Happy National Coffee Day! Where does coffee come from? Learn about your morning drink

The rich, aromatic beverage you can’t live without every morning has a day dedicated to it. Happy National Coffee Day , coffee lovers.

Every day is coffee day for some people, but National Coffee Day percolates every Sept. 29.

This popular morning drink is essential for many people. It creates alertness due to its caffeine content, and the possibilities to make the perfect coffee are endless. Pumpkin spice lattes , caramel macchiatos, affogatos, you name it.

Let’s learn more about our morning Joe. Here’s what to know about coffee and its origins.

What is coffee, anyway?

Coffee might be brewed from roasted beans, but it actually begins as a fruit before it ends up in your favorite mug.

The coffee plant, known as the Coffea plant according to the National Coffee Association , blooms with flowers on the coffee tree, then grows into ripe coffee cherries before being harvested into beans. Flowers, green cherries, and ripe cherries grow simultaneously on coffee trees due to their continuous growth cycle.

The coffee tree grows well in rich soil and thrives in shaded areas with ample rain, mild temperatures and shaded sun, according to the NCA. Most commercially grown coffee can be found in Equatorial areas known as “The Bean Belt”.

Where does coffee come from?

The discovery of coffee has no clear answer. But its heritage can be traced back to forests in Ethiopia by a legendary goat herder named Kaldi, according to the National Coffee Association .

Kaldi’s goats would eat the cherries and notice they wouldn’t sleep. With this astounding discovery, Kaldi shared this discovery with an abbot from a monastery, who eventually shared this drink with other monks with the purpose of staying awake for evening prayers.

Soon, these coffee cherries spread east, reaching the Arabian Peninsula. This began coffee cultivation and trade by the 15th century, leading to the growth of coffee plants in Yemen.

How are coffee beans harvested?

Coffee cherries are stripped from their trees and picked selectively from their peak ripeness.

Depending on where the cherries are harvested, the cherries are processed in two different ways.

• The first way is the dry method , which is an age-old method where the cherries are left to dry out in the sun.
• The second way is the wet method , where the cherries are pulsed to separate the bean from the pulp and separated by their ripeness.

Then, the beans, known as green coffee, are dried and milled before being exported.

Finally, the beans are roasted and ground before being brewed into the perfect cup of coffee.

What are the different kinds of coffee?

We are not talking about if the roast is light or dark.

The Coffea plant has around 6,000 species, and its coffee trees have around 25 to 100 species, according to the National Coffee Association.

The most commonly grown species are called Robusta and Arabica—Arabica supplies 70% of the world’s coffee production, and Robusta takes the other 30%.

How much coffee is consumed in the U.S. every year?

According to Balance Coffee , approximately 400 million cups of coffee are consumed every day in the United States. Though it’s a lot, it’s not surprising, is it?

Every year, Americans spend billions of dollars on coffee and drink an average of 146 billion cups a year. The average American drinks three cups of coffee a day, or about 1,100 cups per year. So, as you can tell, the U.S. is the country that consumes the most coffee in the world in terms of volume.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Happy National Coffee Day! Where does coffee come from? Learn about your morning drink