The largest importer of coffee in the world is (as you'd guess) - the United States.
However, the consumers of
coffee in Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden, Norway & Denmark) as well as
Austria & Holland are the highest per capita in the world - being 8kg &
over per year. (The United States
is only 3-5 kg per year). The largest Producer of coffee who exports in the world is Brazil. Followed by Columbia & Vietnam. (Source ICO stats 1999) The most financially dependent country on coffee export as its primary export earner is Burundi at 87% followed by Ethiopia at 69.8%.
Coffee as a beverage is
reputed in legend to have originated in Ethiopia where a goat herder
noted the vibrant behaviour of his goats and their attraction to the
bright red berries of the coffee
bush. He soon discovered for himself their attraction and the rest
is history. The first European coffee was sold in Pharmacies in 1615 as a medicinal remedy. The first Parisian coffee house was opened in 1686. 'Le Procope' is still trading today.
The Coffee Cantata was
written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1732. The first piston pump style espresso machine was developed in 1938 by Cremonesi in Italy and first installed in the Achille Gaggia Coffee Bar. Coffee is generally only grown between the two tropics - Cancer & Capricorn. |
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