Top 10 Coffee Producing Countries
The top ten of coffee producing countries:
1. Brazil
2. Colombia
3. Indonesia
4. Vietnam
5. Mexico
6. Ethiopia
7. India
8. Guatemala
9. Ivory Coast
10. Uganda
If you look at those countries on the map you see that they form some kind of belt roughly bounded by the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. This belt is called the bean belt.
You probably never heard of Starbucks before the 1990s, but the company has actually been around longer than that. Starbucks opened their first store way back in 1971 in Seattle. The name is nautical in nature. It was taken from Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. Moby Dick is a classic about the whaling industry in the 19th century. It is a rather appropriate name, since the coffees that Starbucks served were imported from around the world.
Then in 1982, Howard Schultz joined the Starbucks organization and while he was on a trip to Italy, he discovered the popularity of the espresso bars and decided that the idea had potential for the Starbucks Company. The rest, as they say, is history.
During the 1990s, Starbucks spread out across the United States as well as into the rest of the coffee-drinking world and soon became a publicly traded company. Today there are more than 6,000 Starbucks stores in more than 30 countries around the world, and they haven't stopped expanding.
Starbucks now offers their ground coffee beans by mail order and it probably won't be long before you will be able to purchase t-shirts and mugs with the Starbucks logo by mail as well. These items are not yet available by mail order, but they likely will be in the near future.
You don't have to look far to find a Starbucks store. They seem to keep popping up everywhere. There's a good reason…or several good reasons. First, the Starbucks organization insists that diversity really is the spice of life. The organization also insists that the very highest of standards be applied to purchasing, roasting, and delivery of every single cup of coffee that is sold. It's a philosophy that works!
Every time you turn around, another person is deciding to give up caffeine. While there are some who are genuinely allergic to it, the majority do it because of peer pressure. Everywhere you look you will discover articles about how terrible caffeine is. "Time to give up caffeine" is what newly expecting women listen to, usually right after they've announced their pregnancy. The primary instruction offered to someone who wants to "get healthy" is to give up caffeine. Giving up caffeine is the first sign that someone is trying to get healthy. But the truth is that caffeine can have some benefits for your health as well. It's true! Here are some of the important benefits of caffeine.
Harvard University a short while ago released a study that confirmed adult men who consumed four or more cups of coffee a day were at a much lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease. They seem to think that it is because caffeine improves the activity of the dopamine molecules in your brain. It could also be that because caffeine suppresses adenosine receptors, the brain could be more unlikely to develop amyloid-beta. That is a brain plaque that has been linked to Alzheimer's disease. There aren't studies that can say definitively whether or not caffeine can make you smarter (that we could find anyway) but it is nice to know that it might be able to reduce your risk of contracting Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases.
Most science says that caffeine increases the body's blood pressure. This shows that too much caffeine consumption could put you at higher risk for heart disease and failure. There are studies, however, that say the alternative is true. Brooklyn College commissioned research that showed men who ingested a few cups of coffee each day would be less likely to develop heart issues. The basic idea is that, if you don't already suffer from hypertension then caffeine should not cause the problem to happen. If you do have problems with cardiovascular illnesses, avoiding caffeine is the way to go.
There are generally some people who feel caffeine will help you with your exercise routines. If you need a muscle fiber to contract, your body needs to release calcium. Adenosine can help control that activity. Caffeine obstructs the brain's adenosine receptors. While that sounds counterproductive the truth is that when the adenosine receptors are blocked, the brain sets off electrical impulses. The electro-mechanical impulses make one's body release bursts of calcium. Your muscles need calcium for workouts and because extra calcium gets released, your workouts are then more effective.
Obviously if you want caffeine to make you better, it needs to be ingested in small amounts. While caffeine may help you remain healthy and reduce the risk of disease, that isn't justification to go hog wild with the stuff. The simple fact is that a lot of caffeine truly is bad for you. When absorbed in moderation, however, the stuff will help you improve your health. Don't you wish to lessen your possibility of heart disease? Don't you wish to defend against Parkinson's disease? Don't you need your workouts to be as successful as possible? Caffeine might help with all that's long as you don't over do it.
Now, when your feet first touch the floor in the morning and you are groggily making your way to the coffee pot, you probably aren't thinking about where coffee came from or who discovered the magic stuff. But the origins of coffee are really rather interesting, and after you have finished that first cup, you might like to know how it happened that you have a cup of coffee to get your day started off right. There are several versions of how coffee was discovered.
One story is that a sheep herder from Caffa Ethopia named Kaldi noticed that when his sheep ate red "cherries" from a certain plant, they became very active. The sheep would have been bouncing off the walls, had there been walls. The sheep herder decided to try the "cherries" himself and soon he was as hyper as his herd of sheep. A monk came along and scolded Kaldi for "partaking of the devil's fruit," but then the monks discovered that the red "cherries" helped them to stay awake while they were saying prayers.
This isn't the only story about the origin of coffee, though. There is another story about an Arabian, Omar, who was banished to the desert along with his followers to "die from starvation." There was nothing to eat in the desert, and Omar and his followers were sure to die. Then, in an act of desperation, Omar ordered his followers to boil the fruit from an unknown plant and eat it. The fruit and the broth saved their lives and it was considered a miracle from God. The residents of the nearest town, Mocha, were awed by the miracle, and the plant and the beverage were named Mocha to honor the event.
Take your pick…both stories are great. Originally the coffee plant grew in Ethiopia (Ethopia), but once it was transplanted to Arabia, it was claimed by them.
Coffee is a beverage in every country in the world. Granted, the coffees of different countries vary in taste (and strength), but every country has coffee of some kind. The history of coffee is long and storied, and coffee is called by many names in many lands. The Arab traders of yesteryear called it Gahwah. The Spice Islands' name for it was Java. Ancient Portuguese explorers called it café. That word is often used to mean a
gathering place in many countries now. It stands to reason -- coffee is most often a shared experience between friends.
Scientists believe that coffee was born in Ethiopia and was a food rather than a beverage in the beginning. Coffee was actually used as a replacement for wine. The drinking of wine was (and is) forbidden by Islamic law. Coffee was first used in religious ceremonies in place of wine and the plants were considered so valuable that removing even one was punishable by death. (I've been dying for a cup of coffee before, but that
seems a little extreme. 
Turks pulverized coffee beans and mixed them with water and spices like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom back in the thirteenth century to make what we call Turkish coffee. It is believed that Venetian traders may have smuggled coffee plants out of the East and into Italy.
Over the centuries we have learned a lot about coffee, especially how important it is to store it in airtight containers. Air is the biggest thief of coffee flavor, whether the beans are whole or ground. Coffee should always be stored in an airtight container in a cool dark place but never in a refrigerator. Correct storage is one of the major secrets of producing a great cup of coffee with every brewing.
Tea was the drink of choice for most queens of old, while mead was the choice of kings. It wasn't until early in the 15th century that coffee was even a choice in most of the civilized countries of the world. But once coffee became a choice, it quickly became first choice.
The next time you are sipping a cup of coffee, you can remember that you are in very good company. Almost every American president has been a coffee drinker. The list of coffee lovers includes both the famous and the infamous.
Coffee is the most served beverage in America today. It is served at breakfast and dinner tables in homes all across this great country as well as in roadside cafes, the fanciest of restaurants, and in the chambers of judges and the offices of presidents. Those who do not drink coffee are a decided minority.
Today, the kings and queens of commerce are almost all coffee drinkers. Coffee has been hailed as a healthy drink, and it has suffered slings and arrows as a detriment to our health. It all depends on what "study" is being quoted. And yet, we still drink our coffee.
Fortunes have been made (and lost) in the coffee industry. Coffee futures are traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Coffee is a beverage that is near and dear to the hearts of both the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots. Starting a day with a cup of coffee is practically a universal ritual in America and around the world.
The lowly coffee bean has a lot of power! It is only right that we speak about kings and queens and coffee beans.
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