World Coffee Day

America vs. the World: Coffee Edition

They say life is about the simple pleasures. It’s kind of amazing that something as simple as that first sip of coffee in the morning can bring so much joy. Even when you’ve had that same cup every day for years.

And I’m not alone in my java buzz. Coffee is the most popular beverage in the world. More than 400 billion cups are consumed each year around the globe. The United States is responsible for 450 million of those each year and we don’t even crack the top ten in terms of coffee consumption by country. It should come as no surprise that nine out of the ten countries that top the coffee consumption list are in Europe. Canada adds some diversity to the list, occupying spot #10.

But volume of coffee consumed is not the only thing that separates us from other countries. We also differ in the way we prepare coffee.

A good example is iced coffee. Here in America we can’t get enough of the stuff. But America is one of the only countries in the world that even serves iced coffee. As my senior father has learned the very hard way, ice is not a common occurrence outside of the US, so this is not terribly surprising when you think about it. Most Europeans believe ice eats up valuable real estate in their beverage glasses.

On the other side of the bean, Americans probably wouldn’t consider pepper, lemon or cheese to be appropriate java mix-ins, but in other cultures these are totally normal.

So how do people in other countries take their coffee? Check out the list of the most popular coffee drinks in each country below.

I hope this list gave you some inspiration to keep your barista on his or her toes. And there’s no better day to test their skills than today on International Coffee Day. Happy sipping!

Written by Lynda Walz, Sales Executive