• Coffee is grown in 53 countries around the world. Every single one of those countries lies along the equator between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

• Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world. Vietnam is the second largest coffee producer in the world.

• Most robusta coffee bought on the open market is destined for use in instant or powdered coffee. Another percentage of it will be blended with Arabica coffee beans for tinned coffee.

• Germany is the world’s second largest coffee consumer in the world. Germans use about 16 pounds of coffee per person per year.

• Finland consumes more than 20 million cups of coffee per day, making it the largest per capita consumer of coffee in the world.

• The United States imports more coffee than any other country in the world, however, other countries drink more coffee per capita.

• One acre of coffee trees can produce about a ton of coffee beans every two years. Most coffee is grown on small farms with less than an acre of trees.

• There are about 7 million tons of green coffee beans produced worldwide each year.

• Most coffee farmers still pick every coffee cherry by hand. Many bring the coffee cherries to a mill to be processed, but many still spread the cherries to dry and process it on their own.

• The only US grown coffee is grown in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The rest of the country doesn’t have the climate for it. Puerto Rican and Hawaiian coffees are among the most expensive in the world.

• Until the late 1800s, most people bought green coffee beans and roasted them at home in a frying pan over an open fire. The United States was the first country to turn to roasted coffee. In many European countries, it was still common to roast at home as late as the 1940s.

• Coffee is the second most-traded commodity on the market. The most traded commodity on the market is oil.

• Most coffee farmers get less than 25 cents a pound for their coffee.

• The value of the coffee in a typical Starbucks coffee is about 6 cents.

In a few hours, I’ll be leaving for Boone, NC. I’ll try and get the photos together with more thoughts on Wednesday.