The top three drinks in the world are water, coffee, and tea. Milk, beer, soft drinks, and orange juice all make the list of the top drinks in the world, as well. Of course, water is without equal, and calling it the most consumed ‘drink’ in the world is probably a misunderstanding of the question. I think most people want to know what is the most consumed drink or beverage in the world other than water. There are two top contenders: coffee and tea. Various websites list one or the other as the top drink besides water.
Whether your top choice for your hot morning beverage is coffee or tea has a lot to do with what part of the world you live in. If you live in America or continental Europe, you are more likely to prefer coffee. Tea is likely your favorite if you live in Asia or Russia. The same holds true, to an even greater extent, in Turkey.
Of course, coffee and tea are both consumed in all of these places. It may be interesting to break it down by country, though. Let’s look at the top 10 coffee-drinking countries, first.
Top Ten Coffee-Drinking Countries
The following list is the top three countries that drink the most coffee per person, per year, according to the International Coffee Organization (2016 data but should probably still hold true in terms of ranking).
For this list, the ICO uses the amount of coffee consumed on a population basis. America is not even in the top five, by the way. Our coffee consumption ranks us at about 25 in the list of the highest coffee-consuming countries in the world.
1. Finland: Finland is the top coffee-drinking country in the world. Did you think it was America? Nope, although if they tracked my mother’s consumption we may give Finland a run for their money.
In Finland, the average person drinks around 4 cups per day. There are even legally mandated coffee breaks for workers: two per day for ten minutes each.
In terms of weight, the average Finnish person will go through 12 kg or 26 pounds of coffee per year. Contrast that with America, where we consume 4.5 kg or 9.7 pounds a year.
2. Norway: Norway follows closely behind Finland. On average, a typical Norwegian drinks somewhat more than three cups a day.
Coffee houses are highly popular in Norway and are much like a neighborhood bar here in America, a place where people hang out and socialize.
3. Iceland: Also at around three cups a day, on average, an Icelander will consume 9 kg or 20 pounds of coffee in a year.
In fact, the Scandinavian countries top the list of all the highest coffee-drinking countries. The next highest-ranking countries are:
4. Denmark
5. Netherlands
6. Sweden
7. Switzerland
8. Belgium
9. Luxembourg
10. Canada.
When the amount of coffee beans used is tracked on a total volume basis, rather than a per-capita consumption on a population basis, the United States becomes number one, at 27,310,000 60-lbs bags of coffee consumed annually, according to data from 2019.
This is a confusing difference and is based on ‘disappearance data.’ Food disappearance, sometimes called food availability, reflects the annual food available for human consumption. However, it does not account for food losses or waste and so can overestimate actual per capita consumption.
Top Tea-Drinking Countries in the World
A similar picture occurs for tea. While China would seem to be far and away the biggest tea-consuming country, when average per capita consumption is considered, Turkey becomes the tea capital of the world!
China consumes 1.6 billion pounds of tea a year. However, in Turkey, the average person goes through around 3 kg or 6.9 pounds of tea a year.
Ireland is next, at 2 kg or 4.8 pounds a year, followed by the UK, at 1.9 kg or 4.2 pounds annually. Using this metric, China comes in at number 20 and the United States at 35.
In Mexico, they drink very little of the stuff. Coffee consumption in Mexico is fairly low as well, however, at 1.2 kg or 0.5 pounds, per capita.
Coffee vs. Tea Consumption Worldwide
We can’t use the weight of coffee alone to figure out which beverage is king, tea or coffee. Tea weighs less on a per-volume basis than coffee. If we went by weight alone, we’d have to assume that more coffee is consumed worldwide than tea. However, on a per-cup basis, tea predominates.
Tea is the Most Popular Beverage in the World, After Water
It has been estimated that worldwide, around 3 cups of tea are consumed for every cup of coffee. When you look at actual consumption statistics, there are more tea drinkers than coffee drinkers in the world.
This may be due to the fact that tea is a much more ancient beverage than coffee and spread around most of the world before coffee made its way out of Ethiopia, or perhaps Yemen.
As well, in many parts of the world, tea is simply a more affordable beverage. It also is perceived to have greater health benefits and coffee is often considered to unhealthful. Coffee is often seen as more of a ‘vise’ than tea.
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