National Coffee Day: Five Facts About Your Cup of Joe

Millions of people around the world start their day with a hot cup of coffee, and since today is National Coffee Day, a lot of those people are celebrating with a free cup of joe from places like 7-Eleven and Krispy Kreme. But if you’ve already had your free coffee fix for the day, you can still enjoy a few free facts about your favorite beverage.

Here are five coffee facts for National Coffee Day:

1. Coffee can fight depression: In a new study, coffee was shown to be an effective anti-depressant for women. Women who had two or three cups of coffee a day were 15% less likely to suffer from depression.
2. Coffee has been consumed since the 9th century: According to Coffeefacts.com, the coffee bean traveled a long way to find your coffee cup. Coffee was first consumed in Ethiopia in the 9th century when farmers noticed how jumpy goats became after eating coffee tree leaves. It then spread to Egypt and Yemen, and by the 15th century it was in Northern Africa, Persia, and Turkey. The Muslim world brought it to the Italians, who shared it with the rest of Europe.
3. Finland drinks the most coffee per capita: A energy consumption report by Earth Trends showed that a Finland drank 26 pounds of coffee per capita in 2008. The United States isn’t even in the top 10. Americans only consume 9 pounds of coffee per person every year.
4. The United States consumes the most coffee per year: Americans may not be able to compete with the fins in a head-to-head consumption battle, but country-to-country, no one can compete with the U.S. of A. Coffee Statistics reports that American’s consume 400 million cups of coffee a day, or 146 billion cups per year.
5. Coffee houses are where revolutions begin: CocoaJava reports that both the American Revolution and the French Revolution started at a coffee house. Many people still consider the coffee house the center of social interaction.

How much do you know your coffee trivia? Are you celebrating National Coffee Day?