15 things you didn't know about coffee !

It’s one of your favorite habits, as for 90% of the world’s population. You enjoy your coffee hot during cold winter mornings, cool with ice cubes during summer afternoons, or in a small cup while visiting your grandmother's house, and even without caffeine, if it is late in the evening and you do not want to stay awake.

1. Coffee was first discovered by shepherds in Ethiopia, who noticed the behavior of their of their animals after eating the fruits of the coffee bush.
2. Coffee is consumed in its current form, as a beverage, for at least 700 years.
3. The world’s daily coffee production is 7 tons, which can be translated to 300 kilos per hour, which means that until you read this article, about 10 kilos of coffee will have been produced !
4. Only water exceeds coffee in global beverage consumption.
5. Two cups of coffee per day, rich in antioxidants, can reduce the risk of a sudden stroke.
6. At first coffee was a food, not a drink. The fruit of the coffee was mixed with other substances, making something like the current “energy bars.”
7.  Although coffee is the traditional breakfast beverage, eating an apple may be more effective in our ability to stay awake.
8. Caffeine helps certain short-term memory functions, such as quick data retrieval.
9. The two most popular coffee varieties, Arabica (sweet and aromatic) and Robusta (bitter, with more caffeine) divide coffee lovers, with 70% preferring the first and only 30% favouring the second.
10. 40% of world coffee production comes from Brazil and Colombia.
11. During wedding at the Ottoman Empire, part of the wedding vows was the assurance that the new family will always have their daily coffee – the absence of coffee was a reasonable reason for a divorce.
12. Although strong in flavor, espresso has lesser caffeine compared with a cup of filter coffee - because it is significantly smaller.
13. Do you want to keep  snails away from your plants while gardening ? Scrape some coffee beans into the soil.
14.  Brazil has honored its national product with a stamp that smells like coffee.
15.  The more the coffee beans are roasted, the richer the aroma gets, but excessive graining reduces caffeine.