HOW MANY BEANS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE AN ESPRESSO?
Around 45 coffee beans are needed to make a typical shot of espresso or around 18g (0.6oz) of dry ground coffee. The average coffee bush produces just less than 1kg (2.2lb) per year, or around 50 cups of espresso.
THE ROLE OF FAIRTRADE COFFEE
Fairtrade coffee is coffee certified by the Fairtrade organization to its particular standards. These include paying a fair price to the coffee farmer and ensuring that unwelcome practices such as child or forced labor have no place on a coffee farm. It doesn’t guarantee quality and there’s a case that many farmers producing higher-quality coffees earn more than the Fairtrade minimum.
CAFFEINE AND HOW YOU MAKE YOUR COFFEE
Short, intensely-flavored coffees such as espresso can surprisingly have less caffeine than those such as cafetière. While the inherent caffeine in each bean is key, the general rule of thumb for preparation is that the longer the coffee grinds spend in contact with water, the more caffeinated the resulting drink will be.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
World demand for coffee is currently near an all-time high, showing a long-term, worldwide trend for increased coffee consumption. This steady increase in demand contrasts greatly with the highly unstable supply of coffee. Coffee production is highly susceptible to bad weather conditions, volatile political situations in growing countries and local challenges faced by the many smallholder farmers who produce the vast majority of coffee.
