As a tea drinker, I realize I'm in the minority. Most of the world around me—especially in North America—prefers coffee. And I'd have thought, based on consumption trends among my friends and colleagues, that coffee was still the beverage king. So, it was with some surprise that I read some new statistics in an Agriculture Department newsletter, known as Amber Waves. It reports that U.S. coffee consumption in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, was 24.2 gallons per person—down from a per capita high of 46.4 gallons in 1946.
One likely cause of the post-war downturn, write Jean C. Buzbyand Stephen Haley of USDA's Economic Research Service, "is the increased availability of alternative benverages, particularly soft drinks."
Does Starbucks know this?
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