With over 501 billion cups consumed yearly, coffee ranks as one of the world's most popular beverages. Drinking a hot cup of Joe is very popular in the Americas, the Middle East and Europe. Coffee houses and cafes around the world specialize in coffee.
Aside from coffee, many cafes also serve tea, sandwiches, pastries and other light refreshments. Some shops have coffee-to-go for hectic travelers who visit these places on their way to work. Others provide additional services, like wired or wireless Internet access, giving birth to the name "internet cafe, which is also being used by stores with Internet service but without any coffee.
In general, coffee consumption in North America and Europe is equivalent to approximately one third of all tap water consumed in those same countries. Worldwide, approximately 6.7 million metric tons of coffee is produced annually since 1998. This figure is expected to reach seven million metric tons annually starting this year. In 2000 alone, US coffee consumption was 22.1 gallons (83.66 liters) per capita.
Aside from the United States, other big markets for coffee include Germany and Japan. Canada is another large coffee consuming country with the coffee chain Tim Hortons making millions of cups of coffee a day. The Nordic countries consume the most coffee per capita with Finland usually occupying the top spot with per-capita consumption in excess of 10 kilograms (kg) per year. It is closely followed by Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Consumption has also greatly increased in the traditionally tea drinking United Kingdom but still remains below 5 kg per year. Other coffee loving countries are the Netherlands (7.1 kgs), Switzerland (7 kgs), Germany (5.7 kgs), Austria (5.5 kgs), Belgium (5 kgs), and France (3.9 kgs).
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