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So you thought you knew everything about coffee, huh? Probably not – coffee’s full of surprises.
1. The French writer and philosopher, Voltaire, loved coffee so much that he drank FIFTY cups a day!
2. Adding milk to coffee was first devised when a French physician in the 1680’s prescribed it for medicinal purposes. A cafe au lait a day will keep the doctor away!
3. Coffee houses have long stood as a meeting place for rebellious folk. Case in point – where do you think the founding fathers met in secret to strategize?
4. After the Boston Tea Party in 1773 where chests of tea were dumped into the harbor, rebels chose to drink coffee afterwards in order to signify their freedom.
5. Of all caffeine beverages consumed in the US, coffee represents 75% of these drinks.
6. Espresso is such an important thing in Italy that it actually is regulated by the Italian government as ‘an essential to the quality of daily life’.
7. In Africa, many people will soak raw coffee beans in water and spices and then chew on them as a caffeinated treat!
8. In Japan coffee shops are called kissaten.
9. Frederick the Great used to put some odd stuff in his coffee. His favorite? Mustard and champagne.
10. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, being beaten only by oil.