Uncle, I want kopi peng don’t want ice!
You find yourself asking for that?
If you do, you really need help. Serious help.
Because that means you have an ungodly amount of sweet tooth that’ll get you into trouble soon.
That, or the coffee shop uncle throwing hot coffee at your face lah.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Refer to #10.
But first, here are 10 facts about coffee even coffee lovers don’t know about.
If you have data to burn and prefer to watch, here’s a video we’ve done for this topic:
1. How Coffee Was Allegedly Discovered
Now, we used the word allegedly because this story is the stuff of legends.
According to legend, we have goats to thank for the amazing invention called coffee.
A goat herder, Kaldi, realised his goats became more energised after eating berries from a certain tree.
They were so energetic they couldn’t sleep at night.
He told the abbot of the local monastery, who tried the berries for himself.
And amazingly, it kept him awake and alert throughout the evening prayers.
He shared his discovery with other monks, and the rest, as people say, is history.
2. People Tried Banning Coffee Five Times in History
You can’t imagine a life without coffee right now, would you?
But back when coffee first started “trending”, powerful figures tried banning the drink.
In 1511, the governor of Mecca banned coffee because he thought coffee would simulate radical thinking and unite his opposition.
Back in the 16th century, religious men thought that coffee was “satanic” and tried to have it banned. Pope Clement VIII tasted it for himself and found it so delicious he even wanted it baptised.
In 1623, the ruler of Ottoman, Murad IV banned coffee. For a first-time offender, he’ll be beaten up. Repeat offenders will be sewn into a sack and thrown into the river.
Sweden even tried banning coffee back in 1746. King Gustav III banned coffee and coffee-related cups and dishes.
Convicts who were sentenced to death were made to drink coffee until they overdosed and died, and doctors were deployed to monitor them.
And in 1777, Prussia attempted to sway people away from coffee because it interfered with the country’s beer consumption. A royal statement proclaimed: His Majesty was brought up on beer.
Naturally, it didn’t work.
Aren’t you glad that you can drink coffee without going to jail now?
3. Coffee houses actually existed back in the 15th Century
The next time somebody called you a loser for drinking at Starbucks instead of the coffee shop, tell them you’re just doing what your ancestors did.
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Coffee houses existed as early as the 1500s in Mecca and were incredibly popular.
People drink coffee and held conversations there, as well as listen to music, watched plays and hear about the current news (not selfie-ing).
At that time, so much was going on in these coffee houses they were called as “Schools of the Wise”.
Not so different from us watching YouTube videos or chilling at Starbucks now, isn’t it?
4. Just smelling coffee actually wakes you up
Do you realise that even by smelling coffee, you’ll wake right up?
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If you’re someone who wants to enjoy the perks of coffee but skip the bitter part, then this is for you.
A group of amazingly smart scientists found that just by smelling coffee, it’ll alter the genes in your brain and reduce sleep deprivation.
They kept some lab rats from sleeping, then allow them to smell the aroma of coffee.
And they found that these rats expressed proteins that have healthy antioxidant properties which protects them from stress-related damage.
So even if you have no money for coffee, just make your way down to the coffee shop and smell all the coffee you need.
5. Espresso doesn’t have the most caffeine
I’m pretty sure you’ve felt like this before.
You see your friend drinking a cup of espresso and you go like this.
Ehhhh! Dude, you want to die of caffeine overdose, is it?! So bitter!
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That’s what most normal people think, that espresso has the highest amount of caffeine.
An espresso does contain more caffeine per volume. But because it comes in smaller quantities, it only has one-third the amount of caffeine compared to a normal cup of coffee.
By the way, the term in espresso actually means when something is forced out.
So I guess you can say that we go espresso every time we go to the toilet for big business
6. You can’t really “overdose” on coffee
I’m pretty sure some of your “cooler” friends would’ve used this before.
Please, there’s no way you’ll overdose on caffeine after drinking 3 cups straight. Loser.
It might not be good for you but you won’t die, so stop being dramatic.
If you really want to die of caffeine overdose, you’d have to drink between 50 to a hundred cups of coffee, depending on your weight.
That’s like…$700 if you go to a Starbucks.
7. Coffee with Milk vs Coffee with Cream
I’m pretty sure you’ve seen this hack floating around on Facebook
If you’re someone who likes a strong cup of coffee, don’t do this.
When we consume coffee with fat milk content, we’ll absorb the caffeine slower.
So that “kick” you get from coffee?
It’s all gone.
But, if you’re someone who loves a warm cup of coffee, you’d want to add cream to your milk.
Coffee with cream cools down slower.
8. Are you addicted to caffeine?
Do people accuse you of being a caffeine addict?
Here’s how you know.
If you have:
- Headaches
- Serious sleepiness
- Constipation
- Can’t concentrate at all
- Easily irritated
- Lethargic and not motivated to do anything
- Muscle aches
You might be having caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Most of us in Singapore are probably caffeine addicts anyway. One of my colleagues can’t do anything at all until he has his cup of coffee at home, and another cup when he’s in the office.
9. Tea leaves actually have more caffeine content than coffee beans
Now, to give an age-old argument a conclusion.
My colleague is a coffee addict and he always says that he’ll drink tea at night because his wife always nags at him (I don’t know what’s the correlation between a wife’s nag and tea or coffee, but well, weird people work in Goody Feed).
But here’s the thing.
Did you know that tea leaves actually have more caffeine than coffee beans?
It’s just that during the brewing process, more caffeine is leeched from the coffee beans than from the tea leaves, which is why coffee is more stimulating.
In other words, don’t drink tea before sleeping. Drink warm milk instead.
10. Kopi Peng vs Kopi
Since we’re on the topic of resolving age-old arguments, here’s one more.
Kopi Peng vs Kopi, which is better?
Iced coffee contains less caffeine than normal coffee because it’s diluted over ice water.
So if you’re focused on cutting down on caffeine content, that’s a good place to start with.
But there’s a catch.
If you’ve been listening to your parents, they’d tell you that drinking iced beverages will give you diabetes.
Which is true because most stalls make their kopi sweeter before pouring it into a cup of ice.
So that even if it’s diluted, it’s still a sweet beverage.
So, if you’re looking to cut down on caffeine, go for Kopi peng. Just remember to ask for siew dai po lah.
Siew dai isn’t enough because the friendly uncle will add more coffee. Order it as Kopi peng siew dai po will make him add plain water instead.
Don’t say we never teach hor.
Okay, other than being a coffee addict, you might be an instant noodles addict. I’ve yet another colleague (the number of weird people working in Goody Feed is too damn high) who has at least three instant noodles per week, simply because he didn’t want to “wait like a idiot for food delivery).
But do you know how unhealthy that is? One pack of instant noodles might have sodium content that’s beyond the recommended daily intake.
Take a look at this video we’ve done about instant noodles and be shocked.