I borrowed this from the LIFE insert in my local newspaper, the italicized words are my thoughts.  I just love having my morning cup of coffee, expecially if I've got biscotti to dip.  Here is a few things you didn't know about your morning coffee:

1. Most of the coffee grown in the Western Hemisphere can be traced back to a single coffee seedling brought to Martinique by a French naval officer in 1720
2. Eleven billion pounds of coffee are consumed world-wide annually.
3. 49% of Americans drink coffee every day.  Each downs an average of 3.4 cups. (hummmmm, I wonder what happens to the last bit of the fourth cup???)
4. Annual per capita coffee consumption in the U.S. is 9.2 lbs.  Chocolate consumption is 12 lbs (It's even better if you put your chocolate in your coffee).
5. Total number of specialty coffeehouses in the U.S. in 1989:  585, In 2003: 17,400 (Thank you Starbucks)
6. Percentage of population who drank espresso in 2993:  15, in 2004:  25.
7. All coffee is grown within 2,000 miles of the equator
8. A pound of roasted coffee requires 4,000 beans, most of which are handpicked
9. Coffee has been shown to cut the risk of Parkinson's disease (by half), cirrhosis (by 53%), and colon cancer (by 24%).  But it's also been linked to higher rates of infertility and osteoporosis.
10. The French philosopher Voltaire reportedly drank 50 cups a day.  The amount of caffeine in 49 8-ounce cups can be fatal to the average huma.
11. The world's most expensive coffee is Indonesia's Kopi Luwak, the beans of which are consumed and then excreted by a small civet cat.  It sells for $300 per pound (I'm wondering exactly who was the first person that saw a civet cat shit a coffee bean and decided to roast it and drink it)