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BILL RADKE: It’s time for today’s Marketplace Globalist Quiz, in which quizmaster, Stephan Richter, gives us a wider perspective on international news and trends. Good morning, Stephan.
STEPHAN RICHTER: Good morning, Bill. We’ll have a seamless transition for today’s quiz from the cup of coffee that I think you have into you already.
RADKE: More than you know, my friend.
RICHTER: All right, so the question is: On a per person basis, which country drinks the most coffee? Is it A) Italy, B) Brazil, C) Our truly, the United States, or D) Finland.
RADKE: I’m thinking. I’m thinking: Italy — espresso, Brazil — coffee beans, U.S. — under-slept, Finland — wild card. I’m going to say Americans.
BUZZ!
RICHTER: Well, we lead the world in coffee consumption only in one regard. Because we are such a large country on an aggregate basis, we consume the most coffee. But on a per person basis, it’s actually only under 3 kilograms how it’s measured globally, and that puts us into 17th place globally. Right on par with our neighbor Canada.
RADKE: Hmm. OK. Now I’m getting curious about Finland. I know it’s cold there, I’m going to say the Finnish drink the most per person.
DING. DING. DING.
RICHTER: And that warms them up. You’re a brilliant man. And it’s a big surprise. We know from lots of other situations that the Scandinavian nations lead the world when it comes to such important things like environmental matters, gender equity, income equality. But amazingly, it’s not just Finland where they need a lot of coffee amidst all the darkness to make it through the day. But it’s Norway, Sweden and Denmark — all of those four countries take the top four stops globally in the world for coffee consumption.
RADKE: Well, they deserve it. I do not begrudge the Scandinavians their coffee.
RICHTER: And the poor Italians that gave us Lavazza, illy, espressos, and have all these coffee bars — not even they make it among the top 10. So that’s something that helps us in the United States not to feel too much out of the lead.
RADKE: Well I’m doing my part, Stephan. Thanks for the global viewpoint.
RICHTER: Keep drinking.
RADKE: Stephan Richter is publisher and editor-in-chief of TheGlobalist.com, the daily online magazine on the global economy, politics and culture.
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