase straight off of the shelf in the grocery store has any type of freshness at all if it is pre-ground. If it is whole bean, it still can pose a problem because it may have been sitting there for weeks at a time. When whole bean coffee is freshly roasted, it will remain fresh for up to 10 days. This is why it is important to purchase your coffee as a perishable item, and buy only at the amount that you will need for up to a week.

Most online retailers will be able to ship your coffee to you within five days, which leaves about five more days for you to enjoy it while it is fresh. If your coffee is freshly roasted the day that it ships to you from an online retailer, then you can count on it retaining its freshness for almost a week afterwards. This is the best way to get the most value for your money in your bean purchase by purchasing whole beans that are freshly roasted from an online retailer or roaster. This is something that you do need to investigate, so do not just assume that any beans that you purchase online will be freshly roasted. If the website does not directly state that beans are freshly roasted the day that they ship to you, then you could just be purchasing the same beans that you could buy at the grocery store that have been sitting on the shelf for months at a time.

On top of that, be cautious about the decaf coffee beans that you do purchase because they are less popular, so they are much more likely to have a longer shelf time than regular coffee beans that you can purchase from a grocery store location. There is no better way to enjoy a cuppa Joe than with freshly roasted whole coffee beans!

For a wide selection of fresh Flavored Coffee Beans, check out Mark Ramos' website, The Coffee Bump!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Ramos