Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Had To Be 1776

July 4, 2014 fasab Factoids, Numbers 1776, Adam Smith, Adam Weishaupt, America, American colonies, American Continental Army, American Continental Navy, American Continentals, American friends, American gunboats, American navy, American Patriots, American Patriots Royal Navy, American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, American Southwest, American submersible craft Turtle, americans, an independent nation, Andrew Doria, Arctic, Assembly of New Hampshire, Austria, Bahamas, battle, Battle of Harlem Heights, Battle of Long Island, Battle of Pell's Point, Battle of the Rice Boats, Battle of Trenton, Battle of White Plains, Bavaria, Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, bigamy, bird tail, Boston, Bowling Green, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, British, British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, British authority, British control, British fleet, British parliament, British Royal Navy, Brooklyn, California, Captain James Cook, Chatterton Hill, Cherokee, Cherokee Nation, cock tail, Col. Johann Rall, Committee of Five, common sense, Continental Army, Continental Congress, Continental Congress delegates, Continental Union Flag, crossed the Delaware River, Crown Prince Paul, customer, declaration of independence, Delaware General Assembly, Doncaster, Dorchester Heights, Duchess of Kingston, Dutch flag, education, Edward Gibbon, England, enlistment of free blacks, Entertainment, espionage, facts, fatal, Father Francisco Palou, first Europeans, first governor, first state constitution, first US fraternity, Fort Orange, Fort Washington, France, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, French support, Gen George Washington, George III of Great Britain, George Mason, George Washington, Gregorian calendar, Guadeloupe, Haffner, Halifax Resolves, hanged, happy Fourth of July, Hessian mercenaries, Hessian troops, HMS Resolution, horse races, hurricane, Illuminati, independence day, independence from British rule, Ingolstadt, interrogation torture, invading spaceships, Jersey bank, Johannes de Graaff, Juan Bautista de Anza, Julian calendar, King George III, Kips Bay, Lake Champlain, leap year, Lee Resolution, Liberty Bell, Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, loyalist leaders, Lt Jose Joaquin Moraga, Manhattan, Marines, Marquis de Lafayette, Massachusetts, McKonkey's Ferry, MDCCLXXVI, Mission Dolores, Mission San Francisco de Asis, Monterey Presidio, Moore's Creek bridge, Mozart, Nassau, Nathan Hale, new york, New York City, New York Harbor, Norfolk, North Carolina, number, number factoid, numbers, Pacific Ocean, pamphlet, Patriot cannons, Patriot forces, patriot victory, peace conference, Phi Beta Kappa, Philadelphia, Plymouth, Presidio of San Francisco, Province of Georgia, published, rebels, renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain, Rhode Island, Richard Caswell, Richard Henry Lee, Roman numerals, Royal Colony of North Carolina, Royal Navy, Russia, Salzburg, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Savannah River, Scottish economist, Scottish North Carolina Loyalists, Second Continental Congress, Serenade No. 7, Significant Number Factoid Friday, significant numbers, Sir Guy Carleton, Sophie Marie Dorothea, South Carolina, Spaniards, spy, St Leger, State of North Carolina, Staten Island, successful assault, The American Crisis, The Bronx, The Crisis, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the Rockies, the Sierras, The Wealth of Nations, the world's first submarine attack, These are the times that try men's souls, third voyage, thirteen colonies, Thomas Paine, time bomb, Trenton, United States Declared Independence, Valcour Island, Virginia, Virginia Convention of Delegates, Virginia Declaration of Rights, vote for independence, Washington, Washington's troops, Württemberg, William & Mary College, William Howe, Wilmington

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Hello everyone.

And a very happy Fourth of July to everyone, particularly my American friends.

Independence Day again, and no sign of invading spaceships so I’m assuming its safe to do another number factoid.

And what else could it be today other than 1776, the year America became an independent nation.

Here we go.

Enjoy

And where else to start but with….

American Revolutionary War

On January 1^st, 1776 Gen George Washington hoisted the Continental Union Flag. The same day the town of Norfolk, Virginia, was destroyed by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.
On Jan 5^th the Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution.
On January 10^th Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense “written by an Englishman” in Philadelphia arguing for independence from British rule in what were then the Thirteen Colonies.

On Jan 16^th the Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks.
On February 27^th Scottish North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore’s Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believed to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ended all British authority in the province.
On March 2^nd and 3^rd the American Continental Navy and Marines made a successful assault on Nassau, Bahamas, and in the Battle of the Rice Boats, American Patriots resisted the Royal Navy on the Savannah River effectively ending British control over the Province of Georgia.
On March 4^th American Patriots capture Dorchester Heights thereby dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts. Threatened by the Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston on March 17^th.
On April 12^th the Royal Colony of North Carolina produced the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony officially to authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On May 4^th Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
On June 7^th Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Second Continental Congress (meeting in Philadelphia) that “these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”
On June 11^th the Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to draft a Declaration of Independence.

On June 12^th the Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason was adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates and three days later on June 15^th the Delaware General Assembly voted to suspend government under the British Crown.
On July 2^nd the final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence was written. The Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution.
And as we all know, on July 4^th the United States Declared Independence: The Continental Congress ratified the declaration by the United States of its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On July 8^th the Liberty Bell rang in Philadelphia for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the following day an angry mob in New York City toppled the equestrian statue of George III of Great Britain in Bowling Green.

On August 2^nd most of the American colonies ratify the Declaration of Independence.
On August 15^th the first Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces.
On August 27^th in the Battle of Long Island, Washington’s troops were routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.
On September 1^st the Cherokee Nation was invaded by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroyed thirty-six Cherokee towns.
On September 7^th saw the world’s first submarine attack when the American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe’s flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
On September 11^th an abortive peace conference took place between British and Americans on Staten Island.
On September 15^th British troops landed on Manhattan at Kips Bay.
On September 16^th in the Battle of Harlem Heights, the Continental Army under Washington are victorious against the British on Manhattan.
On September 22^nd the British hanged spy Nathan Hale in New York City for espionage.
The following month, on October 11^th on Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeated 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold’s ships are destroyed, the two day-long battle gave Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
On October 18^th in the Battle of Pell’s Point, forces of the American Continental Army resisted a British and Hessian force in The Bronx, whilst on October 28 in the Battle of White Plains, British forces attacked and captured Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
On October 26^th Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.

The last day of that month, October 31^st saw King George III make his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, in which in perhaps the understatement of the year, told the British Parliament that all was not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.
On November 16^th Hessian mercenaries under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen captured Fort Washington from the American Continentals. The captain of the American navy ship Andrew Doria fired a salute to the Dutch flag on Fort Orange and Johannes de Graaff answers with eleven gun shots.
On December 7^th the Marquis de Lafayette attempted to enter the American military as a major general.
And on December 21^st the Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.
On December 23^rd Thomas Paine, living with Washington’s troops, began publishing The American Crisis, containing the stirring phrase, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
At Christmas 1776, Gen. George Washington ordered the first issue of The Crisis to be read to his troops on Christmas Eve, then at 6 p.m. all 2600 of them march to McKonkey’s Ferry, crossed the Delaware River and land on the Jersey bank at 3 a.m.
And finally December 26^th saw the Battle of Trenton, in which Washington’s troops surprised and defeated the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall outside Trenton, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.

In other things and other places in 1776

The year 1776 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar.
In Roman Numerals 1776 is written as MDCCLXXVI.
On January 2^nd Austria ended interrogation torture
On February 17^th Edward Gibbon published the first volume of his famous work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

On March 9^th Scottish economist Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in London.
On March 28^th Juan Bautista de Anza found the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
On April 15^th the Duchess of Kingston was found guilty of bigamy.
On May 1^st Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.
On June 17^th Lt. Jose Joaquin Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29^th and constructing the Mission Dolores of the new Presidio of San Francisco.
On July 12^th Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth, England, in HMS Resolution on his third voyage, to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic, which would turn out to be fatal.

On July 21^st Mozart’s Serenade No. 7 (the “Haffner”) is first performed in Salzburg, Austria.
On July 29^th Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an eighteen-hundred mile trek through the American Southwest. They were the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras.
On September 6^th a hurricane hit Guadeloupe, killing more than 6000 people.
On September 24^th the first of the now very famous St Leger horse races were held at Doncaster, England.
On October 7^th Crown Prince Paul of Russia married Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg.
On October 9^th Father Francisco Palou founded the Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.
On October 18^th in a New York bar decorated with a bird tail, a customer orders “cock tail”.
On December 5^th the first US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), is formed.

The Standard Practice for Conditioning and Testing Textiles is Active Standard ASTM D1776
The Standard Specification for Eye Protective Devices for Paintball Sports is Active Standard ASTM F1776.
MTE M-1776 is a Surge Protective Device
P1776 is the code for solenoid stuck in low/reverse which is a fairly common problem and can be prevented most of the time by keeping the fluid clean.
The 1776 Premier Program offers a venue for highly-committed, elite players to receive professional, year-round coaching and to seek competition at the highest levels of US Youth Soccer.

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It’s Easter Monday – Er… Make That The Easter Monday Quiz.

April 21, 2014April 17, 2014 fasab Questions, Religion, Tests 40 days, American island, Andrew Lloyd Webber, balloons, Banjo, Barabbas, Bermuda, betrayed Jesus, Bob Hoskins, British, buns, Cats Glenn, Christian, Christian calendar, Coney Island, contemporary tradition, crowd, disciple, disciples, doves, Easter, Easter event, Easter parade, Easter quiz, Easter-based musical, education, egg, egg-rolling, Elaine Paige, Entertainment, Evita, facts, fireworks, first day of Lent, gangster film, general knowledge, Ginger Rogers, Hammond organ, Helen Mirren, Herod, Hey Jude, I am the eggman, I Am The Walrus, indulge, Jesus, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jewish, Judas, Judy Garland, Kites, last Sunday before Easter, Last Supper, Lent, Long Island, Mardi Gras, Moon, movie, murder mysteries, musical instrument, Neil Armstrong, Palm Sunday, Paperback Writer, payment, Penny whistle, Pentecost, Pontius Pilate, prisoner, quarantine, questions, quiz, quizzes, rabbits, Random, reading, religion, religious, religious significance, Resurrection, Roman Governor, score, song, Staten Island, symbolized, test, tests, the ascent of Christ, The Beatles, The Long Easter Monday, The Long Easter Sunday, The Long Good Friday, traditional, ukulele, watching, Whitsun

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

An Easter themed quiz this Monday appropriately enough.

Most of the questions shouldn’t prove too difficult although there are a few in there that might be challenging.

I’ve included some multiple choice too to help the odds a bit.

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: Which Jewish religious event often coincides with Easter?

Q. 2: Who was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection?

Q. 3: How long does Lent last for?

Q. 4: Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter event in seven countries. A point for each one you name correctly.

Q. 5: How many disciples joined Jesus at the Last Supper?

a) 10 b) 12 c) 14

Q. 6: What is the religious significance of the egg at Easter?

Q. 7: In the Christian calendar, what is the name given to the last Sunday before Easter?

a) Palm Sunday b) Pentecost c) Whitsun

Q. 8: In which country is there a contemporary tradition of reading or watching murder mysteries at Easter?

Q. 9: Who starred in the movie Easter Parade?

a) Judy Garland b) Ginger Rogers c) Elaine Paige

Q. 10: When the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate offered to release Jesus, which prisoner did the crowd demand was let go instead?

a) Herod b) Barabbas c) Judas

Q. 11: Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the score for which Easter-based musical?

a) Evita b) Jesus Christ Superstar c) Cats Glenn

Q. 12: Which American island is named after rabbits?

a) Coney Island b) Staten Island c) Long Island

Q. 13: In Bermuda, the ascent of Christ is symbolized by what?

a) Balloons b) Kites c) Doves d) Fireworks

Q. 14: What buns do people traditionally eat at Easter?

Q. 15: What is the name of the disciple who betrayed Jesus and what did he receive as payment? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 16: What does Mardi Gras have to do with Easter?

a) Mardi Gras is the first day of Lent

b) Mardi Gras is the last day to indulge before Lent.

c) Mardi Gras has nothing to do with Easter.

Q. 17: What does the period of Lent symbolize?

Q. 18: Which British gangster film stars Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren?

a) The Long Easter Monday b) The Long Easter Sunday c) The Long Good Friday

Q. 19: The word ‘quarantine’ literally means ’40 days’. When Neil Armstrong went into quarantine after returning from the Moon, which musical instrument did he take with him?

a) Penny whistle b) Banjo c) Ukulele d) Hammond organ

Q. 20: “I am the eggman” is a lyric from which song by The Beatles?

a) Paperback Writer b) I Am The Walrus c) Hey Jude

ANSWERS

Q. 1: Which Jewish religious event often coincides with Easter?

A. 1: Passover.

Q. 2: Who was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection?

A. 2: Mary Magdalene.

Q. 3: How long does Lent last for?

A. 3: 40 days.

Q. 4: Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter event in seven countries. A point for each one you name correctly.

A. 4: US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Lithuania, and Egypt.

Q. 5: How many disciples joined Jesus at the Last Supper?

a) 10 b) 12 c) 14

A. 5: b) 12.

Q. 6: What is the religious significance of the egg at Easter?

A. 6: It represents the tomb Jesus rose from.

Q. 7: In the Christian calendar, what is the name given to the last Sunday before Easter?

a) Palm Sunday b) Pentecost c) Whitsun

A. 7: a) Palm Sunday.

Q. 8: In which country is there a contemporary tradition of reading or watching murder mysteries at Easter?

A. 8: Norway.

Q. 9: Who starred in the movie Easter Parade?

a) Judy Garland b) Ginger Rogers c) Elaine Paige

A. 9: a) Judy Garland.

Q. 10: When the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate offered to release Jesus, which prisoner did the crowd demand was let go instead?

a) Herod b) Barabbas c) Judas

A. 10: b) Barabbas.

Q. 11: Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the score for which Easter-based musical?

a) Evita b) Jesus Christ Superstar c) Cats Glenn

A. 11: b) Jesus Christ Superstar.

Q. 12: Which American island is named after rabbits?

a) Coney Island b) Staten Island c) Long Island

A. 12: a) Coney Island.

Q. 13: In Bermuda, the ascent of Christ is symbolized by what?

a) Balloons b) Kites c) Doves d) Fireworks

A. 13: b) Kites.

Q. 14: What buns do people traditionally eat at Easter?

A. 14: Hot cross buns.

Q. 15: What is the name of the disciple who betrayed Jesus and what did he receive as payment? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 15: Judas Iscariot, and he received 30 pieces of silver.

Q. 16: What does Mardi Gras have to do with Easter?

a) Mardi Gras is the first day of Lent

b) Mardi Gras is the last day to indulge before Lent.

c) Mardi Gras has nothing to do with Easter.

A. 16: Answer b) Mardi Gras is the last day to indulge before Lent.

Q. 17: What does the period of Lent symbolize?

A. 17: Jesus’s time in the wilderness.

Q. 18: Which British gangster film stars Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren?

a) The Long Easter Monday b) The Long Easter Sunday c) The Long Good Friday

A. 18: c) The Long Good Friday.

Q. 19: The word ‘quarantine’ literally means ’40 days’. When Neil Armstrong went into quarantine after returning from the Moon, which musical instrument did he take with him?

a) Penny whistle b) Banjo c) Ukulele d) Hammond organ

A. 19: He took c) a Ukulele.

Q. 20: “I am the eggman” is a lyric from which song by The Beatles?

a) Paperback Writer b) I Am The Walrus c) Hey Jude

A. 20: b) I Am The Walrus.

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Coffee Anyone?

January 30, 2013 fasab Factoids, Uncategorized, Unusual 1675, 1773, 1785, 9th century, addicted to coffee, African coffee beans, African tribes, alcohol, America, american civil war, American coffee trader, American colonies, American GIs, American servicemen, Americano, antioxidants, Arab culture, Arabian Wine, Arabica, Arabica coffee, Archives of Internal Medicine, aromas, aromatic compounds, aspirin, bags of coffee, bean belt, beans, Beethoven, Belgiun, better quality, beverage, black coffee, body, Boston, Boston Tea Party, Brazil, brew coffee, brewing, bridegroom, Cafe Au Lait, Cafe Away, caffeinated coffee, caffeine, calories, cancer and capricorn, Candy, cappuccino, Capuchin monks, Charles II, chocolate, coffee, coffee ads, coffee bars, coffee berries, coffee bombs, coffee cherries, coffee consumption, Coffee Day, coffee filter, Coffee Houses, coffee markets, coffee percolator, coffee revolt, coffee sacks, coffee tree, Colombia, Cornell University, Costa Rica, cowboys, cup of coffee, cup of Joe, dark roast coffee, David Levitsky, decaffeinated coffee, Dorothy Jones, Dresden, education, energy balls, Entertainment, espresso, espresso machine, ethopian, Ethopian shepherds, European Coffee Houses, excelso, expression of freedom, flower, food, french, French and American Revolutions, French doctor, French philosopher, future husband, George Washington, Germany, goats, Greece, green coffee beans, grounds for divorce, grows coffee, Guatemala, half a kilo, hand in marriage, Harvard School of Public Health, Hawaii, hemp, high officials, illicit coffee smugglers, Indonesia, instant coffee, International Olympic Committee, Irish coffee, Islam, Italian government, Italians, James Mason, Japan, Japanese, Japanese American, Java, Java Bean, Jim Henson, Johan Sebastian Bach, Kaffee Schnuffler, kahveci, Kenyan coffee, King Frederick of Germany, King of England, legally divorce, lethal dose, lifespan, light roast coffee, Lloyds of London, London, Margaret Hamilton, Marijuana, Maxwell House, Maxwell House Good to the last drop, Melitta Bentz, methylene chloride, Misc, Miscellaneous, Mocha, Mocha Java coffee, Muppets, new york, New York Stock Exchange, New Yorkers, Nicaraguan Margogpipe, nobility, Norway, oil, olympic games, Opera, organic solvent, painkillers, paracetamol, parents, patients, peanut butter, physicians, phytochemicals, plastic, plot, Pope Clement VIII, proclamation, prohibited substances, Prussia, psychoactive, Random, religion, rise of islam, roasted, roasting, Robusta, Roman Catholics, salty, Satori Kato, scented postage stamp, scientists, special task force, species, sperm motility, state in the US, Staten Island, sugar, supremo, sweet coffee, sweetener, sweetness, tea tax, Teddy Roosevelt, the clergy, therapeutic dose, tipping waiters, traded commodity, trees, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, tropics of cancer and capricorn, Turkey, Turkish coffee, United States, University of Cambridge, University of Sao Paulo, Venice, Voltaire, webcam, wedding, white flowers, Wicked Witch Of The West, wives, Wizard Of Oz, Women’s Petition Against Coffee, WPAC, WWII, Yemen

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will have realised that I like facts about various subjects.

One of them is food.

I have already done a post about peanut butter (click here) and one about chocolate (click here) , both everyday items that almost all of use and enjoy. ‘

Today’s post is about probably THE most loved and enjoyed drink that we use everyday.

So here we have lots and lots of things you probably never knew about you coffee.

Enjoy (with a nice cup of coffee or three perhaps).

According to legend during the 9th century Ethopian shepherds first noticed the effects of caffeine when they saw their goats appearing to become frisky and ‘dance’ after eating coffee berries.

Originally coffee was eaten.

African tribes mixed coffee berries with fat to make energy balls

Coffee has been used as a beverage for over 700 years.

The rise of Islam contributed greatly to the popularilty of coffee. The religion prohibited drinking alcohol, but coffee was considered an acceptable drink

In Turkey, the bridegroom as once required to make a vow during the wedding to always make sure to provide their wives with coffee. If they did not do so it was considered grounds for divorce.

Also in Turkey, the intended bride is required to serve coffee to her parents and future husband when he comes to ask for her hand in marriage; however, she has no say so in the outcome of the request. Tradition has it that her response is in the sweetness or lack thereof of the coffee. Sweet coffee supposedly means she is okay with the arrangement while salty means she is not.

All the coffee grown in the world grows in the bean belt which is the area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn

Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows coffee

The heavy tea tax imposed on the American colonies in 1773, which caused the ‘Boston Tea Party’, resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. Drinking coffee became an expression of freedom.

Black coffee with no sugar contains no calories.

Drinking a single cup of coffee that has been brewing for 20 minutes provides the body with 300 phytochemicals which act as antioxidants and stay in the body for up to a month.

New Yorkers drink almost seven times more coffee than other cities in the US.

Coffee is a psychoactive. And at high doses it can make you see things… It can also kill you…The lethal dose of caffeine is roughly 100 cups of coffee.

The French philosopher Voltaire is said to have drank 50 cups of coffee a day.

In 1675 Charles II, King of England issued a proclamation banning Coffee Houses. He said that they were places where people met to plot against him.

Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth, after oil.

70% of the world consumes Arabica coffee, which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drink Robusta, which is more bitter tasting but has 50% more caffeine than Arabica

Coffee grows on trees, which can grow up to 30 feet tall but commercially are cultivated to around 10 feet in height for easier picking

A coffee tree has a lifespan of about 50 to 70 years.

When it is in bloom, the coffee tree is covered with 30,000 white flowers which begin to develop into fruit after 24 – 36 hours.

A coffee tree can flower eight times in any one year – depending on rainfall.

The coffee cherries turn from yellow to orange and then bright red, 6 – 8 months after flowering.

One coffee tree yields less than half a kilo of coffee per year.

A French doctor in the 1600s suggested Cafe Au Laits for patients, inspiring people to begin adding milk to coffee.

The coffee bean is actually a seed inside a bright red berry

Coffee berries are picked, dried and stripped down until all that is left is the green bean

Once shipped the beans are roasted at around 500F, after a few minutes the bean will pop and double in size, a few minutes after that the bean will pop again which means the bean is ready

The aromas in coffee develop at the 10th minute of roasting.

Coffee increases in volume during roasting by 18.60%.

Caffeine is not the main bitter compound in coffee. Rather, the pungent perpetrators are antioxidants.

George Washington invented instant coffee. No, not him, the George Washington from Belgiun, living in Guatemala in 1906, although the invention has also been claimed by a Japanese American chemist known as Satori Kato in 1901.

Espresso is regulated by the Italian government because it is considered an essential part of their daily life

Espresso is not a particular roast, bean or blend, just the way the coffee is prepared by shooting pressurized hot water through finely ground coffee

Brewed espresso has 2.5% fat, while filtered coffee contains 0.6% fat.

It takes 40 coffee beans to make an espresso.

In 1822 the French were the first to innovate a crude espresso machine. The Italians then perfected this machine and became the first to manufacture it.

Contrary to popular belief, espresso has one-third the caffeine of a cup of coffee, simply due to serving size differences.

In 1785, the coffee revolt broke out in Prussia because coffee consumption was restricted to the nobility, the clergy and high officials.

James Mason invented the coffee percolator on December 26, 1865.

30% of coffee drinkers in US added a sweetener of some kind to their coffee, compared with 57% in UK.

Coffee sacks are usually made of hemp and weigh approximately 132 pounds when they are full of green coffee beans. It takes over 600,000 beans to fill a coffee sack.

October 1st is official “Coffee Day” in Japan.

Scientists have discovered more than 800 different aromatic compounds in coffee.

Italy now has over 200,000 coffee bars, and still growing.

The term Americano comes from American GIs during WWII who would order espresso with water to dilute the strong flavor

The term cup of Joe also comes from American servicemen in WWII who were known as big coffee drinkers

The custom of tipping waiters originated in early European Coffee Houses, in order to receive good service in that loud, dirty, hectic place you needed to Tip Big.

In the ancient Arab culture there was only one way a woman could legally divorce: If her husband didn’t provide enough coffee.

Melitta Bentz a housewife from Dresden, Germany, invented the first coffee filter in 1908.

Johan Sebastian Bach wrote an opera about a woman who was addicted to coffee.

There is a way to brew coffee with marijuana in it and it is described as producing a “dreamy” kind of coffee buzz.

In Greece and Turkey, the oldest person is always served their coffee first.

Some of the worlds most powerful businesses, including Lloyds of London and the New York Stock Exchange, started life as a coffee houses.

In the 1600s there was a controversy over whether or not Catholics could drink coffee, luckily for them Pope Clement VIII loved coffee and authorized its use.

Caffeine, which is found in coffee, increases the effect of some painkillers, especially aspirin and paracetamol.

Dorothy Jones of Boston was the first American coffee trader, In 1670 she was granted a license to sell coffee.

In Africa coffee beans are soaked in water mixed with spices and served as candy to chew.

A regular 6oz cup of coffee contains about 150 milligrams of caffeine, most physicians call this a “therapeutic dose”.

There are over 50 species of coffee world wide. Though only 2, arabica and robusta, are commonly used in commercial coffee production.

Robusta coffee beans have twice as much caffeine than Arabica beans, but our of less quality.

If you drink five to 10 cups of decaffeinated coffee, you could get as much caffeine as from one or two cups of caffeinated coffee, a study found.

To produce decaffeinated coffee the beans are steamed, so that dissolved caffeine rises to the surface, where it is washed off using an organic solvent called methylene chloride.

Coffee can actually be used to fuel a car.

At one point, Brazil had such a coffee surplus that they tried to find other uses for it, including using it to make plastic.

The world record for most coffee consumption is 82 cups of coffee in 7 hours.

Contrary to popular belief light roast coffee actually has more caffeine than dark roast coffee. The reason for this is that the longer coffee is roasted the more caffeine cooked out of the bean.

An expert in preparing Turkish coffee is known as a “kahveci”.

The Nicaraguan Margogpipe is the largest of all coffee beans.

King Frederick of Germany created a special task force to search out illicit coffee smugglers. The task force was known as the Kaffee Schnuffler. The king believed that soldiers who drank coffee were not dependable.

Both the French and American Revolutions were planned in coffee houses.

‘Excelso’ or ‘supremo’ do not mean a better quality of coffee when used to describe coffee beans, it refers to the size of the coffee bean.

Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets got his start doing coffee ads.

One the largest misconception in the U.S. today about coffee is that Mocha Java coffee is a chocolaty beverage. In fact there is no chocolate in the Mocha or Java bean at all. Mocha is the name of the largest port in Yemen, here is where all of the African coffee beans are traded and transported. Java is the name of an island in Indonesia where the Java Bean comes from. Both coffees are a dark bean and provide a very rich and bold coffee, when you mix the two together you get Mocha Java coffee.

Coffee at one stage in its life or another provides a living to more than 100 million people.

During World War II there was a coffee drinking competition between the branches of the military. The Marines claimed to drink the most – twenty cups a day.

Coffee was so scarce in Germany that during WWII “coffee bombs” or bags of coffee were dropped from planes to turn the people against their government.

In Staten Island, there’s a restaurant owner that drinks fifty cups of coffee a day.

The actress who played the Wicked Witch Of The West in the Wizard Of Oz, Margaret Hamilton, was promoting Maxwell House in the 1970’s.

In December 2001 Brazil produced a scented postage stamp to promote its coffee – the smell should last between 3 and 5 years.

No matter what people tell you, caffeine cannot help you sober up.

The first webcam was invented at The University of Cambridge to let people know if the coffee pot was full or not.

The Japanese believe that bathing in coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp will reduce wrinkles and beautify the skin and there is a spa in Japan that lets you bathe in coffee, tea, or wine. I wouldn’t drink it though…

Before coffee caught on in the US in the 1700s, beer was breakfast drink of choice. Difficult choice!

Irish coffee was actually invented to warm up cold American plane passengers leaving from Ireland.

On May 11, 1926, the slogan “Maxwell House Good to the last drop” was trademark registered.

There is a tourist agency for people wanting to take coffee vacations called Cafe Away.

Norway drinks the most coffee per person. The United States is ranked number 12.

Teddy Roosevelt is and was the greatest American coffee drinker, consuming a gallon a day. But you probably shouldn’t attempt to do that.

The name cappuccino comes from: the resemblance of the drink to the clothing of the Capuchin monks.

A study conducted at the University of Sao Paulo found that sperm motility was markedly higher in coffee drinkers versus non coffee-drinkers. And it turns out that it doesn’t matter whether you drink one or ten cups a day: The only detectable difference was found between coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers.

Beethoven counted the number of coffee beans he used to make his coffee and insisted on 60 beans per cup.

During the American Civil War soldiers who were craving coffee and couldn’t get it tried roasting sweet potatoes and corn to make a beverage similar to coffee. It obviously didn’t become a popular choice.

In 1674 a group of London women formed a group called WPAC (Women’s Petition Against Coffee). They didn’t like the amount of time their husbands spent in coffee houses rather than being home where they belonged.

According to David Levitsky, PhD, professor of nutritional science at Cornell University, “Caffeine decreases the rate at which the stomach dumps its contents into the duodenum – a part of the small intestine where digestion takes place – and also increases metabolic rate.” so sipping a cup post-meal could, in small part, help promote a healthy weight.

Water is the only beverage more popular than coffee.

Coffee contains over 1200 chemicals and over half of those are responsible for creating its flavor.

The average coffee drinker consumes 3 cups of coffee per day.

Three countries consume 65% of the world’s coffee: America, France, and Germany.

Coffee grounds sprinkled on the ground around plants and the garden will stop snails and slugs from eating the plants.

Kenyan coffees are graded as ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. ‘AA’ is the best coffee. In Costa Rica, coffees are graded as ‘Strictly Hard Bean’, ‘Good Hard Bean’, ‘Hard Bean’, ‘Medium Hard Bean’, ‘High Grown Atlantic’, ‘Medium Grown Atlantic’, and ‘Low Grown Atlantic’. Those coffee beans from Colombia are labelled as ‘Supremo’, ‘Excelso’, ‘Extra’ and the lowest grade, ‘Pasilla’.

In 1763, there were over 200 coffee shops in Venice.

Caffeine is on the International Olympic Committee list of prohibited substances. Athletes who test positive for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per millilitre of urine may be banned from the Olympic Games. This level may be reached after drinking about 5 cups of coffee.

Coffee was first known in Europe as Arabian Wine.

It was said that cowboys made their coffee by putting ground coffee into a sock (hopefully a clean one) and immersed it in water heated over a camp fire. When ready, they would pour the coffee into tin cups and drink it.

A study from the Harvard School of Public Health, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that women who regularly drink fully caffeinated coffee have a 20% lower risk of depression than non-coffee drinkers. The study, which followed a group of women for 10 years, found that as more coffee was consumed (up to six cups per day), the likelihood of depression decreased.

There are two major coffee markets in the world. One is in London, which deals with the buying of Robusta coffee. The other is the ‘C’ contract market, known as Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (CSCE), which is in New York. It handles the trade of Arabica coffee. The ‘C’ market is also a futures market.

Finally, can you see the man?

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