According to a National Sample Survey (under the Ministry of Statistics) Indians reach for chai far more often than coffee -- nearly 15 times as much.
As per the Tea Board of India, India is the world’s 2nd largest grower of tea. And we produce the 7th largest amount of coffee as per the Coffee Board of India, with the average Indian sipping only about 20 small cups a year.
The Tea Board says our tea intake in 2023 was pegged at about 1,197 million kg. Gujarat leads the nation in chai drinking. Gujaratis enjoy tea (mainly masala chai with elaichi + ginger) far more per head than the country’s overall average.
Among the leading tea-loving Indian states, in Goa each individual enjoys about 1.3 kg, making it the second largest consumer per head. Rose tea is a speciality in these parts.
Coming in third is Haryana with their fondness for rich milky tea. Folks there enjoy close to 1.26 kg chai per head annually.
Sipping its way to the 4th spot, the good people of Maharashtra use around 1,163 gm tea per person every year. Kadak cutting chai is what many a Maharashtrian orders.
Another foremost tea-drinking region of India people consume around 1,145 gm per person each year, earning it the fifth position nationally. Their woody and floral-tasting Kangra tea is popular.
According to the India Coffee Board, the southern region, naturally, dominates the nation’s coffee scene, consuming 4/5 of Indian coffee. Tamil Nadu leads the pack, sipping more than 36 per cent of the total, mostly filter coffee.
In the South coffee-loving belt, Karnataka follows close behind -- almost 31 per cent of the drinkers of India's coffee reside here.
AP savours 18 per cent of the Indian coffee crop. Andhra is well-known for its Araku coffee of the Eastern Ghats
Malayalis use up 15 per cent of the annual coffee output. Coffee is grown in Kerala in Wayanad and Travancore