Map of tea drinking per capita.

Map of pounds of tea consumed per person each year, from QUARTZ


A map is like a picture, but in geographic form. It tells a thousand words. This map well, it tells many things, and reveals some surprises when one thinks about it.

According to this map, Turkey consumes the most tea per person per year. In a way, this does make sense. Tea is a major part of the Turkish culture, and has been this way for centuries. Tea is consumed for so many occasions. It is part of the hospitality of Turkey to offer tea to guests. It is consumed with meals, and it is part of social occasions. Tea is also grown in Turkey, so it makes sense to drink it.

The United Kingdom is the next largest consumer of tea on earth. Makes sense given the tradition of drinking tea in the UK, which goes back to the days of the British Empire. It is ingrained in the British culture.

Russia is next on the list. No surprise there. While Russia is widely known for the fiery vodka, tea is the most popular non-alcoholic drink in the nation. It has been part of the Russian culture for a long time.

However, there were also some surprises to this. One might think China and Japan would have more consumption of tea, considering the amount of tea grown in this region, and considering how ingrained tea drinking is in these culture. There are many varieties of tea in China, and tea drinking started in China. Japan has the elaborate tea ceremony and it is common to consume green tea with meals. Well, this is tea consumed per person. China has 1.8 billion people. And Japan does rank somewhat higher than China in tea consumption per capita, considering the much smaller population. One theory could be that while tea is consumed often, less of it is consumed.

One particular surprise was South America. One might think that the largest consumer of tea in South America would be Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, or Paraguay, considering yerba mate is consumed in these nations. Chile has the largest consumption of tea per person per year in South America. There is no data available for Uruguay and Paraguay. With the gaucho culture being part of the culture in both Paraguay and Uruguay, perhaps tea consumption might be higher in those nations. Actually, in Uruguay, 22 lbs of yerba mate is consumed per capita. However, perhaps when tea is spoken of, yerba mate is not what people are thinking of.

A map can tell many things, it can also reveal surprises.