It's astonishing when you compare this with Countries the Produce Most Tea how there is almost no overlap (2 countries out of 20 to be exact). What do Indians and Sri Lankans drink instead?
Yeah. I was really surprised too that there were so few Asian countries in the list, and that those that were, were so low down. I've heard that tea is the most common drink in China...
Tea is common in china. But not as common as other countries listed here, or, not as affordable. Many times the 'tea' served in a restaurant might not be made from the true tea leaves (other plants or herbal 'tea') and even if they are, they're priced slightly higher than water and beer. Just consider how huge the low income population in china is.
It's really surprising that China is not higher in the ranking. I lived there six years and my Chinese colleagues were sipping tea whole day. They have their own mug or thermos with them with tea leaves all the time and they keep on filling it up with hot water whenever it's empty. The same thing in Taiwan. But on the other hand Chinese don't drink strong tea. They use the same green tea leaves for long time unlike European black tea drinkers.
Interesting detail is that Chinese don't call English black tea as "black tea", they call it 红茶 Hong Cha, which literally means "red tea", which actually describes the color better. In Chinese there is also a 黑茶 Hei Cha, which means "black tea", but this is different to European black tea. Hei Cha is fermented from several months to many years and it's color is closer to black than European black tea.
Interesting detail is that Chinese don't call English black tea as "black tea", they call it 红茶 Hong Cha, which literally means "red tea", which actually describes the color better. In Chinese there is also a 黑茶 Hei Cha, which means "black tea", but this is different to European black tea. Hei Cha is fermented from several months to many years and it's color is closer to black than European black tea.