This represents approximately 2,000 hand-picked cherries to result in one pound of roasted coffee. A good coffee picker can pick 10 baskets of coffee cherries in a day. Roasted and brewed that translates to 2,400 cups. Coffee replaced Tea as the United States national drink in 1773. At this time the colonists were so angered by King George's tax on tea that they responded with the Boston Tea Party and a strong allegiance to coffee.
Coffee is the second largest commodity in dollar volume in international trade.
It is second only to oil. Finland holds the per-capita title, with each person man woman and child consuming more than 22 pounds of coffee a year This means, that a family of four will make about 15 cups a day . It was first used as a stimulant, a wine, and as a medicine. A pound of tea, on average, has nearly twice the caffeine of a pound of roasted coffee. But a pound of tea yields about 160 cups, while a pound of coffee makes only about 40 cups.