Coffee business no drip in the bucket

Coffee is ...

-- ... a $30-32 billion dollar annual retail industry in the U.S., with specialty coffees comprising about 37 percent volume share, but almost 50 percent value share.

-- ... the most popular drink in the world, after water and tea.

-- ... similar to wine, in that its flavor is affected by soil, altitude and other climatic factors. In Ethiopia alone, there are more than 10,000 varietals.

--... consumed by 83 percent of adults in the U.S., the world's biggest consumer of the beverage, up from 78 percent in 2012.

-- ... drunk an average of three times/cups a day by people in the U.S., equaling 587 million cups consumed a day.

-- ... most loved in Scandinavia. Although the U.S. leads Germany, Italy, France and Japan in the top five coffee-importing countries on the globe, Finland and its Scandinavian neighbors drink the most coffee per capita.

-- ... a complex bean. Thirty-six aromatic profiles have been identified and can be attributed, both positively and negatively, to the flavor of the coffee.

-- ... becoming more in demand in Brazil, India and China, where growing middle classes want specialty coffee beans, competing more and more with the U.S.

-- ... comes in two kinds: Robusta and Arabica. Vietnam and Brazil are the biggest producers of Robusta coffee. Brazil is also the largest producer of Arabica, but a recent drought may change that.

Sources: National Coffee Association, Specialty Coffee Association of America and Cafe Imports