If you’re like many people, you start your day with a piping hot cup of coffee. Rich in caffeine, it helps stimulate your nervous system, which can improve focus. But what do you really know about your favorite beverage? The guide below explains some of its history, including how and where it’s enjoyed around the world. 

What to Know About Your Morning Pick-Me-Up

1. Caffeine Was Discovered By Goats

Historians have traced the drink’s origins back to the Ethiopian peninsula more than 2,000 years ago when the goat herder Kaldi noticed that his goats would not sleep after eating from a certain tree. Kaldi informed religious leaders, who brewed the beans—which we now know as coffee—into a drink and experienced the energizing effects for themselves. 

2. Scandinavia Consumes the Most Coffee

With coffee shops on nearly every corner, you might think that the U.S. drinks more java than any other country. However, according to World Atlas, the top consumers of coffee per capita are Finland, Norway, and Iceland; Denmark and Sweden rank high as well. Coffee is a major part of the Scandinavian culture, often forming the center of social life and interactions.

3. The $75 Cup of Coffee 

You might think that some gourmet coffee drinks are expensive, but that $5 latte is nothing when you consider the most expensive cup of joe in the world, known as Kopi Luwak. A cup of coffee made from these beans (which cost about $800 per pound) is $75. What makes it so special? Kopi Luwak is made in Panama by feeding the coffee beans to civets, cat-like animals, and then collecting them after the animal digests them. The beans are then roasted and ground for brewing. 

4. Coffee & Marriage

In Turkey, coffee is a significant part of marriage traditions. When a man comes to ask for a woman’s hand in marriage, tradition dictates that she should serve coffee to him and her parents. Although her parents will decide whether to grant permission for the marriage, she can share her opinion by how she makes the coffee. If the coffee is sweet, she agrees to the marriage. If it’s salty, she does not want to marry the suitor. And in the past, when the marriage moved forward, Turkish grooms vowed to provide their wives with coffee; failure to do so was grounds for divorce. 

Although you might not be in the market for a $75 cup of joe or a marriage proposal, you still deserve a great cup of coffee—and that’s what you’ll find at Joe Maxx Coffee in Las Vegas, NV, and Denver, CO. One of the area’s premier purveyors of coffee, they offer a variety of options as well as delicious bakery items. Call (702) 655-6120 for their Las Vegas hours or (720) 476-5579 for Denver. View their full menu online.