The world's largest buyer of coffee, the US, has to import nearly all of this as the coffee trees from which caffeine is harvested will only grow at commercial levels between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn in an area called the coffee belt.

全世界最大宗的咖啡買家美國，其咖啡幾乎得依賴進口，因為咖啡樹只在北回及南回歸線內的區域有商業化種植，這區域又稱為咖啡帶。

Only a single state, Hawaii, is within the belt.

美國只有夏威夷一州座落在這咖啡帶裡。

However, the United States is only the largest buyer because it's so populous.

然而美國成為最大買家的原因僅是因為其人口較為稠密。

The most enthusiastic coffee drinkers per capita are, in increasing order, the Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and, the world champions, Finland, where they drink three times as much coffee a day as the average American.

人均而言，最熱衷於喝咖啡的國家其攝取量由小排到大分別是荷蘭、丹麥、冰島、挪威、還有世界冠軍，芬蘭，他們每人每天喝的咖啡量是一般美國人的三倍。

All of these countries are outside of the coffee belt and must import 100% of their caffeine supply.

上述的這些國家皆不在咖啡帶內，其咖啡因的供給必須得百分之百仰賴進口。

To get this caffeine, first bees must pollinate the flowers of a coffee tree and these flowers develop into bright red berries.

為了取得咖啡因，首先，咖啡樹的花必須先透過蜜蜂授粉，再結出亮紅色的漿果。

Unlike more cooperative domesticated plants, the coffee tree does not ripen all its berries at the same time so they need to be hand picked and sorted.

咖啡樹並不像馴化植物般地合作，因為它的漿果不一定會在相同的時間成熟，所以需要人工採摘及分類。

Once picked, the coffee bean is removed from inside the berry.

把漿果摘下後，咖啡豆便被從中取出。

This young seedling of the tree is then dried, heated, ground and submersed in boiling water to get out the precious, precious caffeine.

將這些原豆乾燥、加熱、研磨後浸入沸水中，以獲得極其珍貴的咖啡因。

It takes about 40 coffee beans to make one shot of espresso.

大約要使用四十顆咖啡豆才能滴出一小杯濃縮咖啡。

But why is caffeine in the coffee beans in the first place?

但為何咖啡豆本來就含有咖啡因呢？

It's not like the coffee trees want to have humans cutting bits of them off and committing a holocaust of their offspring.

這並不是因為咖啡樹想要被人類濫砍並屠殺他們的後代子孫。

Well, the trees, of course, don't want or feel anything and they originally evolved caffeine for their own benefit.

當然，這些咖啡樹無欲無求，它們之所以演化出咖啡因純粹只是為了自己的利益著想。

Caffeine is an insecticide that effectively paralyzes or kills bugs chomping on the tree.

咖啡因是一種殺蟲劑，能夠有效地癱瘓或是殺死啃咬咖啡樹的蟲子。

Whether or not the insects go out experiencing the greatest caffeine high ever is not known.

這些昆蟲是否為了體驗最棒的咖啡因癮而來，則不得而知。

While caffeine is technically lethal, it's adapted for for 1g bugs, not monkeys 100,000 times more massive.

雖然技術上而言，咖啡因是致命的，不過咖啡因只對一公克重的蟲子來說有致命危機，對於比蟲子大十萬倍的猴子則起不了任何作用。

So you'd really have to try to win this Darwin Award.

所以你在這方面有演化上的優勢。

But, if you must: to calculate the dose of caffeine you'll need to ingest to have a 50% chance of death, take your mass in kilograms and multiply it by 150 mg.

但是如果你真的想喝咖啡喝到掛，那就要先算算你需要攝取的咖啡因劑量，用體重的公斤數乘以一百五十毫克的咖啡因，才可能達到百分之五十的致死率。

Or in terms of coffee, for every kilogram of mass you have you need to drink one latte to get a visit from the grim reaper.

換句話說，你有多少公斤，你就得喝多少杯拿鐵才有機會到鬼門關走一回。

That's a lot of coffee so it's not surprising that there are no recorded deaths in healthy adults from this method and it's doubtful that it's even possible.

那可是很大的咖啡量，所以不意外地，並沒有健康的成年人因此而喪命，即便有，其真實性也讓人存疑。

Because, while you're busy getting the coffee in, your body is busy getting it out by one way or another.

這是因為儘管你快速地喝了很多咖啡，你的身體還是會用各種方法將其排出體外。

The rare recorded deaths from caffeine are from diet pills, pep pills and crazy people who eat the drug in its pure form.

罕見的咖啡因死亡案例大多是因為減肥藥丸、興奮劑及吃精煉藥物的瘋狂人們。

Poison though caffeine is, you do still develop addiction to the stuff.

不過咖啡因也算是毒藥，你仍會對咖啡因上癮。

And it's is a real physiological addiction not a wimpy psychological addition like people claim for videos games and the internet.

而且這是貨真價實的生理成癮症而不是人們聲稱對電玩、網路上癮般軟弱的心理成癮。

But caffeine isn't heroine.

但是咖啡因並不是海洛因。

Rapid withdrawal won't kill you.

快速的戒斷並不會要你的命。

It might make you cranky and give you a wicked headache.

它可能會讓你易怒、疑神疑鬼還有嚴重頭痛。

But since caffeine releases dopamine to make you happy and it gets rid of headaches there's really no reason to ever stop using the stuff.

但是因為咖啡因會釋放多巴胺，讓你感到愉快並擺脫頭痛，似乎沒有理由戒掉它。

And who would want to give it up anyway?

再說了，又有誰會想要戒掉它呢？

I mean, aside from converts to Mormonism and Rastafarianism.

我的意思是說，除了摩門教及拉斯特法理教的信徒們，沒人會想戒掉它。

Caffeine is the world's most used psychoactive drug and with good reason, it's pure awesome.

咖啡因是這世上最普遍的精神藥物，因為一個好理由：它就是單純的棒極了。

It increases concentration, decreases fatigue and gives you better memory.

咖啡因能提高集中力、降低疲勞、增強記憶力。

This isn't just a placebo.

這可不只是安慰劑。

These are real effects replicable in a laboratory.

這些可是能在實驗室裡重現出來的真實效果。

And, contrary to popular belief, drinking coffee isn't a faustian bargain where the devil gives you the ability to work faster but in exchange makes your life shorter.

與一般的看法相反，喝咖啡可不是浮士德交易，並不是魔鬼給你迅速工作的能力以換取你的生命。

For normal, healthy humans there are no medical concerns.

咖啡因對正常、健康的人們不會帶來醫學上的困擾。

Coffee and the caffeine within it may even has medical benefits such as protection from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson's.

咖啡與其咖啡因甚至還有醫學上的益處，像是預防心血管疾病、糖尿病及帕金森氏症。

Caffeine can even get rid of migraines but the amount required and the and method of ingestion is uncomfortable.

咖啡因甚至能消除偏頭痛，但是所需的劑量及服用方法方法並不是很舒服。

Moving right along...

下一個話題...

You know what else you can thank caffeine for? A little thing called the enlightenment.

你知道你還可以感謝咖啡因什麼嗎？一個叫做啟蒙運動的小東西。

In the 1600s people drank more beer and gin than water.

在十七世紀的時候，當時人們喝的啤酒跟琴酒比水還多。

But with the introduction of coffee and tea, people switched from a depressant to a stimulant.

但隨著咖啡跟茶的傳入，人們便從抑制劑導向，逐漸轉變為興奮劑攝取。

It's not surprising then that this time was an intellectual boom compared to earlier centuries.

因此與前幾個世紀相比，這次知識發展潮並不讓人感到意外。

Ben Franklin and Edward Lloyd loved their coffee for the same reason that modern workers and students do.

Ben Franklin 和 Edward Lloyd 喜愛咖啡的原因和現代的上班族及學生一樣。

It's invaluable for staying awake and concentrating when you need to finish a TPS report or to get through that boring physics class.

當你需要保持清醒並專注地完成 TPS 報告或者撐過一堂無聊的物理課時，咖啡可是無價的呢！

Coffee is the fuel of the modern world, so go grab a cup, guilt-free and get working smarter and faster.

咖啡是現代社會的燃料，所以喝杯咖啡吧！千萬不要為此而感到罪惡，它能讓你更機靈更迅速地工作。