Interesting Facts About Authentic Coffee

 

Everyone loves waking up to the sound of the coffee machine in the background, as your partner or roommate gets a mug of delicious goodness for you as well. While many of us have incorporated coffee into our daily routine, few have taken the time to learn a bit more about their daily obsession.

Let's take a deeper dive into the world of authentic coffee…

The Unique Discovery of Coffee

Coffee's origins remain a mystery, despite a slew of stories regarding its discovery. The Ethiopian plateau's old coffee woods are the ancestors of today's coffee plantations all around the globe. Supposedly, it was a goat herder named Kaldi who first identified the beans' potential back in that region.

The legend says that Kaldi found espresso when he noted that his goats grew so energized after eating berries from a particular tree that they could not fall asleep. Kaldi tried the berries and discovered that they kept him up awake during the lengthy hours of nighttime prayer. After sharing his findings with the priests, awareness of the berries' revitalizing properties spread. Coffee spread worldwide from the Arabian Peninsula to the rest of the world.

There are more than 50 nations in the "coffee belt" where coffee is cultivated, across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The optimum plant conditions for the world's best beans may be found in these regions, thanks to a unique temperature, soil, and elevation mix.

The Excessive Consumption of Coffee

Just in the United States, Americans consume around 400 million cups of coffee on a daily basis. In fact, last year alone, 3.3 billion pounds of coffee were consumed alone by Americans. The love of coffee in the U.S. is so astounding that there are over 37,000 total coffee cafes and shops across the country.

According to statistics by the International Coffee Association, the yearly consumption of coffee in Finland is around 12 kilograms. This is why, even though you might claim that you're the biggest lover out there, Finland still takes the lead as the coffee-loving country in the world. The safest place in the world AND the top coffee consumer? It looks like Finland is winning at it all!

In total, there are more than 100,000 tons of coffee beans consumed every year worldwide. But what is it about coffee that has people so hooked? Read on to find out the science behind it.

The Magical Effect of Coffee

Sure, coffee has caffeine, but what is it in this magic beverage that keeps you up through the dullest of work meetings and the longest of nights? Once you know the coffee sleep secret, we're sure you'll be even more hooked (yes, even more than you are now)! Let's take a trip down the biological lane to get how caffeine is responsible for keeping you up even through the most boring of times.

Adenosine is a chemical produced by neurons firing in your mind when you are awake. When the amount of adenosine in the brain and the spinal cord reaches a specific level, the body shows signs of putting you to rest. The reason why caffeine keeps us awake is that it contains this adenosine in abundance. With the presence of this substance, it is made possible for caffeine to block our sleep. As a result, you'll "feel" more awake since your body believes it's still too early to go to bed. Caffeine also narrows the blood arteries in the brain, preventing adenosine from expanding them as it normally does. When you consume a lot of coffee, your dopamine levels rise, which is why you feel the "hit."

The Surprising Truth Behind Coffee Beans

Now that you know how it works, we’ll introduce another surprise (maybe not for those of you who follow our social media posts, as we’ve covered this before). Coffee that you consume every day is actually not made-up beans but is instead a fruit. When we talk about coffee beans, we're talking about one or two seeds discovered in the core of the cherry. These cherries are usually red or purple. They have thick, acidic skins, delicious fruits with textures similar to a grape, and a sticky outer covering. Many mistakenly believe that coffee beans look like normal beans.

Now that you know the true origin of coffee beans, you can tell the world that your obsession with coffee is actually a healthy one since you are actually consuming mugs of fruit every day!

If you're as obsessed with coffee as we are, head over to our Altruistic Joe online store and try some of our products. Now, you can boast off your coffee connoisseur knowledge at any event, party, or even with your family as you all sit down for a few cups of coffee together.