The Cup That Cheers.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue II, 12 January 1901, Page 71

The Cup That Cheers.

THE WORLD'S CHAMPION TEA DRINKERS ARE BRITISH.

Is the strength of the British Empire iMiund up with its prowess as a tea-drinker? A Parliamentary return issued recently by the Board of

I inde gives rise to this question, for it snows that Canada drinks 4]ll>s of tea per head of population, the United Kingdom 61bs, and Australasia, with ’Jibs, topping the list, thanks to the popularity of the "billy” with her nomadic population. Of foreign nations the Frenchman's total is the smallest, for he limits himself to O.Oalbs of tea a year, the German 0.11, the Russian 0.82, the American 0.96. and the Hollander 1.39; so the Empire easily comes first as the world's champion tea-drinkers. If tea be productive of "nerves," with accompanying excitability, it. would be instructive to ascertain what condition the average Frenchman would attain if he absorbed the average Britisher's tea allowance. The United States are the greatest coffee-drinkers, the average consumption per head of population being from 10 to lllbs, wnile Great Britain consumes less than Jib per head, this being probably due to the extremely bad way in which coffee is made in this country. Germany takes filbs, and France Tjlbs per head.