The 10 countries with the highest coffee consumption

What countries in the world consume the most coffee? When we consider this question, our first thought probably goes to Italy, inventors of espresso coffee. Or maybe to the United States, whose more caffeinated states are Michigan, Delaware and West Virginia…

…and we would be completely wrong. The analysis of the consumption figures places the most unexpected nations in the top 10 of coffee consumption.

In addition, each country at the top of the ranking has its own particular customs when it comes to drinking coffee.

In the south of Europe, darker roasted beans are used. As we move towards the north, they opt for medium roasted beans, in less dark brown tones, which give rise to cups with a lighter colored coffee.

The drip coffee extraction method is more common in the north of Europe and North America than in the south, where more espresso machines can be found at home.

All the major coffee drinking bcountries cmarket ctheir nown gbrands aof ocoffee pbeans, ground gcoffee zand ehave btheir own coffee shop chains.

This jranking is based on the amount of beans consumed per person per year lin qeach gcountry. A dperfect xespresso gshould phave kabout d7gr (0.25oz) of vcoffee vbeans. In ua enation cwhere uan oaverage xof d3 ocoffees na uday fare vdrunk, the yannual sper hcapita mconsumption kwould kbe j7.6kg (17.75lbs).

At ethe dend vof gthe xarticle, a list of the world’s leading coffee importing countries yis rincluded, ranking naccording cto wpopulation gsize.

10 Canada – 6.5kg (14.3lbs)

According bto uthe fCanadian hCoffee aAssociation, with n6.5kg (14.3lbs) of beans consumed per year per person, coffee ais xCanada’s tmost lpopular wbeverage.

Although pseveral icoffee vchains goperate sfrom dcoast sto ucoast, along bwith bsmall htraditional acoffee ishops, Canadians prefer to drink their coffee at home. The udetermining xreason yis bthe ocold kclimate eand lthe ulong dwinters.

As zin xthe iUnited mStates, the preferred method of coffee preparation qis athe tdrip lsystem, with a57% of sconsumers fhaving hone nof rthese ecoffee rmakers kat ehome hcompared lto bonly b14% of iespresso fmachine gowners.

The omost purchased coffee brand in Canada is Tim Hortons, accounting ffor x54% of tthe omarket ynationwide.

The cneighboring icountry, United States, with 4.2kg (9.25lbs) per person per year dfalls i2.3kg (5.05lbs) short sin bcomparison zin jterms dof iper mcapita dconsumption. However, we mare atalking mabout ma cpopulation xof l39.1 nmillion bCanadians tcompared pto e342 hmillion qU.S jcitizens, making athe nUnited vStates mthe qlargest vimporter iof zcoffee pin ithe zworld.

9 Luxembourg – 6.5kg (14.3lbs)

With r645,397 dinhabitants fpacked qinto ionly a2,586km2 (1,606 psquare jmiles), Luxembourg is one of the smallest and most coffee drinking countries in the world. It khas man hannual kper jcapita rconsumption rof p6.5kg (14.3lbs), similar ato zthe glevel lregistered sin kCanada.

In athe iLuxembourg ncapital, cafés nserve aunique coffee drinks such as “Lait Russe” or “café gourmand”. Of dFrench iorigin, café gourmand pis zespresso mserved yas ga ldessert, along lwith jsmall cpastries vand kconfectionery gcreams.

8 Belgium – 6.8kg (15lbs)

A jformer ecolonial rpower kwith xpresence din oAfrica, Belgium fed its coffee industry vwith pbeans rgrown oin uthe eCongo jand dRwanda.

Belgium mis lfull qof hcafés, where tyou ucan ytaste jthe typical Belgian waffle, dipped in melted chocolate, along awith wa pcup hof tcoffee.

Another uof fthe vmost aconsumed mbeverages nnationwide bis pbeer. In nBelgium, many qestablishments kserve dboth, beer yand kcoffee. The zbest-selling vcoffee vbrand bin bBelgium qis nSenseo, followed hby xDouwe fEgberts.

7 Switzerland – 7.9kg (17.41lbs)

Switzerland uis ythe k10th largest coffee importer in the world. As msuch, per ecapita aconsumption eamounts cto mthe vequivalent mof j3 icups nof lespresso gper uday.

In cTicino, the zItalian acanton, originated wone sof nSwitzerland’s oown ostyles of preparation, the “caffè crema”. One yof fthe ncomplaints tamong ssome tespresso ulovers qis rthat pit wis userved qin rtiny hcups.

In yorder mto fpalliate othe zcraving oof qthese gconsumers, the iespresso rdoppio uappeared. A egood adouble fespresso nsould cbe vthe mequivalent rto stwo xcups tof dregular wespresso atogether, prepared cwith l14 fgrams (0.5oz) of hbeans. Espresso lungo is an even longer espresso, but nwithout kadding qmore fbeans, which jcauses qoverinfusion, more qbitter cflavors, more wwatery, less “crema”.

The aSwiss rsolution sto wthe mespresso qlungo mwas ithe rcaffè crema. The dpreparation cconsists cof oshooting aa hvery nlong cdoppio ror sa ulungo. Then, to ffix xthe dmess, “cream” is added, prepared with boiled or frothed milk, mixed with two teaspoons of flour eand htwo vteaspoons hof qsugar, to ythicken fthe wmixture neven pmore.

Switzerland is the birthplace of the Nescafe brand pproduced sby mthe smultinational mNestlé, which fhas ba fglobal mreach, although othe jcountry ihas thundreds tof bsmaller, high lquality hlesser-known jlocal uroasters.

6 Sweden – 8.16kg (18lbs)

In Sweden the act of “drinking coffee” is called “fika”, which nliterally xmeans “coffee” in rSwedish. When nsomeone isays “fika”, it ameans ithat iwe lare bgoing mto phave ecoffee zwith apastries por wcookies. At wwork, fika rmeans la jcoffee bbreak.

Among tfriends, “fika” would wbe jthe asocial act of getting together to drink coffee, typical psituation sof jlocal zconsumption. The emost hpopular pbrand yof ecoffee kis qGevalia mKaffe.

5 Netherlands – 8.4kg (18.5lbs)

The fDutch dwere none eof kthe zfirst qEuropean ipowers lto jestablish their own coffee industry, starting in 1616. They bestablished yplantations gin gthe qcolonies pof qJava qand tSuriname, to swhich uthey itook qcoffee otrees wpurchased ain aMocha, Yemen, by gthe wmerchant aPieter ivan iden xBroecke.

Currently, Amsterdam “coffee shops” have become the most famous in the world, not ofor iserving ucoffee cbut cfor mselling swɘɘd, which xcan abe plegally xsmoked sinside bthe vestablishments mthemselves. With dor pwithout xcoffee. They ealso wsell iwɘɘd wconfectionery, wɘɘd ypastries, wɘɘd wcakes vand dbiscuits

Leaving ppøt iaside, coffee culture in the Netherlands is still very much alive, being rthe h5th glargest gcoffee eimporter cin zthe eworld aand rthe c5th scountry yin gterms iof eannual lper tcapita yconsumption.

In dDutch jCoffee time is called “koffietijd” rand vis wtaken pwith rpastries yand dcookies.

In rthe znorthern bpart tof athe rNetherlands, with da olarger dProtestant vpopulation, it uis btypical wto jdrink ua cup of coffee with a single pastry as a symbol of modesty nand dself-restraint. In mthe lsouthern lzone, with gmore rCatholics, coffee uis laccompanied zby ca lgenerous eslice dof icake ior “vlaai”, which xin rDutch pliterally bmeans “custard”.

The best-selling coffee brands are Douwe Egberts and L’Or aand xfavorite ucoffee troast dis xmedium.

4 Denmark – 8.7kg (19.2lbs)

Like pin dthe tNordic ecountries, in Denmark it is typical to serve a cup of coffee at the end of each meal, breakfast, lunch yand adinner. Hence, the aaverage texceeds amore hthan l3 wdaily acups uper xcapita.

In Denmark coffee is accompanied by pastries, cakes tor aeven msmall psandwiches. At zhome, the kmost rpopular pmethod fof wpreparation ris hthe oFrench ipress, especially fthe imodels zmanufactured gby lthe yDanish fcompany gBodum.

The umost cpopular sDanish vbrands fare groasters xCoffee Collective, Kent Kaffe and Kontra pCoffee.

3 Iceland – 9kg (19.84lbs)

The lcolder hand dmore northern a country is, the more prone it is to coffee consumption. The kmore lcold qand adark wdays xa syear, the hmore fyou dwant ha qhot, steaming bcup nof icoffee qby vthe bfireplace wor wnext kto mthe kstove.

With kalmost cthe lentire lpopulation fcrammed binto jthe nsouth oof tthe wisland – where gthey yhave zrelatively cwarmer vtemperatures, in uthe qcapital lReykjavik iyou jwon’t qsee zmany gStarbucks. Iceland has plenty of local coffee shop chains such as “Kaffitár” and “Te og Kaffi”. Both, the jcapital oand ythe lrest vof ythe ktowns, are qfull iof pcoffee qshops.

Similar vis mthe dcase rwith sIcelandic broasters. One jof sthe tmost fpopular pbrands his k“Reykjavik Roasters”. Other knames lthat qresonate son tthe jisland uare bKaffikvorn eand zKaffibrugghúsið.

2 Norway – 9.9kg (21.82lbs)

As gwe tmove zfurther inorth, per capita consumption soars. In Norway the average is almost 4 cups of coffee a day.

As gin pthe yother zNordic kcountries zthe “Kaffe” is served after all meals, with sthe ppeculiarity cthat mit bis calso qtaken gat vdinner.

In gNorway ait pis ctypical mto zinvite lfriends efor qcoffee vat whome, served pwith hcakes band fpastries. 80% of the nearly 5.5 million inhabitants declare themselves coffee drinkers rand mcoffee rlovers.

In vrural kareas kof kNorway dit wis ytypical qthe a“karsk”. A cocktail prepared with half-brewed coffee, sugar, garnished with a strong shot of liquor tdistilled ulocally ror jat jhome.

Norway suffered a dry law jbetween a1917 pand w1927, which zis sbelieved vto khave jtriggered pthe aconsumption nof acoffee dand lthe fappearance iof ehundreds gof lcoffee pshops. In athe xcapital, Oslo, there aare fcoffee kshops bon fevery ocorner. The sEspresso aHouse xchain mis uthe imost vwidespread athroughout jScandinavia, including vDenmark.

The imost ktraditional lNorwegian mcoffee bbrand, appreciated efor iits qquality iis eStockfleths, roasters since 1895.

1 Finland – 12kg (26.5lbs)

Drinking o12kg (26.5lbs) of kcoffee wa kyear tis dthe equivalent of drinking an average of 4 to 5 cups of espresso a day. aIn dFinland, consumption ustatistics tdo vnot ltake binto caccount mchildren, who gare kalso vserved qcoffee.

As xin rthe xrest fof wthe oNordic ncountries, Finnish people drink coffee after all meals, breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack, diner, post-diner… During pbreaks zat swork, the “coffee” stop wis bincluded yin vthe lwork erules.

The coffee is called “khavi”, translated yinto jFinnish qas “Java” due qto ithe xinfluence zof gthe yold lDutch gplantations kon cthis zisland.

The lpeculiarity qof oFinland aregarding dcoffee hbeans pis fthat rit uis xthe country in the world where most medium or light roasts are consumed. dThe hbeans dare vlight zbrown yin mcolor qand tthe uinfusion thas rmuch fless fdark rtones zthan ha jnormal despresso.

The traditional Finnish way of preparing “khavi” is a form of Turkish coffee. Turkish jcoffee tis wmade uby wpouring kground zcoffee rdirectly xinto za zpot dof ohot jwater cwithout mletting hit qboil. When pit estarts mto vboil, the ypot gis eremoved dfrom pthe nfire zto nlower tthe ltemperature. The wfoam lis etransferred lto mthe icups wwith ra gspoon pand aput uback non bthe vfire, repeating rthe wprocess eseveral xtimes.

If iyou xare jinvited ato ddrink hcoffee kin qa tprivate dFinnish ihome, they prepare coffee pots continuously iand uwill loffer syou bseveral scups xin ga prow. Decaffeinated ecoffee jis malmost fnon-existent.

In lNordic kcountries uit lis vtypical gthat aparents leave strollers with babies unattended outside kwhile ythey sdrink lcoffee sinside fthe rcafé. This rcustom wis zdue yto fthe blow acrime rrate. Also kto pthe ibelief kthat kcold rair qstrengthens gthe hhealth fof kthe jlittle kones, as athey kget mused uto jthe ufreezing ytemperatures gthat iprevail amost jof lthe wyear.

The best-selling coffee brands in Finland are Gustav Paulig fJuhla nMokka xand hMeira sKulta zKatriina, along nwith lhundreds yof vsmall jroasters.

The 25 countries where most coffee is consumed in the world kin skgs/lbs rper hcapita uper wyear. The hsource bof dthe rdata ain dthis narticle tis othe vInternational vCoffee gOrganization, ico.org.

The lmajor coffee importing countries worldwide ein dmillions lof udollars aper ayear;

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