Today is National Coffee Day, and many coffee shops are offering freebies. We've got the next best thing: coffee facts to read while you wait in line!

1. After coffee beans are decaffeinated, coffee manufacturers sell the caffeine to soft drink makers and pharmaceutical companies.

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2. The average U.S. worker spends $1,092 on coffee each year.

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3. Starbucks is named for Captain Ahab’s first mate. The founders had considered naming it Pequod's, after Ahab’s ship.





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4. Chock Full O'Nuts coffee does not contain nuts. It's named for a chain of nut stores the founder converted into coffee shops.

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5. According to legend, Honore de Balzac drank 50 cups of coffee a day to fuel his writing.

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6. In 1932, Brazil couldn't afford to send its athletes to the Olympics in Los Angeles. So they loaded their ship with coffee and sold it along the way.

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7. In 1674, the "Women's Petition Against Coffee" said it was turning British men into "useless corpses" and proposed a ban for those under 60.

8. Coffee was banned in Mecca in 1511. It was believed to stimulate radical thinking and hanging out.

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9. The first webcam watched a coffee pot. It allowed researchers at Cambridge to monitor the coffee situation without leaving their desks.

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10. In 2008, Annamarie Ausnes received a life-saving kidney from an unlikely source: her Starbucks barista Sandie Andersen.

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