Many of us have gotten into the habit of taking away coffee from a nearby cafe at lunch hour, but what do we need to know about how it really impacts us aside from being a caffeine fix? Let’s take a Deep Dive.

🗺️ The first reliable records of coffee consumption in its current form can be traced back to Yemen during the 15th century, specifically within the Sufi religious sites.

☕ Currently, more than 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide daily.

🧬 Studies have shown that Asians who are predisposed to Parkinson’s disease can reduce their risk of the condition with caffeine.

❓However, there are major unsolved environmental and ethical issues in the coffee supply chain.

3 A coffee plant matures and bears fruit within 3 to 4 years, after which the process of harvesting, fermenting, milling, grading, roasting and others can begin.

5 Coffee is grown in more than 70 countries, but 75% of the world’s harvest comes from the top five producing countries: Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Ethiopia.

140 The amount of water it takes to produce the beans needed for one cup of your favourite beverage is about 140 litres.

110 One study found that a single paper coffee cup served with a paper sleeve is associated with about 110g of CO2 emissions.

Coffee is so deeply rooted in cultures that it has been localised into various languages. What does the term “coffee money” refer to in certain parts of Southeast Asia? 

A. A slang for bribe
B. Someone picking up the coffee tab
C. An investment budget into coffee stocks

Scroll to the bottom for the answer.

Despite the unaddressed ethical issues surrounding the world’s most expensive coffee, kopi luwak is still made from the poop of Indonesia’s civet cats, which ingests the coffee cherries and defecates the beans. There’s an even rarer coffee, the black ivory coffee originating in Thailand made from elephant dung.

💢 Robusta vs Arabica. The majority of the world’s coffee consumption is derived from only two varieties. The Robusta bean is cheaper with a higher caffeine content (almost two times) than the Arabica bean. 

🌳 Shady business. Shade-grown coffee beans—despite having slower ripening times and lower yields—typically benefit the environment more than sun-grown coffee.

🧪 Lab-spresso. To counter the massive deforestation associated with growing coffee, a research lab in Finland has successfully produced coffee cells in a bioreactor through cellular agriculture.

🫘 Grounds for change. Despite Fairtrade coffee and similar ethical initiatives enhancing oversight of coffee industry labour conditions, the Fairtrade Foundation still cannot guarantee that every worker receives a living wage.

A coffee farmer in Kenya explains the process of growing and producing high-quality beans, and the resulting high prices of single-origin coffee beans.

The average prices for the two main types of coffee beans have fluctuated over the years, with Arabica beans consistently costing more than Robusta beans.

That caffeine kick you experience isn’t limited to just us humans. Scientists have found that bees crave that buzz too and it has added benefits of improving their memory and sociability. 

The answer to the quiz is A (A slang for bribe).