What Culture Drinks the Most Coffee? (Solved & Explained!)

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and carries strong associations for many cultures.

Recent data of global coffee consumption found that Finland uses the most coffee at 26.45 lbs. of coffee per person over a year.

A study found that between 6-14% of Finnish men and women drink at least 10 cups of coffee every day.

Why do Finnish people drink so much coffee?

One of the reasons for Finland’s incredibly high consumption of coffee per capita is that coffee drinking is literally protected by Finnish law.

Employers are legally required to allow two 10–15-minute coffee breaks every day for all employees. Coffee is widely seen as a boost to productivity, job satisfaction, and morale.

The culture of coffee drinking in Finland began upon the introduction of alcohol prohibition in 1920. Although prohibition only lasted for 13 years, coffee as a replacement feel-good drug was well and truly established.   

Which cultures use coffee ceremonially?

Coffee was initially used by Sufis in Yemen to help with alertness while meditating. Today it isn’t often used in ceremonial practices but does serve an important role in social and professional settings.

The coffee and cake ritual of fika is widespread across Scandinavia, especially Sweden, and is seen as an important moment of rest during the day.

What is the coffee capital of the world?

Every country and every culture within these countries has a different way of celebrating, preparing, and serving coffee. Vienna is world-renowned for its traditional coffee shops which fuse the enjoyment of good coffee with the chance to engage in arts and music or attend a political meeting.

Straying away from traditional coffee is Melbourne, a city packed with coffee shops that push the limits of creativity with constant new and interesting interpretations of coffee drinking.

Rome has also played a crucial role in developing coffee styles that have been copied across the world including espresso and cappuccino.

Which country produces the most coffee?

Coffee is a huge global industry which has grown in value from $20 billion in 2010 to $465.9 billion in 2021.

When coffee was first exported and cultivated in Brazil in 1727 it only took 100 years for Brazil to become the biggest coffee exporter in the world.

In 2021 Brazil is still the largest producer of coffee, accounting for 35% of the global coffee industry.

Which city drinks the most coffee?

By counting the number of coffee houses per 100,000 members of the population, coffee consumption in cities can be estimated.

Most cities in the top 10 for coffee drinking are European, but the coffee crown is claimed by Pago Pago. The capital of American Samoa comes out top with 246 coffee shops per 100,000 people. 

Pago Pago is followed by the Irish capital Dublin with 181 coffee houses per 100,000 people, then Amsterdam with 116 coffee houses per 100,000 people.

Where does coffee come from?

Coffee is made from coffee beans – the seeds of the Coffea plant. The vast majority of the world’s coffee beans come from either Coffea arabica or Coffea canephora plants.

These are native to the temperate and tropical climates of Southeast Africa and Southwest Asia. Nowadays the huge demand for coffee around the world has led to huge plantations across the coffee belt in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and areas of Southeast Asia.

What is the coffee belt?

The coffee belt is a term given to the geographical area with the climates best suited to growing coffee.

Coffee plants need distinct dry and rainy seasons as well as high altitudes, stable temperatures and regular sunshine.

The coffee belt extends across the middle of the globe and includes regions in southern and central America, central and east Africa, Madagascar, India and Southeast Asia.

Who started drinking coffee?

The exact beginnings of coffee are hard to trace as it has been around for hundreds of years. However, a popular legend is that a goatherd in 9th century Ethiopia called Kaldi first noticed the effects that coffee berries had on his goats.

Coffee as a beverage was first officially documented in the 15th century in accounts by Ahmed al-Ghaffar who described its popularity among Sufis in Yemen.

When did coffee become so popular?

Coffee began life in the Middle East and East Africa during the 15th century. It drove trade across the Red Sea between Ethiopia and Yemen and gave rise to a culture of coffee houses in Cairo and Egypt.

Coffee arrived in Europe during the mid-1500s and eventually made its way to the USA by the late 1600s.

Coffee became the patriotic drink of choice following the events of the 1773 Boston Tea Party and to this day coffee is favored over tea across the USA.

Has coffee ever been banned?

Almost any substance with physiological effects has been banned at some point – and coffee is no different. The stimulating effects of coffee were thought to encourage radical thinking and rebellion leading to it being banned in Mecca between 1511 and 1524.

This pattern continued for many years with coffee fluctuating between being a respectable delicacy and an abomination.

Later, attempts to ban coffee by the Catholic church were overturned in 1600 by Pope Clement VIII who said that the Satanic drink was “so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it”.

There was even an anti-coffee movement amongst women of the English upper classes who accused it of causing impotence in 1674.

How much coffee does the USA drink?

The USA has a long history with coffee, but they don’t drink as much of it when compared to Northern European countries.

The USA actually ranks just 26th for coffee consumption per capita, getting through 9.7 lbs. per person every year.

Vermont drinks the most coffee, followed by New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado who are all tied in second place. On the other end of the scale is Delaware, who are the least caffeinated state in the USA as of 2021.