Coffee info from around the world

Did you know that coffee beans from around the world are graded in various ways? Kenya coffees are graded as A, B and C. Kenya AA is the best coffee from that region. 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.  You would find Costa Rica Reserve to be an excellent choice of Costa Rican coffees. Coffee beans from Colombia are labeled as "Supremo," such as our La Valle Verde, "Excelso", "Extra" with the lowest grade being "Pasilla". How do you take your coffee? The Italians drink their espresso with sugar, the Germans and Swiss enjoy it with equal parts of hot chocolate, the Mexicans add a nit of cinnamon and the Belgians stir in some chocolate. Moroccans drink their coffee with peppercorns and the Ethiopians with a pinch of salt throw in. Coffee drinkers in the Middle East will sometimes add cardamom and spices and whipped cream topping is the favorite among Austrian coffee drinkers. Visit Egypt and you will find they are extremely fond of pure and strong coffee. On a daily basis they drink it straight with no sugar, milk or cream.  It is custom to serve unsweetened coffee to mourners and sweetened coffee at weddings.  In Africa they don’t even necessarily always take the time to brew coffee… they eat raw coffee beans, soaked in water and spices which are then chewed like candy as an on the go snack! Japan is now the third largest consumer of coffee. For thousands of years they have been using coffee grounds to improve their skin, and reduce wrinkles, by bathing in grounds that were fermented with pineapple pulp. In Greece and Turkey, it is the custom that out of respect, the eldest is served coffee first. The Turks have promised to serve their wives coffee every morning in their wedding vows.  If they were to not serve their wife coffee in the morning, it is grounds for divorce! Who invented the espresso machine? The French were the first to innovate a crude espresso machine. The Italians then perfected this machine by combining the beauty of gourmet espresso with the beauty of technology and became the first to manufacture it. Today’s Italians do not drink espresso during meal times as it is considered to be a separate event and is given its own honored and respected time. So, who drinks the most coffee you wonder? In the last three centuries, 90% of all people living in the Western world have switched from tea to coffee. The three biggest coffee drinkers in the world are the Americans, the French and the Germans. They consume some 65% of the total world's consumption of coffee!  Although coffee has been around for over 11 centuries and is currently the most widely consumed beverage in the world, Cappuccino has become the popular choice of exotic coffee lovers everywhere. So now we have some insight as to how coffee is enjoyed throughout the world, which makes me wonder…how do you like your coffee? Did you enjoy this article? Don't forget to book mark this page on Delicious! Visit www.coffeeam.com to visit our online store. Become a CoffeeAM facebook fan and receive coupon codes, freebies and event information!