Coffee World Records
Countless records have been awarded and celebrated since the first edition of the Guinness Book of World was published sixty years ago today.
Entries range from the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between. For example, did you know that Operation Chariot is down as the world’s largest naval raid in history and that Raymond Woodcock holds the world record for the highest bungee jump dive into water when he leapt from a height of 141.73 metres earlier this year.
People have even set records for having the stretchiest skin, travelling a mile on a space hopper in the quickest time possible, and who could grow the heaviest cabbage*.
No record is too frivolous for this book that was born out of a heated argument.
The origin tale of the Guinness World Records is believed to be thus: One day in the 1950s, Sir Hugh Beaver, the then manager of the director of the Guinness Brewery, was at a shooting party in County Wexford, Ireland. When he missed a bird – said to be a golden plover – he asked his friends what the fastest game bird was. Nobody could settle on an answer and an argument broke out.
After settling down from a period spent verbally sparring, Hugh proclaimed that it was time that somebody put together a book that could settle these heated, yet petty debates.
And despite a shaky start, the book went on to become a Christmas best-seller in 1955 and become a cultural giant.
So in celebration of its sixtieth anniversary, we’ve delved through the archives and plucked out a number of coffee themed World Records.
Largest Coffee Cup Pyramid
The team of Damian Krey, Vanessa Hoft, Melanie Lutkenfent, Miriam Plumer and Arman Schlieker worked diligently for eight hours and used 22,140 coffee cups to create a pyramid that was 4.16m tall.
Longest Journey by a Coffee Powered Car
A couple of years ago a heavily modified Volkswagen Scirocco was driven from London to Manchester powered solely by coffee. For those interested, the car’s coffee consumption was 1 mile per 56 espressos.
Fastest Coffee Machine
The world’s fastest espresso machine was designed and manufactured in a joint effort by the Swiss company SK Tec SA and a team of individuals. Entitled the Swiss Espresso Extractor, it managed to produce 11.5 litres of coffee in just sixty seconds. Now that’s what we call a bulk brew machine!
Most Coffee Beans Moved With Chopsticks in 1 Minute
Yes, this is actually a record and it’s held by Silvio Sabba who moved forty-six coffee beans with a pair of chopsticks in sixty seconds last year.
Largest Cup of Coffee
The South Korean chain Caffe Bene brewed up the world’s largest cup of coffee which came in at a miserly 14,228 litres.
*Gary Turner (15.8”), Ashrita Furman (13 minutes) and Scott A. Robb (62.71kg) for those wondering.