Cuppa tea?

As I sat down this morning with my cup of tea and cereal, I absently wondered how much tea the British drink per year on average. 

Hello there, google. 

According to The UK Tea & Infusions page, the average British individual drinks 3.5 cups per day per person, for a population total of 165 million cups per day which adds up to 62 billion per year. In the upper right hand corner, there is a counter that estimated 104,786,985 cups had been consumed in Britain just today. That's a lot of tea.  According to the same website, they state 98% of tea is consumed with milk and the majority of the tea comes from China. (Hint: ordering herbal tea or Earl Grey? Don't add milk because of the floral overtones. Milk and sugar go best with black teas. Add either sugar or honey to your floral teas to enhance the flavor.) 

The Republic of Ireland drinks the most tea in the world, followed by Britain. 

In contrast, we Americans drink only 3.60 billion gallons per year (per the Tea Association of America) and 85% of that tea is iced. Not to lose all hope, as loose leaf tea is gaining in popularity (as are Keurig instant teas.) The northeast and the southeast consume the majority of tea, and from my time living in the south, I image that it is closer to 97% of all tea consumed here is iced (no facts, just a guess based on high sweet tea consumption.) 

After examining my tea habit (I consume around 2-3 cups of tea per day in the summer and closer to 4-5 during the cooler months) I think I'll fit in with the tea drinkers just fine. :)