Interesting Facts

Mathematicians from the  University of Limmerick  are working out a mathematical formula for the perfect cup of coffee. (They have found that size does matter, and flavour is linked to the coffee grain's surface are.  The method of extraction describes the movement of the coffee from its solid form as a bean into its liquid form when it dissolves into hot water, and they have found that small grains give a more bitter taste, whilst large grains result in a weak brew. Earlier in 2016 some chemists got together to create this video:- Reactions goes on a quest for better coffee through chemistry. )

According to the British Coffee Association around 2,000,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed worldwide every day. (According to market researchers, Mintel, in the UK we drink over 70 million cups a day, but 3/4 (74%) of all UK adults drink instant coffee, compared to around 1/2 (48%) who drink fresh coffee. I stopped drinking instant when I left England, and I've never wanted to go back to the brown sludge.)

According to the Office for National Statistics, we Brits are no longer that keen on going to night clubs or buying CDs and DVDs. (The inflation basket, which is used to calculate the cost of living in the UK, analyses the cost of 704 items.  It is an interesting look into trends in the UK, and seemingly many nightclubs in the UK are facing closure, and more and more people download their music and films online so these items have been removed. However, the inflation basket will now include coffee pods and downloaded software, along with women's leggings, and strangely, cream liquers like Baileys, which must be a sign of an ageing population with very little fashion sense.) Here is a list from the Guardian newspaper of what is "In" and what is "Out":- In: Pouches of microwave rice: Joins a range of prepared foods, emphasising our love of ready meals. Multipacks of meat: The ONS has spotted a boom in cooking cuts of meat and presenting them buffet...

According to a study carried out by Action on Sugar hot drinks can contain at least as much sugar as a can of Pepsi or Coca-Cola. (In some of the worst cases the drinks tested contained 20 or more teaspoons of sugar. For example, a large Chai Latte can contain around 80g of sugar: according to the NHS, the maximum intake of added sugar per day for those aged 11 and over is about 30g or seven teaspoons - a can of Pepsi or Coke can contain around 9 teaspoons. The drinks assessed included flavoured coffees such as mochas and lattes, hot fruit drinks and hot chocolates from coffee shops and fast food chains.  98% of the drinks they tested would have to carry a red food label for high sugar content.)

Hamburg, Germany has banned coffee pods from all state-run buildings as part of an environmental drive to reduce waste. (In fact, the inventor of the American version of the coffee capsule, John Sylvan, has admitted he regrets ever inventing them due to their environmental impact:  Some pods contain 6 grams of coffee, but have 3 grams of packaging, and because they are made of mixed materials, combined with organic content, they are extremely difficult to recycle. Imagine if cars were sold like that.)

The number of coffee shops in the UK surpassed 20,000 in 2015, boosting sales by 10pc to £7.9bn.  (Unfortunately this soaring demand means there will be a problem; supply won't be able to keep up, and market experts are predicting a shortage of coffee within the next 3 years.  Strangely the price paid to producers means they aren't likely to want to increase productivity, as according to Mintec, the price of Arabica coffee has fallen by 35pc over the last year. If I run out of coffee, there will be no more sessions.)

18th June The finals of the World Latte Art Championships will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden. It's also international picnic day, and we will be looking at picnic vocabulary in Kitely this week.

A poll, by decorating brand Harris, has revealed Britains favourite (and least favourite) smells. (The top 20 smells were:- Freshly baked bread Bacon Freshly cut grass Coffee Cakes baking in the oven The seaside Freshly washed clothes A Sunday roast  Fish and chips Fresh flowers A real Christmas tree Roses Vanilla Scented candles Log fires Lavender Lemon Chocolate Barbeques Cinnamon The most hated smells were: Bins Drains Body odour Sewage Vomit Rotten milk Rotting food Public toilets Nappies Old trainers Feet Manure Morning breath Burning plastic Garlic breath Exhaust fumes Sports changing rooms Blue cheese Bleach Fish What are yours?)

According to consumer research company Euromonitor, the Dutch drink the most coffee per person in the world. (The Netherlands’ are the only country that averages more than 2 cups of coffee per day, with a  per-capita consumption of 2.4 cups a day, which is almost the same as those of the US, UK, Spain, and France combined. The US, who brag that they run on coffee, doesn’t even crack the top 15.)

Coffee used to be blamed for stunting growth and causing all kinds of health problems, from heart disease to cancer. (Most modern studies find coffee consumption decreases mortality during a normal lifetime, and actually has many health benefits. However, for some people with a mutation of the CY1A2 gene, which retards the breakdown of caffeine in the body, there is a heart health risk, because the caffeine is metabolized more slowly, and the longer caffeine remains in the blood stream, the greater the potential for harm. Luckily one cup of coffee wasn't thought to be a problem, so I'll stick to my one a day policy, if I was told I had to give that up, I would have a heart attack.) Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/coffee-and-health/faq-20058339

KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) has just unveiled the UK’s first edible coffee cup. (It is made from biscuit, wrapped in sugar paper and lined with a layer of white chocolate. The cup doesn't go soggy, and it allegedly keeps the coffee hot. They are calling it the Scoff-ee cup (groan).)

According to Starbucks’s website, you can order over 87,000 different drink combinations at their outlets. (This isn't that surprising when you realise they have 6 different sizes for coffee:- From the smallest, the demi, through to short, tall, grande, venti, to the largest trenta. Why did they have to make it so complicated?  What's wrong with S/M/L - small, medium, and large? )

According to researchers at the University of Bath, coffee dregs could be used to produce bio fuel. (According to the report, coffee dregs can be a reliable source of bio diesel. An average coffee shop produces 22lb of coffee waste every day, which could be used to make two litres of bio diesel. I think I'll have to up my coffee consumption to run the van.)

According to research commissioned by Millgate Homes the perfect scent to sell a home is a mixture of white tea and fig. (To date it has been traditional to brew up a pot of coffee, bake bread or put out freshly cut flowers when prospective buyers come to look round a home, and indeed the smell of baking bread and freshly brewed coffee can still be used to sell older properties, because they are associated with feeling homely and warm, but the scents of white tea and fig are better for new builds because they have fresh and clean designs. I don't even know what white tea smells like.)

A regular sized cup of coffee (about 5oz) can contain anything from 65 to 125 mg of caffeine. It all depends on the type of coffee and how it's been made: On average there is 110-150mg for filter coffee, 65-125mg for percolated, and 40-80 mg for instant. Typically an 8 oz cup of Starbucks coffee contains165 milligrams of caffeine. (I looked into this following yesterday's IF, and the amount of caffeine in energy drinks also varies. They can contain between 70 and 200 mg. A Dr. Pepper gives you 61mg, and a can of Coke provides 50mg, but according to Web MD, a full can of 150mg Rockstar energy shot contains a massive 229 mg! That's not a drink, that's medicine.)

Seemingly tea and coffee are grown in the UK (see previous post).  (Tea is grown and sold from the Tregothnan estate in Cornwall, and Arabica coffee is being grown in the rainforest bio dome at the Eden Project, That said, I doubt they could grow enough to satisfy the tea and coffee drinking habits of the UK. Accroding to the BBC, the coffee harvest at Eden produced about 2kg of cherries, which would create approximately 300g of dried coffee beans to make around 50 cups of Cornish coffee.)  

According to a study by Dr. Honglei Chen, an investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, there is a link between soft drinks and depression. (Participants in the study who drank more than four servings of fizzy drinks per day were 30 percent more likely to develop depression than participants who didn't, but it's not just fizzy pop, people who stuck with fruit squash had a 38 percent higher risk than people who didn't drink sweetened drinks. And it's not just sugary drinks, the research also showed that people who drank low-calorie diet drinks, iced teas, and fruit squash were at a slightly higher risk of depression too, and the artificial sweetener aspartame may be to blame. It does make me wonder though: do sugary drinks cause depression, or do depressed people try to cheer themselves up with a sweet drink? The good news is that drinking unsweetened coffee can lower the risk of depression. I'm a happy go lucky person, guess what I d...

I pay more tax in the UK than Starbucks! (According to the Independent newspaper, the coffee chain Starbucks has not paid any tax in Britain since 2009.  UK sales since 2009 amount to around  £ 1.2 bn, but their UK tax bill was  £ 0.  Yes,  £ 0. I don't even live in the UK, but my little NFP organisation pays more tax than they do.  Star*ucks! (Sorry, but it makes me livid.))

Many aeroplane cockpits have cup holders. (Pilots are allowed to have beverages in the cockpit. Unfortunately this factlet came to light in 2011 when a pilot spilled coffee on the cockpit panel of a Boeing 777-200 headed from Chicago to Frankfurt, leading to a false hijack warning and culminating in the plane's emergency landing in Canada. I guess they've got to keep hydrated, but they should give them sippy cups.)

Starbucks has dropped the word "coffee" from its new logo. (The company says it indicates the company's intention to move beyond its core product, saying "it's possible we'll have other products with our name on it and no coffee in it".    It's the first time that Starbucks has changed its logo since it floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 1992, unfortunately without the word "coffee" the logo is pretty meaningless.)