I love my morning coffee.
So I was thinking about coffee the other day, and got to thinking about what country or group of people in the world drinks the most coffee. Of course, I figured people in the USA drink more coffee than anyone. But I also know enough about things in the world to question my assumption.
When I think about people/societies who drink a lot of coffee, I don’t think of Canadians being such hot coffee drinkers. Since many of them come from a British background, I think of Canadians as tea drinkers, not so hot at drinking coffee. But, a recent comment made to me by a friend of mine led me to wonder, and then that led me to my computer and to the internet … and I stand corrected!
There are a number of websites that state Canadians drink MORE coffee per person than citizens of almost any other country on this planet! Wow.
I found one website (not a Canadian one, so there was surely no bragging going on) that claims there is more coffee consumed per person in Canada than anywhere else on earth. But they didn’t list any statistics so I went looking for statistics.
The websites that do list coffee consumption statistics always include Canada in the top ten countries on earth … and way ahead of the USA. Usually Canada is at or near tenth place in those top ten, and that’s really high compared to all the other countries on earth! The usual per person consumption statistic quoted for Canada is 6.5 kgs per person per year. That’s 14.3 pounds per person per year. Keep in mind that’s an average. Lots of folks don’t drink coffee at all, especially those pesky tea drinkers, and most children. The USA is ranked 25th in the world with just 3.4 kgs (7.5 pounds) per person per year. Ha! and we in the USA think we drink a lot of coffee … we do not.
What are the top ten coffee-drinking countries in the world? Here’s the list:
- Finland, 26.45 pounds of coffee per person per year … that’s about 6-7 cups a day. Again, this number is an average. If you remove the number of children from the equation, and remove the number of non-coffee drinkers, then the average in Finland becomes somewhere around 9-10 cups of coffee every day. Again, that’s an average … some people in Finland drink less than that, and some drink way more than that.
- Norway, 21.82 pounds per person.
- Iceland, 19.84 pounds per person
- Denmark, 19.18 pounds per person.
- Netherlands, 18.52 pounds per person.
- Sweden, 18 pounds per person.
- Switzerland, 17.42 pounds per person.
- Belgium, 15 pounds per person.
- Luxembourg, 14.33 pounds per person.
- Canada, 14.3 pounds per person. Canada stands out as the only non-European country to make the list of the world’s top ten coffee consumers.
The average coffee consumption by people in the USA is a mere half of the average consumption by people in Canada. We are wimps down here.
I was surprised that the top nine coffee consuming countries were in northern Europe. There are cold-climate countries and areas in southern Africa, South America, Australia, etc, but none of them made the list even though they are or they have cold climates.
And, of the countries that produce coffee, none of them made the list of coffee consumers. The top ten coffee growing/producing countries in the world are:
- Brazil
- Vietnam
- Columbia
- Indonesia
- Ethiopia
- Honduras
- India
- Uganda
- Mexico
- Guatemala
It’s interesting that the countries that produce coffee are in warm climates, whereas the countries that consume coffee are in cold climates. That’s not surprising, but it’s interesting.
But, I want to get back to Canada … and coffee … since those folks up there love coffee so much. There are dozens of Canadian coffee roasting companies. I am not going to list all of them here. But I’d like to share a few names with you, fun ones, especially ones that sound particularly Canadian in nature.
- Java Moose.
- Kicking Horse Coffee.
- Canoe Coffee.
- Outpost Coffee.
- Wapiti Bean Company. Wapiti means Elk in native languages.
- Luna Coffee. I don’t know where the name came from, but it’s great coffee and they are in Langley, British Columbia, just north of me, across the border.
- Barren Ground Coffee. It’s located in the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, way far away from pretty much anything. On the other hand, they are really popular across Canada.
- Midnight Sun Coffee … located way up north in the Yukon, so the name is not at all surprising.
I love my morning coffee. I have one cup a day, although once or twice a week I don’t have any coffee. I put just a few wee drops of sweet cream in my one cup of coffee. Cookies or cakes are SO delicious with a cup of coffee, but I resist unless I’m out on the town in the morning with a friend for a chat. Then that little sweet treat is special and is perfectly ok.
Author and satirist, knighted for his contributions to literature, Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) said, “With enough coffee, I could rule the world.” Terry was English, but I wonder if maybe he had a bit of Finnish ancestry in him. 🙂
Here’s to your next cup of joe, may it be a hot and tasty morning brew.