Tea in numbers

Surely you are well aware of our most important motto, which proclaims. it's always a good time for tea. And did you know that we're not the only ones who think so? In the world, billions of cups of this aromatic drink are drunk every day, unimaginable amounts of perfect dried tea are consumed and tons of the best, youngest and greenest leaves from tea bushes are harvested. Are you curious about how big numbers we are talking about? You can find out about these, as well as some other interesting calculations with tea in the background, in our overview.

1. The largest tea producers in the world are the Asian countries of India, Sri Lanka, China and Japan. In total, nearly 6 million tons of tea are produced worldwide each year (5.73 million tons in 2016).
2. China boasts the largest production - it is more than 1.5 million tons of dried tea. However, the best teas are often considered not those grown in the Middle Kingdom, but those from Japan.
3. As many as 4.5 million hectares are occupied by all the tea plantations in the world. The annual yield from each hectare is 990 kg of leaf dry matter.
4. Each shrub planted in the plantation is exploited for about 50 years.
5. However, the world's oldest shrub is much, much older - it is as old as 3,200 years!
6. It is assumed that there are about 1,500 types of tea. However, it is not fully known whether they are really completely different plants or just one species of tea bush in different varieties.
7. Statistics show that the most tea is drunk in Turkey - as much as 3.5 kg per person per year is consumed there. In Europe, the Irish are considered the biggest lovers of the golden brew (2.18 kg of dried tea per person), and Poland is also in the lead.
8. More than 30,000 tons of tea, mainly of the black variety, are imported to Poland every year. The consumption of dried tea in our country is about 1 kilogram per person per year, which ranks us 4th in Europe and 8th in the world.
9. The English, considered by many to be the true connoisseurs and gourmets of tea, drink about 62,000,000,000 cups of the beverage annually.
10. About 400 cups of brew can be brewed from one kilogram of tea, which is the amount consumed on average by each Pole every year.
11. Different types of tea should be brewed at different temperatures. For black tea it is 95 degrees Celsius, for white tea 70 degrees, yellow tea 75 to 80 degrees, and green tea 80 degrees.
12. In Asian countries, green tea is by far the most popular. The case is different in the West - as much as 90% of imports to Europe and America is black tea.
13. In the United States, ice tea is the most popular. It accounts for as much as 85% of the country's total tea consumption.