Having been around for over 2800 years, coffee has a quirky history and some funny incidents. Let’s take a look at some funky and funk coffee trivia.

Don’t ever accept a cup-o-joe from a cowboy before looking at his socks. “Cowboy Coffee” is using a clean sock. Cowboys put the grounds in their socks, put the sock in cold water, and brewed it over the campfire.

Olympic athletes are not allowed to drink any caffeinated substance during the games. Athletes who test positive for caffeine are banned from the games. (It only takes about 5 cups of coffee to get banned).

The biggest coffee consumers in the world are Americans, French, Germans, and following close behind are the Japanese.

Coffee was the beverage of infidels, being a stimulating, pleasurable beverage. Pope Clement VII developed a taste for the stuff and decided that it wasn’t so sinful after all. The Pope conveniently lifted the ban (he certainly didn’t want to be considered an infidel) allowing Christians to enjoy the one-time evil beverage.

Frederick the Great punished anyone in his army caught drinking a cup of coffee. He had a special forces unit called the Kaffee Schnufflers (coffee sniffers) to find and punish anyone with the illicit beverage.

Balzac, the famous 19th century French writer is rumored to have drank 40 cups of coffee per day! That’s no big deal, though, since Voltaire dank up to 50 cups/day. (I’d hate to see their coffee bill).

Coffee, though consumed worldwide, has countless preparations and rituals (depending on the culture). Let’s take a look at the most common coffee combos from around the world.

• Italians – sugar
• Germans and Swiss – hot chocolate
• Mexicans – cinnamon
• Belgians – chocolate
• Moroccans – peppercorns
• Ethiopians – salt
• Middle East – cardamom and spices
• Austrians – whipped cream
• Egyptians – black
• Bedouins – ginger or cardamom