It’s time that the age-old question finally be answered. Which is the “Top” beverage? That has been a question throughout time. Adamant coffee drinkers will insist that “tea” takes a backseat to coffee. Tea drinkers on the other hand will defend their tea to the bitter end. The answer might just shock you. To answer the question, one must go back to where each beverage originated. The coffee bean is believed to originate in Ethiopia and made its way to Yemen and then to the rest of the world. The tea leaf on the other hand originated in China and became a staple in the beverage world due to its health properties. Not much of an answer to our question at this point. Perhaps the dates of origin may reveal which could be more popular. Coffee first makes its appearance in the 15th century. Tea comes into view in 2737BC. Again, no real winner with the dates of origin in as far as to which is the “top” beverage in today’s world.
It’s time to investigate just how much tea and coffee is consumed around the world. When one wants to understand just how popular a particular item is, one only needs to investigate the amount of money that is spent on each one. The amounts of cash spent on each are absolutely staggering. 110 billion dollars is spent on coffee each year, globally. I was sure that we had just found our undisputed winner. I could not have been more wrong with tea having a global market of 260 billion in global revenues each year. Our winner undisputedly is tea. In fact, tea is the second most consumed beverage behind water. This I must admit was a surprise. I have spent a lifetime in the Unites States with the belief that coffee was the distinct leader in the beverage world. That would be according to every Diner across the U.S. Comparing to my own personal experience, every morning office run would rarely contain tea orders and would be mostly weighed down with the familiar coffee cups. I was shocked with these results, and it forced me to look further into the findings.
I was not wrong in my beliefs as my eyes were opened again. The United States is customarily a coffee country. Coffee exceeds tea sales by a large margin with only designated areas being the holdouts for tea lovers. So where in the United States is harboring tea, well that would be the Southern states. Iced sweet tea is the favored drink of the South. Let’s face it, the thought of a cool sweet tea while sitting on Grandma’s porch is pretty inviting. I then began to wonder what the draw was to tea in the Southern states and again, I had my eyes opened. Iced tea was not just a cool drink on a swelteringly hot day but also a social event. The South being known for its hospitality, has a long history of offering a beverage as a measure of kindness. It seems that the offering of tea is a very old, cultural belief that one must offer a refreshing beverage to guests in one’s home. Coffee was more of an industrial drink that was not considered to be as formal and utilized in a much more progressive atmosphere. the coffee bean & tea leaf
America has always been regarded as a very progressive country, and it has adopted the quick paced lifestyle of coffee as being its go to drink. Tea was the formal drink of the past and brought with it the historical dynamic of social interaction that had a nostalgic undertone. So, what is the answer? It all depends on not only where you live, but how you were raised and your beliefs. In short, it is just a matter of taste.
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