Buying coffee online - does it take the fun out of traditional coffee shops?

Information on coffee.

If you have friends that are bordering on being coffee snobs and would like to practice a little 'one-upmanship' here's a few snippets of information about coffee.

There are almost twice as many coffee plantations as there are vineyards. Large coffee plantations account for 20% of the world coffee crop, the remaining crops come from small holdings of five hectares or more. About 250 million people depend upon coffee for their living.

Exporting Countries in order of coffee production; Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia, Indonesia, Mexico, Cot D'Ivoire, Uganda, Guatemala,India, Honduras, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Cameroon, Tanzania, Thailand, Congo, Madagascar, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Togo, Haiti, Cuba, Auastralia, Yemen, Borneo, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Philippines.

In terms of trading points little has changed other than expansion. In the 19th century they were London, New York and Hamburg, much the same today but with several additions. The market is London for Robustas and New York for Arabicas. Robustas are stored at Felixstowe and Tilbury. In Europe they are stored at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bremen, Le Havre, Marseilles, Barcelona, Genoa and Trieste. Arabicas are stored at Houston. Miami, New Orleans and New York. In Europe they are stored at Hamburg, Bremen and Antwerp

Caffeine content in Robusta 2 to 2.5 percent and in Arabica is about 1 to 1.5 percent.

Coffee cannot be grown in the UK because it is vulnerable to frost, so it can only be successfully grown between the area in between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn any equatorial region. Frost almost wiped out the Brazilian crops in 1902,1918,1975 and 1994. The most devaststing disease is leaf rust, funghi and parasitic insects.

When a coffee seed is planted it will appear as a coffee plant in six to eight weeks and will be full fruit at two to three years. Well known coffee varieties are Caturra, Congenisis, Hibrido de Timor Kouilou, Icatu, Liberica, Maclaudi, Maragogype, Mundo Novo,Red Bourbon and Typica,

In Ethiopia, over a thousand years ago, a goat herder called Kaldi realised that when his oldest goats chewed on certain wild berries they behaved like young kids. The chief of the local monastery heard about this and wondered how humans would react, so he decided to experiment with some of the wild berries. He found that a brew of what he called 'cherries' would keep his brother monks awake all the way through those seemingly never ending hours of prayer.

The coffee beans were roasted, ground and then added to water making a non-alcoholic beverage that stimulated the mind and thought process without offending the Muslim religion

At that time in Ethiopia, the berries, cherries or even fruit as they were called, were gathered and the pulp was juiced to make alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The leaves were used for brewing a tea and also chewed. Today the pulp is separated by either drying or washing producing unwashed and washed coffees respectively. The coffee is then dried sorted and bagged to be sold on the world markets in New York or London. Before reaching the consumer the coffee has an olfactory examination ( The smell, or olfactory system can distinguish thousands of odours and scents. ) then it is tasted for acidity, astringency or bitterness, it takes years of training to become an expert coffee taster and have the ability to understand the full science of sensory analysis.


Coffee comes in two types Coffea Arabica (Arabica) and Coffea Canephora (Robusta,Conillon in Brazil) from the tropical plant Rubicceae.

There are other types of coffee but not suitable for human consumption.

Arabica originated in the mountain forests of Eastern Africa.

Robusta originated in a region stretching from Western Africa and the Congo Basin to Uganda found more in low lying Tropical forests.

If you think Starbucks is popular, by the year 1700 there were 3,000 coffee houses in London alone ... and not a Starbucks in site!, the first coffee house in Britain was opened in Oxford in 1637.

The first Coffee House opened in Istanbul in 1554. 1616 saw the coffee plantation in Amsterdam, then Paris and London.

In I720 Global trade was 90 tonnes, in 1820 it was 90,000 tonnes.

Edward Lloyd opened a Coffee House in Tower Street that attracted sailors and merchants, it became Lloyds of London, the famous insurers and underwriters.

Jonathon's Coffee House became the London Stock Exchange.

The Boston Tea Party could have been the reason why America chose not to make tea their favourite drink.

Brazil produces about a third of the world's coffee, the bulk of the crop being Arabica

In 2002 the price of coffee had fallen by nearly 50% since 1999 to a 30-year low

Today's supermarket type coffee blends can be mixed from as many as 20 different varieties of coffee bean.

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