International Coffee Day is an occasion that is used to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage, with events now occurring in places across the world.
The first official date was 1 October 2015, as agreed by the International Coffee Organization and was launched in Milan. This day is also used to promote fair trade coffee and to raise awareness for the plight of the coffee growers.
Coffee in the morning; coffee and a catch up with old friends; we drink coffee morning, day and night with friends, business associates and lovers.
You have only to walk down the nearest high street and note the number of coffee chains to realize the extent of our love affair with our favorite caffeinated beverage.
Whether you favor espresso, americanos, lattes or cappuccinos; iced, decaf, instant or filter – Coffee Day is the day to savor and appreciate your beverage.
Coffee Day also marks the long history of the drink: the properties of coffee beans are thought to have first been discovered in Ethiopia. The beans are actually the pits found in the coffee berry or cherry.
The story goes that a 9th century goat herder noticed their stimulating effects on his goats and began experimenting.
Coffee drinking was originally popularized in the Arab world from around the 15th century spreading across Asia then to Italy and across Europe and to the America – and finally to your coffee cup.
There is nothing like a cup of freshly brewed coffee in the morning to jump-start the day. People have been drinking the beverage since the 9th century. Here are some facts about coffee:
- Coffee is the world’s 2nd largest traded commodity
- Europe consumes more coffee than America
- Finland is the world’s most caffeinated country
- Coffee beans come in three colors: red, yellow or green – before they are roasted
- Brazil is the biggest grower of coffee in the world, followed by Vietnam
- Having three or four cups of coffee a day help prolong life, reduces heart disease, type 2 diabetics and Parkinson.
So when you drink your cup of coffee today, inhale its aroma, taste its dark and full-bodied flavor, think about its story – but most of all enjoy.
