The interesting facts you might not know about coffee

Around the world, coffee production provides a livelihood for 25 million people. For them, coffee is a reason to get up in the morning while, for everyone else, it is the reason they can get up in the morning. Over two billion cups of coffee are drunk every single day, which raises the question of how the other five billion people manage to get anything done.

Here are the things you might not have known about the tasty brown drink.

The word ‘coffee’ has Arabic origins

The word ‘coffee’ comes from the Arabic word “qahwah”, which originally referred to a type of wine. There are a number of theories among linguists about the word’s current association with coffee.

Many believe that like wine, caffeine has an intoxicating effect, but qahwah can also be traced to the Arabic word quwwa, which means power or energy, or qaha which translates to ‘lacking hunger’ and could reference coffee as an appetite suppressant. Another theory is that it originates from Kaffa, a kingdom in medieval Ethiopia from where the coffee plant was first exported to Arabia.

Coffee beans are not really beans

The coffee plant grows berrie all along its branches and, once ripe and red, they are picked and their seeds are removed. It is these seeds that we incorrectly call coffee beans.

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian farmer called Kaldi, who noticed his goats behaving strangely after eating berries from a coffee plant.

Coffee can keep you young

It has been suggested that the drink offers a range of anti-ageing benefits, including lowering the risk of cirrhosis, diabetes and dementia. It also contains antioxidants, which can prevent cell damage and help reduce wrinkles.

Perhaps with this in mind, Japan has opened a spa where you can bathe in the brown stuff. The resort, in Hakone, offers guests the chance take a dip in a hot tub full of coffee; a welcome opportunity to those who have spent too long in the spa’s other attraction, a hot tub full of red wine.

Coffee has always been an important way of socializing

Public coffee houses, usually associated with Sufism, first gained popularity in the 16th century. The first coffee houses opened in Cairo, Egypt, around an important religious university and slowly spread throughout the region.

People would visit these venues to drink coffee, listen to music, play chess and talk about current affairs and religion.

Source Internet

5 non-alcoholic drinks you should try in China

Chinese food is famous throughout the world, especially wherever there is a Chinatown. Chinese drinks, on the other hand, less so. However, China does indeed have a rich beverage culture of its own, with all the color, variety and flavor you find in Chinese cooking. Here are some of the best Chinese drinks that you will find as mainstays in bars and fridges all across China.

Sweet soy milk

When it comes to soft drink choices, China has more than just tea. Another favorite beverage is sweetened soy milk, a drink that can be appreciated either hot or cold. The hot version is perfect for a classic Shanghainese breakfast of youtiao, or dough sticks, which were made perfectly to be dipped into the milk upon each bite. The chilled version can be found in most convenience stores across the country, but tastes best in the elusive glass bottles found in selected hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

Wang Lao Ji tea 

Wang Lao Ji tea commonly referred to by expats simply as “the tea in the red cans”, this is one of the most popular brands of tea. It goes especially well with spicy food and, as is common in Chinese tea brands, contains traditional Chinese medicine, so you can be sure you are drinking healthy.

Salt Soda Water

Before Coca Cola arrived on China’s shore and inevitably became the most ubiquitous soft drink in the country, salt soda water was the fizzy refreshment of choice for the Chinese, especially in Shanghai. It is still available pretty much everywhere, letting you enjoy the notes of mint and lemon that help balance out the sugary carbonation.

Cheese Tea

Cheese tea, though hard to imagine, is growing in popularity across China and elsewhere. It is made with a cheese powder that froths up to the top of the drink and acts as a sort of salty whipped cream. The cheese tea concept was born at milk tea chain Happy Lemon but has been adopted by increasingly more chains.

Pearl Milk Tea

One of the drinks from China that actually has broken through to other markets across the globe, pearl milk (often known as “bubble”) tea is hugely popular among young people. It is a combination of herbal or fruit infused juice full of tiny, chewy “bubbles” that are in fact made from tapioca.

Read more: The most popular noodle dishes to try in China before leaving

Source Internet