The Informed Consumer presents our past event, Coffee Tour: Books & Brews, now virtual for anyone who missed the event or wants to reference all the great information about Coffee. Brew yourself a nice cup of coffee, put on some coffeehouse music, and enjoy the tour!
Costs:
Direct comparison of various types of coffee:
Dunkin Medium Hot Coffee (14oz): $1.89
Starbucks Medium Hot Coffee (16oz): $2.10
Starbucks Medium “Fancy Drink” (16oz): $4-$5
K-Cup brewed cup of coffee (16oz): $1.25
Drip-brewed cup of coffee (16 oz): $0.32
How much do you spend? How can you save money?
For the next month, try monitoring your coffee expenses either by keeping your receipts or checking your bank account/credit card statement. You’d be surprised how quickly a couple cups of coffee per week can add up.
If you find yourself spending a lot of money on pre-made coffee, you may want to consider investing in a coffee maker. Coffee pots can cost as little as $30 and are the cheapest way to make coffee. Keurigs can also be worth the cost if you drink coffee regularly.
Add coffee into your budget, or start the budgeting process with coffee. Create a max spending limit per week/month for coffee that you will stick to. This can help manage extra cash spent. Pre-made coffee may be easy and convenient, but you’re paying top dollar for that convenience!
Economic Impact of Coffee in the U.S.
- Economic impact of coffee: $225.2 Billion
- Coffee-related activity: 1.6% of total U.S. GDP
- Consumers spent $74.2 Billion on coffee in 2015
- 76% of Americans said they drink coffee in 2015
Health:
Benefits: Reduced Risk of
- Cardiovascular disease: Reduces inflammation and may help prevent certain heart related illnesses
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Strokes
Detriments:
- Restlessness & shakiness
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Rapid or abnormal heart rhythm
- Dehydration
- Anxiety
- Dependency: you need to take more of it to get the same results
History:
How Coffee Was Discovered: An Ethiopian Legend
No one exactly knows when coffee was discovered, but there are legends that say it was found in the 9th century by an Ethiopian goat herder, Kaldi. He made the discovery of a special fruit when his goats ate berries off a certain tree and wouldn’t go to sleep later that night. It’s believed that he then reported his findings to a monastery who later created a drink from the fruit that kept people alert.
Beginning of trade:
The trade of coffee began on the Arabian Peninsula, and by the 1400’s was very popular in the region. Coffee houses, called “schools of the wise”, began popping up which featured live music, games, and current news.
Coffee comes to Europe:
European travelers brought back legends of a mysterious dark beverage they discovered in the east. By the 1600’s coffee was throughout Europe and growing more popular. Many were unsure of this new bitter drink, especially clergy in Italy who condemned it. Eventually the controversial beverage was brought to Pope Clement VII who found it delicious and gave it a papal approval. Despite some uncertainty, coffee houses grew extremely popular throughout Europe and were social hubs. Europeans even began to replace their typical breakfast drink, beer or wine, with coffee as it made them more energized and productive.
British bring coffee to the States:
In the mid 1600’s coffee was brought to New York by the British. While coffee houses began to pop up, tea was still preferred by Americans. The excessive British tax on tea and the famous Boston Tea Party switched many Americans from tea to coffee. This change in preference has remained ever since.
The Coffee Industry Booms:
Today most coffee grows in what’s known as “the coffee belt.”
As the demand for coffee grew, so did the competition to grow the plant, especially outside of the Arabian Peninsula. The Dutch were the first, growing coffee in the late 1600’s on islands on and around what is now Indonesia.
In the early 1700’s the mayor of Amsterdam gave a gift of a coffee plant to King Louis XIV. This gift was the beginning of all coffee that is now grown in the Caribbean South America, and Central America.
The now billion-dollar Brazilian coffee industry can be traced back to a secret gift given to Francisco de Mello Palheta by the French governor’s wife.
Coffee in the U.S. Today
Seattle has become the “coffee hub” of the U.S., but why Seattle? The city’s cold and dreary weather calls for warm drinks. Bohemians wanted to gather and talk about changing the world and so coffee shops became widely popular. These shops were hangouts with individuality and authenticity. Peet’s coffee became one of the first companies to explore different beans, later becoming known as Starbucks. Today, Starbucks has taken over the coffee world with their coffee, but Seattle still takes pride in their small, local coffee shops.
- Drip coffee with cream and sugar is popular
- Industry is dominated by Starbucks & Dunkin’
- Small, authentic coffee shops becoming more popular, especially among millennials
- Coffee can be found in most offices for free
Coffee is essential to the American culture
Culture:
North America
- Mexico: Café de Olla
- Simmered with cinnamon stick, use unrefined cane sugar
- Served in a clay mug to bring out the flavor
- Cuba: Café Cubano
- Espresso brewed with sugar
- Costa Rica: Chorreado
- Pour over coffee made with a cotton filter held by a wooden base called a chorreador
- Canada: Coffee
- Tim Horton’s Double Double: made with 2 creams and 2 sugars
- Canadians consume a lot of coffee
South America:
- Brazil: Cafezinho
- Pre-sweetened: espresso brewed with sugar
- Colombia: Tinto
- Boil water, add 4 tablespoons of ground coffee, while simultaneously boiling unrefined cane sugar in water, mix together
- Peru: Café Pasado
- Uses a 2-chamber brewer with a filter in the middle, ground coffee and hot water are added to the top chamber, the bottom chamber collects the brewed coffee that is often poured into a cup of hot milk
Africa:
- Senegal: Café Touba
- Flavored with Guinea pepper and cloves
- Spices mixed with coffee beans
- Morocco: Spiced coffee
- Coffee with spices: Cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg
- Ethiopia: Jebena Buna
- Traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony that takes hours, Frankincense is burned
- Women in traditional garb hand wash, roast, grind, and brew beans
- Coffee is dark, bitter, and sweetened
- Popcorn is served on the side
- Often drink 3 cups in 1 sitting
Australia:
- Australia: Flat White
- Steamed milk over espresso (like a latte)
Europe:
- Italy: Espresso
- Either quickly drink standing up or sit at a table and slowly sip for hours
- No milk in coffee after noon
- Drink about 3-4 espressos per day
- Sometimes served with lemon slice to bring out java’s sweeter flavors
- Finland: Kaffeost
- Hot coffee poured over cheese curds
- Greece: Frappé
- Iced instant coffee and milk foam
- Spain: Cafe Bombon
- Equal amount of condensed milk is stirred into black coffee, very thick and sugary
- Ireland: Irish Coffee Cocktail
- Hot coffee, Irish whiskey, sugar, thick cream
- Austria: Wiener Mélange
- Espresso with steam milk, milk foam, whipped cream, cocoa powder
- France: Café au lait
- Equal parts steamed milk and freshly brewed coffee
- Served in wide cup for croissant dipping
- Germany: Pharisäer
- Coffee, rum, sugar, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings
- Portugal: Mazagran
- Espresso and lemon juice/soda (iced)
Asia:
- Malaysia: Yuanyang
- 3 parts black coffee, 7 parts Hong-Kong milk tea (mix of black tea and milk)
- Vietnam: Cà phê đá
- Coarse ground dark iced coffee brewed into a cup on condensed milk (French drip filter)
- Saudi Arabia: Qahwa
- Mix of spices: Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, ginger
- Often served with dried dates
- Hong Kong: Yuenyeung
- Mix of coffee and milk tea served hot or cold
- Different milk teas create different flavors
- Turkey: Türk Kahvesi
- Finely ground coffee beans simmered in special brass/copper pot
- Drink unfiltered (with grounds)
Fun Facts:
- Coffee grows on Trees
- A coffee bean is the roasted seed from a coffee cherry which grows on trees
- The average coffee tree produces 2 pounds of beans per year
- There are over 40 different types of coffee drinks (not including flavors)
- There have been 5 attempts to ban coffee in history
- Mecca (1511): believed to stimulate radical thinking
- Italy (1500’s): Clergymen labeled it satanic until Pope Clement VII tried it, loved it, and gave it a papal blessing
- Constantinople (1623): Muran IV, the Ottoman King, forbade coffee
- Sweden (1746): King Gustav III ordered all coffee and its cups/dishes banned
- They forced convicted murderers to drink coffee
- Prussia (1777): Frederick the Great claimed beer superior, especially at breakfast
- Coffee is grown in more than 50 countries around the world
- Brazil is the biggest coffee producing country in the world
Myths:
- Coffee isn’t good for your health
- There are actually many health benefits to coffee, but if an excessive amount is consumed, it can be harmful
- Darker roasts have more caffeine
- Darker roasts actually burn off the caffeine and just create a more bitter taste
- Coffee helps you lose weight
- While coffee can stimulate your metabolism, it won’t make a significant difference in your weight
- Espresso shots have the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee
- Cup of drip coffee average: 95mg of caffeine
- Espresso shot average: 40mg of caffeine
- Coffee stunts your growth
- No truth to this at all, just an old wives’ tale
- If you drink coffee in the evening, you won’t be able to sleep
- IT DEPENDS
- Slow caffeine metabolizers can have a hard time falling asleep compared to fast caffeine metabolizers
Resources:
20 Different Ways People Drink Coffee Around the World