Eighty-three percent of American adults drink coffee. It is the second most traded commodity in the world, and it tastes delicious. However, this drink lies far more secrets than you think. The delicious stories to stories filled with horror, coffee is an exciting natural resource that has had a profound influence on the culture of different countries around the globe.
10. Kenya swept a wave of deadly crimes in coffee
Despite the fact that the coffee is grown in the tens of thousands of small farms across the country, the export is carried out only by licensed companies. Thieves steal coffee, get him a lot of money because of the corruption that extends to the very top of the administration. Given the fact that the survival of the five million people in Kenya depend on the coffee industry, the government should solve this problem as soon as possible.
9. Fungus "coffee rust" is raging in Central America
"Coffee rust" is a fungal disease that attacks the leaves of coffee plants. The disease gets its name from the characteristic orange spots, which are formed on the leaves of diseased trees. The disease, which take away from the plant since the 19th century, in the end, kills trees and is a threat to the life of farm plantations around the world. Arabian coffee is a favorite kind of drink for coffee connoisseurs around the world are most prone to "coffee rust", and in those countries where they are grown, now a raging epidemic.
In February 2013 Guatemala declared a state of emergency in the country because of the "coffee rust", ruining agriculture, farmers and provided $ 14 million for the purchase of pesticides. Suffered from the disease seventy percent of the national coffee crop, with exactly the same situation persists in other countries in the region. Unfortunately, this means that for a good cup of coffee you will have to pay a lot more already in the next few years.
8. Coffee contains caffeine to attract bees
In any other article on the Internet written on the topic of coffee will tell you that coffee was discovered by shepherds whose goats were getting a little better after munching on coffee berries. But why coffee contains caffeine? Well, first of all, it is toxic to snails and other pests, but as it turned out, it also has an effect on insect pollinators such as bees. Moreover, the scientists believe that the bees ... catch a buzz from caffeine contained in coffee flowers.
Researchers found that caffeine helped bees to improve their long-term memory. Caffeine acts on the brain bees thus making coffee flowers more memorable so bees will likely return to the plant of the same type. Despite the fact that the bees and the people are quite different kinds, some experts suggest that the ability of caffeine have a similar effect may be so old that influenced our common ancestors with the bees, as it affects our neurological activity at a fundamental level.
7. Ethiopian coffee ceremony
Ethiopian coffee ceremony, or bunna , is an important part of the home and social life. The process of preparing for the ceremony may take several hours. The ceremony begins with washing the coffee beans and ends with a solemn drink spillage into the cup. In Ethiopian culture, this ceremony is practiced by women and girls are taught how to carry out a ritual from a very early age. The ceremony is held at least every day, and the beginning of the coffee ritual is the standard way to welcome visitors at home.
The ceremony begins with the fact that the fresh green coffee beans are roasted in a pan. At the same time, to set fire to the fragrant flowers that they gave off a pleasant scent. After that coffee is brewed and poured into cups containing sugar, salt or butter. This coffee is often offered in the Ethiopian restaurants in the U.S., UK and other countries around the world.
6. An overdose of coffee and getting used to it
As with any drug, caffeine is toxic in high enough doses. The lethal dose of caffeine can be achieved by drinking about 100 cups of coffee, but the water is contained in a large amount of coffee drunk at a time, rather kill you than it does caffeine.
However, in the coffee still contains enough caffeine to you become ill, especially if you are to it are not yet used. Seventeen year old girl from England had to be hospitalized after she drank seven cups of double espresso. She observed mood swings, fever and heart palpitations. She said that this incident caused her to completely give up coffee. Another risk associated with the abuse of coffee, is caffeinism state, determined by the needs of the body to receive six or more cups of ground coffee per day.
5. The ban on coffee in England of the 17th century
Coffee was first introduced in England in the 17th century, it served in coffee shops across the country. By the mid-1660s in London alone was 82 coffee shops. However, not everyone likes coffee. A group of women, frustrated by the lack of attraction of his men, said that coffee "makes men sterile, like a desert." The campaign of "several thousand respectable women, fading from the fact that they are not in demand," as they called themselves, with the assistance of the same ladies from other areas forced Charles I (King Charles) to try to ban the drink in 1675.
People were very unhappy with this decision and Charles quickly forgot about the idea. Coffee later became the meeting place of the scientific and literary world, such as Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke , Samuel Johnson and Alexander Pope
4. Latte art and tasting contest
People love to compete in almost everything, even when it comes to hot drinks. It is this spirit of competition and served the cause of the FIFA World wine (World Cup Tasters Championship). During the event, participants should as soon as possible to determine what part of the world takes place each of the offered them coffee with his sense of smell and taste.
Tasting coffee is just one type of event, which takes place during the annual event called " World Coffee Event », which this year was held in Nice, France. Latte art is one of the most impressive, and certainly the most convenient for evaluation by Internet competition. Using only hot milk and espresso, latte artists are working to create complex patterns on the surface of the drink. Quite popular are the spirals and leaves, but some artists painted images of dragons, cartoon characters, and teddy bears, and the bears are too charming to drink the drink itself.
3. Coffee during pregnancy
Tips about the fact that pregnant women should or should not eat sometimes staggering their absurdity, and coffee usually falls into the category of products that pregnant women, according to many advisers, should not eat. The main reason for this was evidence that women who do not drink coffee during pregnancy, it is better to suffer. Despite the fact that such a conclusion seems obvious, it is completely invalid. Pregnant women who experience nausea passes over right, and anyone who is experiencing nausea, is unlikely to want caramel latte sprinkled with multi-colored candy.
Most reliable data show the complete lack of communication between coffee consumption and problems during pregnancy. So during pregnancy can drink about three cups of coffee a day.
2. Reusing coffee grounds
Only about 20 percent of the grain contributes to the formation of coffee flavor beverage remaining percentages are tasteless vegetable fibers. This means that after the brewing material is very much about hundred thousand tonnes per day. Scientists have been working hard to invent a useful way to recycle these wastes.
Researchers at the Maine Technology investigated methods for converting coffee waste into fuel pellets that can be burned for energy, and one company producing coffee, already refers to the remains of the production processing plant biomass, so they burned the waste with wood.
Another group of scientists has developed a way to use coffee grounds to produce an alcoholic beverage by fermenting the grounds and its derivatives, in the course of method similar to the production of whiskey. The result is a drink that, as the manufacturer says it has the "organoleptic quality and acceptable for human consumption." Perhaps they still need to work on their advertising slogan.
1. Contamination of coffee
Fungus "coffee rust" is not the only fungus that can affect the coffee plant. Ochratoxin A is a toxic poison secreted by Aspergillus and Penicillium fungi that grow on coffee plants. The level of ochratoxin clearly monitored in Europe, and it is an acceptable level of five parts per billion for ground coffee, and 10 parts per billion for an instant, because anyone at all interested in people who drink instant coffee? The presence of the toxin in the coffee was discovered only in 1988, and in the course of the study, it was found that seven per cent of the supply of coffee, contain levels of ochratoxin in excess of the permitted limit. The work undertaken by the Food and Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has helped farmers to reduce the average level of the toxin in their products by 25 per cent between 1998 and 2004.
Ochratoxin A is not the only poison which is contained in coffee. In 2003, one person was killed and 15 people were hospitalized with suspected food poisoning. Doctors eventually concluded that the cause of the poisoning were not sandwiches, as originally intended, but the fact that someone put arsenic in the coffee pot. Unfortunately for New Sweden , it seems, the only event in its history, worthy of being marked on the Wikipedia page.