Poll to see whether folks drink more great Tea or Coffee. "Quality" can be however you want to define it, but that extra qualification is meant to exclude things like instant tea or instant coffee which are generally marginal. In my case I exclude iced tea made from family sized tea bags...not because it is bad, but because it is basically a water substitute and not a special beverage to be enjoyed for what it is.
Quality Tea vs Quality Coffee - Which do you drink more cups of?
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Inspiration for this poll came from looking at charts produced by Wolfram|Alpha. Where different countries have very different profiles on the amount of coffee vs tea that is consumed. I captured screenshots of few different countries for easier presentation here, but if you follow one of the links, you can modify the country and many other things to get a different view of the data.
Another comment on the data is that the Tea vs Coffee stats are in pounds, which is very difficult to directly translate into number of individual cups consumed. For example, I might use 15-18 grams of coffee to make a shot of espresso/americano or 5-6 grams of Oolong to make a single cup of tea, but that same 6 grams can make 3 or more cups of tea. So is the weight to volume conversion ratio between coffee/tea 3-to-1 or 10-to-1? A 10-to-1 ratio would mean that the number of cups of tea vs coffee in USA would be about the same instead of what is plotted below.
US tea per capita vs coffee per capita
UK tea per capita vs coffee per capita
Norway tea per capita vs coffee per capita
Another comment on the data is that the Tea vs Coffee stats are in pounds, which is very difficult to directly translate into number of individual cups consumed. For example, I might use 15-18 grams of coffee to make a shot of espresso/americano or 5-6 grams of Oolong to make a single cup of tea, but that same 6 grams can make 3 or more cups of tea. So is the weight to volume conversion ratio between coffee/tea 3-to-1 or 10-to-1? A 10-to-1 ratio would mean that the number of cups of tea vs coffee in USA would be about the same instead of what is plotted below.
US tea per capita vs coffee per capita
UK tea per capita vs coffee per capita
Norway tea per capita vs coffee per capita
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Another way of looking at the consumption data is to compare different countries against one other. I included China and Brazil thinking they would be the Tea and Coffee consumption champs. Who knows if the underlying data is accurate, but I thought it was interesting to see the big dip in Brazil's coffee consumption during the 90's and how little tea is actually consumed in China.
Tea consumption per capita
Coffee consumption per capita
Tea consumption per capita
Coffee consumption per capita
the only reason I drink more tea than coffee is because of the amount of caffeine in a cup of joe vs. tea
I drink a cup of coffee in the morning and the rest of the day I tend to drink loose leaf green tea
I always have a hot cup at hand, wouldn't know what to do with myself without one. Throughout the day thats coffee, switching to tea in the evening. In cooler weather I tend to have some quiet time mid late afternoon when I can afford the time for a tea service, and in warmer weather I will take a large thermal carrier of a nice iced green but not as often, as I don't usually take the time in the AM to make it well in addition to the morning coffee.
I love me a gooooood cup of tea, I think the reason people don't drink so much tea in some places is down to not being able to find a good leaf tea, or a good tea bag when in a rush! I moved to NZ and it took me a good few months of experimenting to find a decent tea over here!!! So much better than Coffee though 
I used to drink coffee all day long. However, I have switched almost exclusively to tea in the last few years. Besides the fact that I like it better (since I have discovered quality tea), I find that tea is just much easier on my system than coffee. In addition, for me, the claim that tea can lower cholesterol turned out to be more than just a claim; regular consumption of tea significantly lowered my cholesterol count. LDL decreased, HDL increased, triglycerides decreased and overall cholesterol decreased.
I drink much more coffee then tea. I accidentally voted that I drink more tea then coffee because I haven't had enough coffee yet today. 
I tend to drink a cup or two of non-caffeinated tea in the evening and coffee the rest of the day.
I tend to drink a cup or two of non-caffeinated tea in the evening and coffee the rest of the day.
Definitely coffee over tea for me.
"I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon". President Ronald Reagan
I voted twice as much coffee as tea, which I think is, most of the time, a fair estimate of my consumption.
(note: cupping is not consuming)
(note: cupping is not consuming)
Tea. Reasons: three
1. I'm frequently having a cup of something at the office all day, and if it's coffee that's waaaaay too much caffeine.
2. It's a lot easier to store and prepare tea ... no worries about roasting, grinding, and having it go stale in a week.
3. If you feel a little weary, a cup will make you cheery, and it's cheaper than champagne.
1. I'm frequently having a cup of something at the office all day, and if it's coffee that's waaaaay too much caffeine.
2. It's a lot easier to store and prepare tea ... no worries about roasting, grinding, and having it go stale in a week.
3. If you feel a little weary, a cup will make you cheery, and it's cheaper than champagne.
I roughly drink the same amounts of both. I go through phases of each lasting about a month
I never really got on board with coffee and only started drinking tea just over 5 years ago.
Well it depends on liking that what people like and prefer..Some prefer coffee while some prefer tea...But I personally like and enjoy coffee which is cold not even hot..I drink only cold coffee...
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Thanks to all who voted. Though the results are starting to skew towards coffee being more popular than tea among our small sample size, the overall vote has looked pretty even throughout.
I was most surprised by two things. First the overwhelming number of folks who are clearly in one camp or the other. When I opened this poll I expected the 2x category to win (which just shows my own personal bias, as this is how I voted). But clearly that was not the case as most people are clearly either/or Cafe aficionados. Secondly I was surprised by how few people consume nearly the same amount of tea and coffee, which is really just another way to highlight the clear preferences people have for one drink versus the other.
I suppose it the addictive nature of the drinks and their relationship to food and our daily routine that causes these patterns to set in. I segment my day to enjoy both, starting the day with coffee and ending it with tea.
I was most surprised by two things. First the overwhelming number of folks who are clearly in one camp or the other. When I opened this poll I expected the 2x category to win (which just shows my own personal bias, as this is how I voted). But clearly that was not the case as most people are clearly either/or Cafe aficionados. Secondly I was surprised by how few people consume nearly the same amount of tea and coffee, which is really just another way to highlight the clear preferences people have for one drink versus the other.
I suppose it the addictive nature of the drinks and their relationship to food and our daily routine that causes these patterns to set in. I segment my day to enjoy both, starting the day with coffee and ending it with tea.
I drink more coffee than tea. At the office, someone has already brewed a pot of coffee by the time I arrive. I'll usually have two or three cups. At home, I never make coffee in the evening and always have tea instead. However, this is usually one or two cups.
I drink a lot more tea than coffee. Aside from the obvious (ie: according to my coffee guru, Scotto, what I drink isn't coffee), I can only drink two, maybe three cups of coffee a day, whereas I can drink at least ten cups of tea.
I think that is an interesting observation. I may drink more coffee than tea, as my vote reflects, but rarely do I take the care or personal time with coffee as I do with tea. I have a decent Bunn coffee maker thats dialed in to make an enjoyable cup as I like it, but its a pretty basic operation of grinding a decent bean and chucking 'em in the basket and I tend to treat the brew as a convenient enjoyable hot drink to have as I do other things. I typically take the time enjoy the subtle nuances of tea and it is more of a meditative and multisensory experience. If you were to ask about the time I spend to have a great coffee or tea experience my vote would take a very different tack.
While I haven't checked my cholestrol count, my stomach (and indeed my body in general) seems to like that I have switched from 6+ cups of coffee a day to 3-4 cups of tea. For me it was a turning point to get away from Lipton bags, and on to quality teas. I still like coffee, but I am no longer a "chain drinker".
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