Espresso your love for coffee this Valentine’s Day with our top five facts

Naturally, at FreshGround, we LOVE coffee. From lattes, ristrettos to espressos and cappuccinos, there’s a coffee drink for everyone. So this Valentine’s Day we thought we’d celebrate our love by sharing our top 5 facts that every coffee aficionado should know.

Coffee was discovered by a goat herder named Kaldi

Back in the 1500s, it’s said that coffee was originally discovered by a goat herder named Kaldi in Ethiopia. The story goes that he accidentally discovered coffee’s energising effects after his goats got excited after eating coffee cherries.

Kaldi also felt an energy boost after eating the coffee cherries, who then shared them with monks at a nearby monastery. They threw the coffee cherries onto a fire, roasted them and added them to water and that made the world’s first cup of coffee. There’s conjecture around whether this story is true or legend but we like it anyway. You can find more information in our blog, The History of Coffee.

Brazil is the world’s biggest producer

Brazil is the world’s leading grower and exporter of coffee beans and single-highhandedly produces nearly 40% of all coffee. It’s an important export for Brazil’s economy with coffee plantations covering some 27,000km.

The country has a climate that’s perfect for coffee farming although climate change is threatening its production. A recent report suggests the world could lose half of its best coffee-growing land under just a moderate climate change scenario. Brazil, currently the world’s largest coffee producer, could see its most suitable coffee-growing land decline by 79%.

Coffee is more complex than a fine wine

Both coffee and wine are highly aromatic with varying notes, flavours and aromas. A complex fine wine will rarely have more than 250 flavour and aroma compounds contributing to its bouquet. In comparison, during the roasting process of a quality coffee, it can produce more than 800 flavour and aroma compounds.

In fact, coffee is “one of the most chemically complex things we consume, with subtleties of aroma, texture, and flavour rivalled by almost no other food”, as stated by the World Coffee Research (WCR) organization.

How much coffee do we drink in the UK?

In the UK, we now drink a staggering 98 million cups of coffee per day and the coffee industry creates over 210,000 UK jobs making it a vital part of the UK’s economy.

Coffee drinkers in the UK most commonly enjoy two cups of coffee per day and only a tenth of coffee drinkers drink 6 or more cups daily. In total, consumers spent about £3.9 billion on coffee, tea and cocoa in the UK in 2020.

Coffee is consumed in such great quantities across the world now that it’s the world’s 2nd largest traded commodity, surpassed only by crude oil.

There are basically only two types of coffee

The two species of coffee that are most widely cultivated are Arabica and Robusta. These two species make up 99% of the world’s coffee production. Although there are thousands of variations making up the remaining 1%, such as Liberica and Excelsa.

​​Arabica accounts for around 70% of global coffee production. It typically has a more fruity, floral taste with complex acidity. It has more variation in flavour than Robusta and tends to be more expensive.

Robusta has lower acidity than Arabica so it doesn’t taste as sweet. It’s most commonly used for instant coffee and espresso blends. Find out more about the difference between Arabica and Robusta in our blog.

Get in touch

If you and your team are coffee lovers like us, make sure you’ve got only the best coffee at work. We offer a wide range of office coffee machines along with premium coffees so you can be sure to have a great coffee experience in the office.

If you’re interested in providing your team with a quality coffee experience at work, please contact us on 020 7553 7900 or email hello@freshground.co.uk.