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- 61. The year was 1716 when Venetian coffee shop merchants began distributing leaflets exalting their new product: coffee. This may be the first example of advertising for coffee shops.
- 62. In 1727, as a result of seedlings smuggled from Paris, coffee plants first were cultivated in Brazil. Brazil is presently by far the world's largest producer of coffee.
- 63. Before the first French cafe in the late 1700's, coffee was sold by street vendors in Europe, in the Arab fashion. The Arabs were the forerunners of the sidewalk espresso carts of today.
- 64. The vacuum pack, invented in 1898, made it possible to preserve roasted coffee. Preserved coffee, though, not fresh coffee.
- 65. Espresso is to Italy what champagne is to France.
- 66. The French philosopher, Voltaire, reportedly drank fifty cups of coffee a day.
- 67. Retail espresso vendors report an increase in decaffeinated sales in the month of January due to New Year's resolutions to decrease caffeine intake.
- 68. Scandinavia has the world's highest per capita annual coffee consumption, 26.4 pounds. Italy has an annual consumption per capita of only 10 pounds.
- 69. The modern day espresso street vending cart evolved from a Boeing Company shuttle cart, purchased from surplus, and was first utilized to serve people espresso at an arts and crafts fair in Edmonds, Washington.
- 70. Coffee trees are evergreen and grow to heights above 15 feet but are normally pruned to around 8 feet in order to facilitate harvesting.
- 71. Coffee trees produce highly aromatic, short-lived flowers producing a scent between jasmine and orange. These blossoms produce cranberry-sized coffee cherries. It takes four to five years to yield a commercial harvest.
- 72. Coffee beans are similar to grapes that produce wine in that they are affected by the temperature, soil conditions, altitude, rainfall, drainage and degree of ripeness when picked.
- 73. Brazil accounts for almost 1/3 of the world's coffee production, producing over 3-1/3 billion pounds of coffee each year.
- 74. Coffee is grown commercially in over forty-five countries throughout the world.
- 75. Hawaii is the only state of the United States in which coffee is commercially grown.
- 76. Hawaii features an annual Kona Festival, coffee picking contest. Each year the winner becomes a state celebrity.
- 77. In Hawaii coffee is harvested between November and April.
- 78. Over 5 million people in Brazil are employed by the coffee trade. Most of those are involved with the cultivation and harvesting of more than 3 billion coffee plants.
- 79. Before roasting, some green coffee beans are stored for years, and experts believe that certain beans improve with age, when stored properly.
- 80. The vast majority of coffee available to consumers are blends of different beans.
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