Things about coffee

For centuries, Arabia controlled the coffee industry until (as legend has it) a pilgrim from Mecca smuggled beans back to India and began an agricultural revolution.
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The Dutch also managed to get a plant back to Amsterdam and to their colonies in Indonesia, so Europe soon had new cheaper sources for their beans.
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Coffee is now grown in more than 70 countries and is the second most commonly traded commodity in the world after oil.
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The most expensive coffee in the world comes from the droppings of the Asian palm civet, a small catlike animal that loves to eat coffee cherries.
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The cherries only partially digest and the seeds are excreted intact.
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The droppings are washed and the beans, sold as Kopi Luwak, can cost hundreds of dollars per pound.
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The partial digestion process is supposed to add a wonderful musky flavour.
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But Does coffee wake you up?
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Coffee does not make you alert.
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If you are a regular drinker of coffee, drinking it just eases the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal.
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So, if you never drink coffee you're probably more alert than a regular drinker who has just knocked back a double espresso.
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The effects of caffeine usually last between two and three hours, although that can extend to four or five hours depending upon an individual's sensitivity and metabolism.
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And is it stronger than tea?
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A cup of filter coffee contains about three times as much caffeine as a cup of tea, although dry tea leaves do contain a higher proportion of caffeine by weight than coffee beans.
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The higher the temperature of the water, the greater the caffeine extracted from beans or leaves.
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An average 30ml espresso contains about the same amount of caffeine as a 150ml cup of PG Tips.
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So a single-shot cappuccino or latte won't give you much more of a caffeine hit than a cuppa.
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A cup of instant coffee, on the other hand, contains only around half the caffeine of a filter coffee.
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So there you have it
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Enjoy your coffee or tea and take a smile with you into the week