Coffee Trivia: 50 Questions and Answers for Your Next Quiz Night

Planning a quiz night, a team-building break or a coffee tasting with friends? These coffee trivia questions and answers are split into five rounds of ten, from easy warm-ups to questions that will stump even the office coffee snob. Every answer has been checked against reliable sources, and each comes with a short fun fact you can read out when the room groans.

Read the questions aloud, let teams write their answers, then use the answer key after each round.

In this article

  1. Round 1: Beans and origins
  2. Round 2: History
  3. Round 3: Brewing and science
  4. Round 4: Coffee drinks of the world
  5. Round 5: Pop culture
  6. How to run a coffee trivia night
  7. FAQ

Round 1: Beans and origins

  1. What is the fruit of the coffee plant commonly called?
  2. Name the two coffee species that make up almost all coffee sold worldwide.
  3. Which country is the world’s largest coffee producer?
  4. Which country is the world’s second-largest producer, mostly of robusta?
  5. In which country did arabica coffee originate?
  6. What is a coffee bean that grows alone, round, in a cherry instead of as a pair called?
  7. Which US state is famous for Kona coffee?
  8. The band around the equator where coffee grows lies between which two lines of latitude?
  9. Which species usually contains more caffeine: arabica or robusta?
  10. Which variety, originally from Ethiopia, became famous after record-breaking auctions in Panama?

Answers: Round 1

# Answer Fun fact
1 A cherry The bean is the seed inside the cherry.
2 Arabica and robusta Robusta’s scientific name is Coffea canephora.
3 Brazil It has led world production since the 19th century.
4 Vietnam Most Vietnamese coffee is robusta.
5 Ethiopia Wild arabica still grows in its southwestern forests.
6 A peaberry Read more in our peaberry guide.
7 Hawaii Kona is on the Big Island’s volcanic slopes.
8 The Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn Known as the coffee belt.
9 Robusta Typically around double the caffeine of arabica.
10 Geisha (Gesha) It is named after the Gesha area of Ethiopia.

Round 2: History

  1. According to legend, which Ethiopian goatherd discovered coffee when his goats became lively after eating the berries?
  2. Which Yemeni port city gave its name to a style of coffee and later to chocolate coffee drinks?
  3. In which holy city did a governor ban coffee in 1511?
  4. Which famous London insurance market began in a 17th-century coffeehouse?
  5. English coffeehouses were nicknamed what, because a coffee cost a penny and the conversation was an education?
  6. Which French naval officer is credited with carrying a coffee plant to Martinique in the 1720s?
  7. Which disease, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, wiped out Ceylon’s coffee industry and turned the island to tea?
  8. Which German composer wrote a comic Coffee Cantata?
  9. Which German housewife invented the paper coffee filter in 1908?
  10. In which year did Nescafé instant coffee launch in Switzerland?

Answers: Round 2

# Answer Fun fact
1 Kaldi It is a legend; no historical record confirms it. See history of coffee.
2 Mocha (al-Makha) It was a major coffee export port for centuries.
3 Mecca The ban did not last. More in when coffee was banned.
4 Lloyd’s of London It grew out of Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse.
5 Penny universities See London’s penny universities.
6 Gabriel de Clieu He reportedly shared his water ration with the plant.
7 Coffee leaf rust It struck Ceylon from the late 1860s.
8 Johann Sebastian Bach Written for Leipzig’s Zimmermann coffeehouse.
9 Melitta Bentz She reportedly used blotting paper from her son’s school notebook.
10 1938 Developed by Nestlé to use Brazil’s coffee surplus.

Round 3: Brewing and science

  1. What is the golden-brown foam on top of an espresso called?
  2. About how many bars of pressure does a standard espresso machine use?
  3. What is the chemical formula of caffeine?
  4. Which browning reaction between sugars and amino acids creates many roasted coffee flavors?
  5. Which decaffeination method uses only water, without chemical solvents?
  6. Which hourglass-shaped brewer was invented by chemist Peter Schlumbohm in 1941?
  7. Which press-style brewer did inventor Alan Adler launch in 2005?
  8. Who designed the aluminum moka pot launched in Italy in 1933?
  9. Does dark roast coffee contain much more caffeine than light roast?
  10. What is the term for the bubbling release of gas when hot water first hits fresh coffee grounds?

Answers: Round 3

# Answer Fun fact
1 Crema It is made of tiny gas bubbles, oils and coffee solids.
2 About 9 bars Roughly nine times atmospheric pressure at sea level.
3 C8H10N4O2 See our caffeine guide.
4 The Maillard reaction It also browns toast and seared steak.
5 The Swiss Water Process Our Peru Decaf is made this way.
6 The Chemex It is in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
7 The AeroPress Adler also invented the Aerobie flying ring.
8 Alfonso Bialetti See our moka pot history.
9 No By weight, the difference is small; see the dark roast caffeine myth.
10 The bloom It is carbon dioxide escaping from freshly roasted coffee.

Round 4: Coffee drinks of the world

  1. Which Italian dessert drink means drowned and pours espresso over ice cream?
  2. Which Spanish drink’s name means cut, because the espresso is cut with a little milk?
  3. What does the Italian word latte mean?
  4. The cappuccino is said to be named after the robes of which religious order?
  5. Which two countries both claim to have invented the flat white?
  6. What is the long-handled pot used to make Turkish coffee called?
  7. In what year did UNESCO add Turkish coffee culture and tradition to its intangible heritage list?
  8. Arabic coffee was added to the UNESCO list in 2015 as a symbol of what?
  9. What is the small metal drip filter used for Vietnamese coffee called?
  10. What is the traditional clay coffee pot used in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony called?

Answers: Round 4

# Answer Fun fact
1 Affogato Try our affogato recipe.
2 Cortado See what is a cortado.
3 Milk Order a latte in Italy and you may get a glass of milk.
4 The Capuchin friars The color of the drink recalls their brown habits.
5 Australia and New Zealand The debate is still unresolved.
6 A cezve (also called an ibrik) See how to make Turkish coffee.
7 2013 Fortune telling from the grounds is part of the tradition.
8 Generosity Submitted by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.
9 A phin See our Vietnamese coffee guide.
10 A jebena See the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

Round 5: Pop culture and fun facts

  1. What is the name of the coffee shop in the TV series Friends?
  2. In Twin Peaks, which FBI agent praises a damn fine cup of coffee?
  3. Which café do Frasier and Niles frequent in Frasier?
  4. Which character from Moby-Dick gave his name to the world’s best-known coffee chain?
  5. On which date is International Coffee Day celebrated?
  6. In which city was International Coffee Day first officially celebrated in 2015?
  7. Who was the first astronaut to drink espresso brewed in space, in May 2015?
  8. In which city was the first World Barista Championship held in 2000?
  9. Which Swedish word describes a coffee break with something sweet and good company?
  10. Which animal is involved in producing Thailand’s Black Ivory coffee?

Answers: Round 5

# Answer Fun fact
1 Central Perk See our piece on Central Perk.
2 Agent Dale Cooper More in Twin Peaks coffee.
3 Café Nervosa It is set in Seattle.
4 Starbuck, the first mate The chain opened in Seattle in 1971.
5 October 1 Set by the International Coffee Organization.
6 Milan As part of Expo 2015.
7 Samantha Cristoforetti The ISSpresso machine was built by Argotec and Lavazza.
8 Monte Carlo The first champion was Robert Thoresen of Norway.
9 Fika See our guide to fika.
10 Elephants The beans pass through an elephant’s digestive system.

Coffee trivia questions and answers: how to run the night

  • Teams of three to five keep it social and stop one expert from dominating.
  • One point per answer, with a bonus point for anyone who can add an extra detail from the fun fact column.
  • Add a tasting round. Brew three coffees and ask teams to match them to origins. Our Best Sellers Sample Pack has six 2 oz bags, including Peru, Mexico and Bali Blue, which is perfect for a blind round. Our coffee tasting party guide shows how to set it up.
  • Serve decaf after 8 pm. Peru Decaf keeps the quiz going without keeping anyone up.
  • Offer prizes. A bag of freshly roasted coffee from our best sellers, roasted 1–5 days before delivery, makes a winner’s prize everyone actually wants.

FAQ

How long does a 50-question coffee quiz take?

About 60 to 90 minutes with five rounds, answer reveals and a short break.

Are these questions suitable for kids?

Most are, especially the origins and pop culture rounds. Serve kids hot chocolate or a caffeine-free herbal tea instead of coffee.

Can I print these questions?

Yes. Print the question lists for the host and keep the answer tables separate until the end of each round.

Sources

  1. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Turkish coffee culture and tradition, inscribed 2013.
  2. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity, decision 10.COM 10.B.32, 2015.
  3. International Coffee Day, Wikipedia, accessed 2026.
  4. World Barista Championship, Wikipedia, accessed 2026.
  5. ISSpresso, Wikipedia, accessed 2026.

Facts checked in October 2026.

Keep reading: Coffee puns · Coffee board games · Coffee tasting party · Best sellers

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