Coffee vs Tea vs Soft Drinks: What Caffeine Drinks Do Countries Prefer?

Coffee vs Tea vs Soft Drinks: Caffeinated Drink Popularity

Coffee, tea, or soft drinks… How do you get your caffeine fix?

It might be the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but your preferred caffeine drink of choice might come down to where you live.

A study into caffeine consumption of 57 countries examined the role it plays in our diets, using the volume sales of caffeine-containing beverages from Euromonitor to see what caffeine source each country prefers.

The resulting map of caffeine preference shows regional trends, including some surprising standouts.

Most Purchased Caffeine Drink By Country

There are many different caffeine drinks for consumers to choose from, from brewed drinks to ready-to-drink vending machine options.

To simplify tastes, we grouped them into three types:

• Coffee — Includes fresh brewed coffee, instant coffee, and ready-to-drink coffee.
• Tea — Includes herbal, black, green, and other teas, as well as ready-to-drink tea.
• Soft Drinks — Includes colas, other soft drinks, sports drinks, and energy drinks.

Here’s the full breakdown of each country’s preferred caffeine drink of choice, by volume sales.

Country	Region	Most Purchased Caffeine Drinks
Kenya	Africa	Tea
Nigeria	Africa	Soft Drinks
South Africa	Africa	Soft Drinks
China	Asia	Tea
Hong Kong	Asia	Tea
India	Asia	Tea
Indonesia	Asia	Tea
Israel	Asia	Soft Drinks
Japan	Asia	Tea
Malaysia	Asia	Tea
Philippines	Asia	Soft Drinks
South Korea	Asia	Coffee
Taiwan	Asia	Tea
Thailand	Asia	Soft Drinks
Vietnam	Asia	Tea
Austria	Europe	Soft Drinks
Belgium	Europe	Soft Drinks
Bosnia-Herzegovina	Europe	Coffee
Bulgaria	Europe	Soft Drinks
Croatia	Europe	Soft Drinks
Denmark	Europe	Coffee
Estonia	Europe	Coffee
Finland	Europe	Coffee
France	Europe	Coffee
Georgia	Europe	Coffee
Germany	Europe	Coffee
Greece	Europe	Coffee
Hungary	Europe	Soft Drinks
Ireland	Europe	Tea
Italy	Europe	Soft Drinks
Latvia	Europe	Tea
Netherlands	Europe	Coffee
Norway	Europe	Coffee
Poland	Europe	Coffee
Portugal	Europe	Soft Drinks
Romania	Europe	Soft Drinks
Slovenia	Europe	Coffee
Spain	Europe	Soft Drinks
Sweden	Europe	Coffee
Switzerland	Europe	Soft Drinks
Turkey	Europe	Tea
UK	Europe	Tea
Canada	North America	Coffee
Costa Rica	North America	Coffee
Dominican Republic	North America	Coffee
Guatemala	North America	Soft Drinks
Mexico	North America	Soft Drinks
U.S.	North America	Soft Drinks
Australia	Oceania	Soft Drinks
New Zealand	Oceania	Tea
Argentina	South America	Soft Drinks
Bolivia	South America	Soft Drinks
Brazil	South America	Coffee
Chile	South America	Soft Drinks
Colombia	South America	Soft Drinks
Uruguay	South America	Soft Drinks
Venezuela	South America	Soft Drinks

Examining the regional spread shows us some expected caffeine strongholds.

Tea was the preferred drink of choice for many countries in most of Asia, including China, India, Indonesia, and Japan. But it also showed a strong foothold in Africa, as Kenya is the world’s largest black tea exporter, and in Europe, as Turkey, Ireland, and the UK are the world’s top three tea-consuming countries per capita.

Coffee was the most preferred caffeine drink in a number of countries in Europe, including all of the Nordic countries. It is also the drink of choice in Canada, South Korea, and Brazil, the latter two being the only countries in Asia and South America to prefer coffee.

Perhaps most surprising is the global preference for soft drinks. The U.S. and most of Latin America overwhelmingly consumed soft drinks over other caffeine drinks, as did the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. Even in Europe, some countries that are heavy coffee drinkers like Italy and Switzerland purchased more soft drinks than coffee by narrow margins.

Coke’s Influence on the Coffee vs Tea vs Soft Drinks Debate

Though the global map of caffeine preference looks regionally-specific at a glance, there are some notable business influences at play.

The proliferation of soft drinks in Latin America is largely due to the power of Coca-Cola. Mexico, the country which preferred soft drinks the most over other drinks, is also the world’s biggest consumer of Coca-Cola per capita. Coca-Cola also reached far beyond the borders of the U.S. where it originated, becoming a staple drink in many parts of Europe, Australia, and Asia.

This power of brands extends to coffee as well. Many coffee-preferring countries actually leaned more towards instant coffee purchases over freshly brewed coffee, a mark of the lasting influence of Nestlé’s brand of instant coffee, Nescafé.

But it’s important to note that many countries were not tabulated, and that caffeine purchases don’t differentiate between every single possible caffeine drink. There are many different types of coffees, teas, soft drinks, and even yerba mate for consumers to choose from.

As a snapshot of global caffeine consumption, it’s a reminder that the world’s most commonly consumed psychoactive stimulant is taken in many different forms. Both throughout history, and in modern times.