As an adult, which my wife would argue that I am not yet, we are faced with various levels of stress based on the amount of knowledge we have on a given subject. Examples of this – work, kids, family. This is why I LOVE abstract information. It’s mostly useless, but takes my mind off reality and allows me to de-stress. Not that I would spout this information off at any social gathering. I’ve tried this and the looks I get remind me of a dog watching a Yo Yo, plus it may seem pretentious. But in the right crowd, some of these abstract facts have sparked great conversations. With that being said, I’d like to share with you 15 facts about coffee from around the world, which I found very interesting, that you may or may not have known:

1. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world (oil is the first.)
2. Brazil produces around 40% of the world's coffee supply.
3. Coffee is not grown anywhere in the United States except Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
4. October 1st is official "Coffee Day" in Japan.
5. A Belgian named George Washington (not to be confused with our first president) invented instant coffee in 1906. Boo!
6. Black coffee with no sugar contains no calories.
7. More than 20 million people worldwide work in the coffee industry.
8. Drinking a single cup of coffee that has been brewing for 20 minutes provides the body with 300 phytochemicals which act as antioxidants and stay in the body for up to a month.
9. Coffee beans are really berries. Each berry contains two beans (pips).
10. It takes roughly 40 coffee beans to make an espresso.
11. A coffee tree typically lives between 60 and 70 years.
12. Worldwide, more 1,400 million cups of coffee are drunk every day.
13. Scientists have discovered more than 800 different aromatic compounds in coffee.
14. 30% of coffee drinkers in US added a sweetener of some kind to their coffee, compared with 57% in UK.
15. In 1675 Charles II, King of England issued a proclamation banning Coffee Houses. He said that they were places where people met to plot against him.

And an extra fact for that “Trivial Pursuit” moment - An expert in preparing Turkish coffee is known as a "kahveci".

Spout off a few of those facts at your next gathering, but please, choose your moments. Remember this is a social gathering, not an audition for "Rainman 2". Got a few abstract facts of your own about coffee? I'd love to hear them!

Denton
Marketing/Communications Manager