If you’re like most Americans, you start your day with a cup of coffee. But what if one day that morning cup of joe ceased to exist? In time for National Coffee Day on Sept. 29, pour yourself a cup and read on for some fascinating facts you may not know about Americans’ favorite beverage, including the real possibility of it going extinct.
Coffee’s place in American iconography
Good to the last drop. The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup. America runs on Dunkin’. What do these commonly heard phrases all have in common? They are the advertising slogans for some of America’s biggest coffee brands — Maxwell House, Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts, respectively.
Same with the term coffee achievers. It was a 1980s National Coffee Association slogan. They created it to make coffee appear more appealing and relevant to the younger generation by associating it with productivity, creativity and success.
Even the saying, “Wake up and smell the coffee” is attributed to a long-ago Nescafé advertising campaign. These days, you take this saying to mean that you should pay attention to what is happening around you.
Taking a break from work? You’re likely taking a coffee break. Meeting friends for coffee and gossip? You’re having a coffee klatch. Coffee is so tied into American culture it has even worked its way into the vernacular.
Facts and figures about coffee
Coffee is so popular in the United States that an article in The Journal of Nutrition said that 75% of American adults drink coffee. That amounts to 154 million adults. Of that group, 49% drink it daily.
Only the European Union imports more coffee than the United States — 47.5 million bags to the EU versus 24.5 million bags to the U.S. The typical bag of coffee beans is approximately 132 pounds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So, that amounts to 3.2 billion pounds of coffee imported into America each year.
The great coffee debate
What do many people fight about when it comes to coffee? Not about if you should drink it or not or whether caffeine is bad for you or if it isn’t. No, what they argue about are the facts about how to brew coffee and how to drink it.
There is significant debate over the best way to brew coffee. People have strong opinions on methods such as drip, French press, espresso, pour-over and cold brew. There are even internet memes about Keurig coffee machines that suggest making a cup of coffee using single-serve K-cups isn’t a real cup of joe.
Also with regards to brewing, the coffee snobbery can reach new heights. Some insist that only freshly ground beans will do. Others prefer the convenience of pre-ground coffee. And don’t even get these folks started on flavored coffee like hazelnut or raspberry. Quelle horreur!
Now as far as how you take your coffee, many coffee snobs insist it is black coffee or nothing. Others prefer cream and sugar. Still, others want only the sweetest Starbucks coffee drinks. In reality, those coffee drinks are more akin to a dessert drink than a brew you might have with breakfast.
Everyone loves coffee on National Coffee Day
National Coffee Day is one of dozens of national food holidays that occur each year. It happens annually on Sept. 29 in the United States. Then, on Oct. 1, it is International Coffee Day, which is celebrated globally. Both offer opportunities for caffeine lovers to find a free cup of coffee or another freebie related to coffee.
For instance, one year Krispy Kreme offered a free cup of coffee and a free glazed doughnut. LaMar’s Donuts, which has two dozen locations in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, once gave away a free coffee mug to patrons who visited on National Coffee Day. And you can usually expect Cumberland Farms, the New England-based convenience store, to have some sort of free coffee offer on its social media feeds.
Coffee’s future
There are a few facts about coffee you may not know that are tied to the coffee industry’s future. One is that coffee is technically a fruit. Yes, the fruit is called a coffee bean but those beans grow on a bush. The beans themselves lie inside something called the coffee cherry.
It’s important to understand this distinction about coffee. That’s because, like other agricultural crops, climate change is affecting where coffee grows and how much coffee can be harvested in hotter, wetter weather.
Speaking of where it grows, the USDA says that Colombia is the third-largest coffee producer in the world behind Brazil and Vietnam. Some of these locations have been experiencing more rainy days than in the past and that weather has contributed to a lower coffee output. With the atmosphere getting hotter and more humid — and therefore more rain showers — it is entirely possible that, at some point in the future, you will no longer be able to grow coffee in these places.
Some of that devastation is already happening, according to an article published in Science: “Now, a new pair of studies says up to 60% of these wild coffee species could go extinct, some in the next 10 to 20 years, thanks to deforestation, human settlement and climate change.” That same article noted that “climate change could cut the population of wild arabica in half by 2080.” Arabica coffee accounts for nearly two-thirds of the coffee people drink.
Final thoughts on coffee facts
Should coffee ever go extinct, the world will not end up with caffeine withdrawal. Plenty of other products have caffeine in them. This includes soft drinks plus black and green tea — including sweet tea.
Leah Ingram has covered national food holidays and their related freebies for more than a decade. You can read her money-saving advice on her blog at Real Sophisticated Consumer.