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Which country drinks the most coffee?
A woman holds a cup of coffee on the street in New York City. J.
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TEXT OF STORY
BILL RADKE: It's time for today's Marketplace Globalist Quiz, in which quizmaster, Stephan Richter, gives us a wider perspective on international news and trends. Good morning, Stephan.
STEPHAN RICHTER: Good morning, Bill. We'll have a seamless transition for today's quiz from the cup of coffee that I think you have into you already.
RADKE: More than you know, my friend.
RICHTER: All right, so the question is: On a per person basis, which country drinks the most coffee? Is it A) Italy, B) Brazil, C) Our truly, the United States, or D) Finland.
RADKE: I'm thinking. I'm thinking: Italy -- espresso, Brazil -- coffee beans, U.S. -- under-slept, Finland -- wild card. I'm going to say Americans.
BUZZ!
RICHTER: Well, we lead the world in coffee consumption only in one regard. Because we are such a large country on an aggregate basis, we consume the most coffee. But on a per person basis, it's actually only under 3 kilograms how it's measured globally, and that puts us into 17th place globally. Right on par with our neighbor Canada.
RADKE: Hmm. OK. Now I'm getting curious about Finland. I know it's cold there, I'm going to say the Finnish drink the most per person.
DING. DING. DING.
RICHTER: And that warms them up. You're a brilliant man. And it's a big surprise. We know from lots of other situations that the Scandinavian nations lead the world when it comes to such important things like environmental matters, gender equity, income equality. But amazingly, it's not just Finland where they need a lot of coffee amidst all the darkness to make it through the day. But it's Norway, Sweden and Denmark -- all of those four countries take the top four stops globally in the world for coffee consumption.
RADKE: Well, they deserve it. I do not begrudge the Scandinavians their coffee.
RICHTER: And the poor Italians that gave us Lavazza, illy, espressos, and have all these coffee bars -- not even they make it among the top 10. So that's something that helps us in the United States not to feel too much out of the lead.
RADKE: Well I'm doing my part, Stephan. Thanks for the global viewpoint.
RICHTER: Keep drinking.
RADKE: Stephan Richter is publisher and editor-in-chief of TheGlobalist.com, the daily online magazine on the global economy, politics and culture.
To read about how much Scandinavians love their coffee, just read the Steig Larsson series, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" books. Every other page, someone is drinking coffee, making coffee, ordering coffee. Doesn't matter if its 3 a.m., those Swedes are having coffee.
If you looked at how the coffee is consumed in Finland you wouldn't be so surprised. First off its brewed by the pot and not by the cup (as in Italy) and once you order a cup of coffee in a restaurant you can keep getting refills, yourself. Everyone just gets up and refills their cup. And sometimes when you order coffee they will bring you a whole pot -- much like you might expect with tea. So while their coffee consumption is likely higher than most, I expect they rank at the top because of their more generous serving policy.
Scandinavia is awesome, but APM how about some caffeine warnings?
Overdose of caffeine is torturous (I o.d. @ about 10 cups I'm about 135lbs) & withdrawal is also torturous (nausea, headaches & anxiety).
This culture of saying 'cannabis is to be feared' (it's not) while 'blowing off' caffeine like it's not a drug at all it ridiculous, false & at worst unethical.
I've used some of best pot in the world in England & the US & have never suffered from cannabis like I have from caffeine because caffeine is more dangerous... this is such a gaping culture flaw.
APM should 'wake up' & know coffee is a drug drink: it can kill, but @ the end of the story the guy flippantly says, "keep drinking" as if that couldn't cause serious problems. It's ridiculous.
