10 Interesting, Somewhat Random And Weird Facts About Coffee

While reading Uncommon Grounds: The History Of Coffee, I learned way too much about coffee. I came across a lot of interesting, completely random and sometimes weird facts about coffee.

Here’s some of my favorites from that book and a few others that I found, in no particular order.

• At one point, Brazil had such a coffee surplus that they tried to find other uses for it, including using it to make plastic.
• The world record for most coffee consumption is 82 cups of coffee in 7 hours. I love coffee, but that might even be too much for me.
• In Staten Island, there’s a restaurant owner that drinks fifty cups of coffee a day. Again, I love coffee, but not that much.
• During World War II there was a coffee drinking competition between the branches of the military. The Marines claimed to drink the most – twenty cups a day.
• Coffee was so scarce in Germany that during WWII “coffee bombs” or bags of coffee were dropped from planes to turn the people against their government.
• Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets got his start doing coffee ads.
• The actress who played the Wicked Witch Of The West in the Wizard Of Oz was promoting Maxwell House in the 1970′s.
• There’s a tourist agency for people wanting to take coffee vacations called Cafe Away. Personally, I think it’s the greatest idea ever if I could just get enough free time for a vacation.
• Norway drinks the most coffee per person. The United States is ranked number 12. C’mon people, we can do better than that!
• The only place where coffee is grown in the United States is Hawaii.

Do you know any other interesting, random or weird coffee facts?

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Photo by dongga BS.