5 Things You Didn’t Know About Coffee

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div></div> </div> <article class="topic-content content"><div class="topic-paragraph font-serif md-list-intro pt-15 pb-20"><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/69/152569-131-616C013D/coffee-beans-ground-cup.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*0"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/69/152569-131-616C013D/coffee-beans-ground-cup.jpg?w=1000" alt="coffee beans, ground coffee, cup of coffee" data-width="900" data-height="675" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© sumnersgraphicsinc/Fotolia</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">Lots of people are unable to function before their morning cup of coffee. You may have singled out caffeine as the source of its power, but how much do you really know about coffee? Here are five tidbits of trivia to ponder as you percolate.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><ul class="md-list-order-reverse md-mendel-list" style="counter-reset: item 6"><li><h2>To bean, or not to bean?</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/147408-050-3C8C9D64/arabica-coffee-cherries.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*161960"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/147408-050-3C8C9D64/arabica-coffee-cherries.jpg?w=1000" alt="Ripe coffee beans. Cultivation of the coffee plant a tropical evergreen grown for its seeds or beans, which are roasted, ground, and sold for brewing coffee. Coffee (Coffea arabica). coffee production" data-width="1232" data-height="1600" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/147408-050-3C8C9D64/arabica-coffee-cherries.jpg" data-href="*161960">coffee cherries</a><span>Ripe Arabica coffee cherries (<em>Coffea arabica</em>).</span></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© iStockphoto/Thinkstock</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">First things first—although widely called “coffee beans,” the part of the plant that is roasted and ground to make your morning (or afternoon, or evening, or snacktime) cup is actually a seed. It is the pit of a red fruit called a coffee cherry. (Technically the word “bean” only refers to the seeds of plants in the family Fabaceae.)</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-1"></span></li><li><h2>Snack that packs a punch</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/75396-050-5D1D411B/Mountain-goats-mountains-Olympic-National-Park-Washington.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*115864"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/75396-050-5D1D411B/Mountain-goats-mountains-Olympic-National-Park-Washington.jpg?w=1000" alt="A Rocky Mountain goat kid (right) and mature goat in in Olympic National Park, Washington. (Oreamnos americanus) mountain goats" data-width="1600" data-height="1040" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/75396-050-5D1D411B/Mountain-goats-mountains-Olympic-National-Park-Washington.jpg" data-href="*115864">Mountain goats (<em>Oreamnos americanus</em>).</a></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© Logan Armbruster/Shutterstock.com</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">Legend has it that a goatherd first discovered coffee when his goats ate some coffee cherries and went a bit wild with the caffeine high. Whether or not that story has roots in fact, coffee was originally consumed by humans as a food rather than a drink. Early African tribes would mix the coffee fruit and seeds with animal fat to make a sort of energy snack.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-2"></span></li><li><h2>Simultaneously the most and least desirable</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph">The world’s most expensive coffee is a type called kopi luwak. Originally from Indonesia, this…unique…type of coffee is harvested after being digested and excreted by the Asian palm civet, a small catlike mammal. Put more bluntly, it’s poop coffee. Apparently the digestion process gives the coffee a complex, rounded taste, and consumers are willing to pay $50 or more per cup.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-3"></span></li><li><h2>The watched pot</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph">The world’s first webcam was created to keep tabs on a pot of coffee. Namely, the pot of coffee in the “Trojan room” computer lab at the University of Cambridge. People working at the lab could access real-time images of the pot to know whether or not they could get their caffeine on. A few years after its internal debut, the pot achieved international celebrity when its images were made accessible via the internet. The Trojan room coffee webcam was online for ten years, from 1991-2001, and was viewed by millions from all around the world.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-4"></span></li><li><h2>Coffee, coffee, everywhere</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/6307-050-AE4A1D80/Coffee-plantation-Basilan-Island-Philippines.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*8761"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/6307-050-AE4A1D80/Coffee-plantation-Basilan-Island-Philippines.jpg?w=1000" alt="Coffee plantation, Basilan Island, Philippines" data-width="1372" data-height="919" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/6307-050-AE4A1D80/Coffee-plantation-Basilan-Island-Philippines.jpg" data-href="*8761">Basilan Island</a><span>Coffee plantation, Basilan Island, Philippines.</span></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">Ted Spiegel—Rapho/Photo Researchers</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">A good cup of joe really brings the world together. Coffee is the second most traded commodity on Earth. So what’s the first? Oil. Luckily coffee doesn’t cause as much commotion as its fellow go-juice. If only we could get it to power our cars! (That’s been attempted, with some success. But who would waste all that delicious coffee?)</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-5"></span></li></ul><span class="AM-END-OF-ARTICLE am-inline"></span></article> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="cm-rightrail d-none d-md-block ad-rail"></aside> </div> </div> </div> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col"> <div class="md-loading hidden display-4 font-weight-normal"></div> <div class="text-center my-20 mb-100"> <button class="md-infinite-load-next btn btn-blue" data-value="next-page">Load More</button> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-da-320 hidden-xs"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"List","templateName":null,"pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":11,"pageId":3784,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.9"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/list-page.js?v=3.133.9' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"List","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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5 Things You Didn’t Know About Coffee | Britannica