5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Coffee

It’s one of the oldest beverages in the world

Together with tea, wine, and beer, coffee has been consumed for centuries! The story is told that goat herders, in the 9th century, noticed how jolly their goats became when they nibbled on a specific plant. It turned out they were munching on the fruits from the coffee plant! Not long after that, folks realized that brewing beverages made with the fruits kept them awake for longer. Whether the legend is 100% true or not, we think it’s still a pretty cool story.

World’s most consumed beverage

It’s said that a total of 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world every day. This makes coffee the most consumed beverage in the world, slightly above tea, of which 2.16 billion cups are consumed each day. Why do people love coffee so much? It depends on who you ask. Those that love tea cannot understand why coffee drinkers prefer the bitter taste of coffee. Ask any coffee lover and they will have a long list of why they love this beverage so much. It keeps them awake, they like the slightly bitter aftertaste, and some just love the smell of roasting coffee!

Coffee drinkers live longer

Drinking four cups of coffee a day can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Those that drink eight cups a day, can reduce their risk of death by 14%! Remember that adding sugar and milk to your coffee, will add to your calorie and sugar intake. This will negatively influence any potential benefits you might get from drinking coffee. Some people are also more sensitive to caffeine, so don’t go drinking eight cups of coffee if you’re not used to it.

Coffee can kill you

Well, that is if you drink 80 to 100 cups a day.  Which means you will have to drink about 23 liters of coffee within a 24-hour period. If you stick to about 4 cups of coffee a day, there’s no need to worry!

Decaf coffee does contain caffeine!

Much like alcohol-free booze that do contain small amounts of alcohol, so too does decaf coffee contain caffeine. The decaffeinating process removes about 97% of caffeine from coffee, leaving behind a small amount. This means that a cup of decaf coffee will contain about 15 mg of caffeine, as opposed to the 200 mg in a regular cup. But unless you are extremely sensitive to caffeine, a few cups of decaf coffee won’t give you the jitters!

How many cups of coffee (if any) do you drink per day?