This statistic shows the annual tea consumption worldwide from 2012 to 2025. In 2020, global consumption of tea amounted to about 6.3 billion kilograms and is estimated to reach to 7.4 billion kilograms by 2025.
Tea consumption - additional information
Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world, after water. There are many types of teas, depending on their oxidation levels: green, yellow, oolong and black. Well-known varieties of black tea include Darjeeling, Assam, Turkish and Ceylon teas.
This fragrant beverage originated in China in 2737 BC. According to myth, a Chinese emperor was sitting under a Camellia sinensis tree while his servant boiled drinking water. The wind blew some leaves from the tree into the water and the emperor decided to try the drink that his servant created by accident. The tea culture had been established in China for several centuries before it came to the West. Tea drinking was introduced in Japan during the late eighth century and became an important part of Japanese culture. In the United Kingdom, tea is recognized as one of the country’s cultural beverages. Tea is also a popular beverage in Middle Eastern cultures.
In 2016, Turkey was the largest tea-consuming country in the world, with a per capita tea consumption of approximately 6.96 pounds per year. In contrast, China had an annual consumption of 1.25 pounds per person. In 2018, China was the leading global tea producer, followed by India and Kenya. That year, worldwide tea production amounted to around 5.8 million metric tons.
Volume of tea consumption worldwide from 2012 to 2025
(in million kilograms)
The Hot Drinks market segment, Tea, consists of black tea, green tea and mate sold in tea bags or as loose-leaf tea. This segment does not include herbal tea, instant tea, iced tea or similar tea-derived Ready-to-Drink beverages. Ready-to-Drink variants are instead aggregated into the subsegment Non-Carbonated Soft Drinks in the Alcoholic Drinks market.
Unilever (Lipton), Associated British Foods (Twinings) and Tata Global Beverages (Tetley) are globally the most important players by revenue.
The market for Hot Drinks is structured into retail sales for at home consumption and on-premise or foodservice sales for out-of-home consumption. The at-home market, also called off-trade market, covers all retail sales via super- and hypermarkets, convenience stores or similar sales channels. The out-of-home market, also called on-trade market, away-from-home market or HORECA encompasses all sales to hotels, restaurants, catering, cafés, bars and similar hospitality service establishments. Both the at-home and the out-of-home market are valued at retail selling prices including all sales and consumption taxes. The price per unit in the out-of-home market always references the total price over the amount of tea consumed, regardless of the other components of the finished beverage. One cup of tea is assumed to contain 2 grams of tea. One kilogram therefore represents 500 cup equivalents. The valuation of the out-of-home segment at retail prices means a significant change of the market definition in comparison to earlier iterations of the Consumer Market Outlook, as out-of-home consumption was valued at wholesale prices before. This means, market totals are not comparable to published data from prior years.
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Statista. (April 26, 2022). Volume of tea consumption worldwide from 2012 to 2025 (in million kilograms) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved July 06, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/940102/global-tea-consumption/
Statista. "Volume of tea consumption worldwide from 2012 to 2025 (in million kilograms)." Chart. April 26, 2022. Statista. Accessed July 06, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/940102/global-tea-consumption/
Statista. (2022). Volume of tea consumption worldwide from 2012 to 2025 (in million kilograms). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: July 06, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/940102/global-tea-consumption/
Statista. "Volume of Tea Consumption Worldwide from 2012 to 2025 (in Million Kilograms)." Statista, Statista Inc., 26 Apr 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/940102/global-tea-consumption/
Statista, Volume of tea consumption worldwide from 2012 to 2025 (in million kilograms) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/940102/global-tea-consumption/ (last visited July 06, 2022)