10 Coffee Fun Facts

Coffee is the third most consumed beverage in the world, right after water and tea. It is a part of our daily lives and some of us can’t get through a work day without it. 

Like many things, coffee itself has a fascinating history and it can guarantee some coffee facts fun. If you want to understand your love (or addiction) to caffeine even more, check out some of our coffee trivia below!

1. King Charles II of England attempted to ban the Coffee Houses in 1675

Did you know that visiting coffee houses once used to be forbidden? Here is our first fun fact about coffee. 

Between the 16th century and 17th centuries, coffee houses got popular in England and people used to go there to talk and gossip. Because of all this free talk among people, King Charles became nervous and decided to ban the coffee houses.

Thankfully, the proclamation was cancelled two days before taking effect thanks to his ministers and everyone was able to continue socializing and enjoying their coffee.

2. Brazil produces 1/3 of the world’s coffee

In 2017 and 2018, Brazil was the largest coffee producer worldwide by producing a third of the world’s coffee. Most of their coffee plants are in the Southeast part of the country, where the climate is more appropriate for growing. 

They mainly produce Arabica at 90%. The other top 5 coffee producing countries include Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Honduras.Remember these fun facts about coffee beans next time you grind your coffee. 

3. People have tried to ban coffee at least five times in history

Here is another fun fact about coffee on the same topic. Coffee has been banned for competing with the beer industry, for the belief of radical thinking in La Mecca (1511), and labeled satanic in Italy.Between the early 16th and late 18th centuries, at least five coffee banning attempts were made around the world for various reasons. 

In Sweden, Gustav III tried to prove that coffee was dangerous by conducting an experiment on life-sentenced twins. One of the twins would drink tea every day and the other would drink the same amount of coffee. Gustav III died before the end of the experiment, which ended with the opposite results as he wanted. The twin that drank tea died before the coffee twin at age 83.

4. The world’s daily coffee consumption is 2.25 billion cups of coffee

Another fun fact about coffee to impress your friends with! Not surprisingly, coffee is one the most-drunk beverage in the world, right after tea. The type of coffee that is most consumed is espresso, followed by americano and iced lattes.

5. The world's most expensive coffee is the Black Ivory Coffee

The best Thai Arabica coffee cherries are carefully picked and then mixed with food for elephants. Once the elephant processes the coffee cherries, they are handpicked, washed, raked and sun-dried. 

After all these steps, the beans are roasted. In order to make 1kg of Black Ivory Coffee, around 33kg of coffee cherries are needed. The price can go as high as $1,000 for 500g.

6. The people of Finland drink the most coffee

The average consumption of coffee per person in Finland is 12kg, which places them at first place, followed by Norway and Iceland. The United States is quite far behind with around 4.2kg per year. One of the main explanations for the Nordic countries to drink this amount of coffee is the extreme cold weather.

7. The largest cup of coffee is 22,739.14 Liters

Here is one of the most interesting facts about coffee in our opinion. Colombia currently retains the title for the world’s largest cup of coffee. This world record took place in June 2019 by the town of Chinchiná, Colombia and holds over 20 tons of coffee!

8. US rationed coffee for 8 months between 1942 and 1943

In the middle of the World War II, the US government decided to ration the coffee to make it on an equal basis for all the citizens and give the right amount of it to the military. The ration was about 4.5 kg, which is the average coffee consumption in the United States nowadays. However, before the ration, the coffee consumption was more likely around 8–9 kg. 

9. The 2 main categories of coffee are Robusta and Arabica

Let's look at some fun facts about coffee beans. 

Worldwide, the two main coffee beans you can find are Arabica and Robusta. 

Robusta, which is the strongest in caffeine, represents around 30% of the world’s consumption. 

Arabica beans are the most-sold coffee beans around the world. The caffeine content is less and it contains more sugar than the Robusta.

10. Woman could get a divorce because of coffee

Here's a fun fact about coffee and marriage. During the Ottoman Empire, a woman could ask for divorce if her husband was not providing her with enough fresh coffee.

With this we conclude our collection of coffee fun facts or as some can view it -  coffee facts and trivia. Starting from top five coffee producing countries to why was coffee banned in Italy, we hope that you have enjoyed our 10 facts about coffee. We can all agree that coffee history facts can be quite entertaining! Now, on a more serious note - because of climate change and deforestation, the future of coffee is at risk. It’s estimated that around 60% of coffee species could go extinct in the future. We should start to appreciate that cup of coffee even more, now that we know some of the history and make sure that we never take it for granted again!