Tea and Coffee in England and the U. S.
The rise of the United States as a coffee consumer in the last century and a quarter has been marked, not only by steadily increased imports as the population of the country increased, but also by a steady growth in per capita consumption, showing that the beverage has been continually advancing in favor with the American people. Today it stands at practically its highest point, each individual man, woman, and child having more than 12 pounds a year, enough for almost 500 cups, allotted to him as his portion. This is four times as much as it was a hundred years ago; and more than twice as much as it was in the years immediately following the Civil War. In general it is fifty percent more than the average in the twenty years preceding 1897, in which year a new high level of coffee consumption was apparently established, the per capita figure for that year being 10.12 pounds, which has been approximately the average since then.
No. 6—World's Consumption of Tea and Coffee
Diagram showing their relationship, 1860–1920
Since the advent of country-wide prohibition in the United States on July 1, 1919, about two pounds more coffee per person, or 80 to 100 cups, have been consumed than before. Part of this increase is doubtless to be charged to prohibition; but it is yet too early to judge fairly as to the exact effect of "bone-dry" legislation on coffee drinking. The continued growth in the use of coffee in the United States has been in decided contrast to the per capita consumption of tea, which is less now than half a century ago.
In the United Kingdom, the reverse condition prevails. Tea drinking there steadily maintains a popularity which it has enjoyed for centuries; while coffee apparently makes no advance in favor. In this respect, the country is sharply distinguished from its neighbors of western Europe, in many of which coffee drinking has been much heavier, considering the population, even than in the United States. The contrast between the tastes of the two countries in beverages is shown clearly by the per capita figures of tea and coffee consumption for half a century, as they appear in the table, next column.