This nation is the biggest consumer of coffee

Coffee used to be a luxury in South Korea and the “main culprit” for spending foreign currency, and importing coffee was even banned in the 1960s. Nowadays, coffee is part of South Koreans' everyday life.

According to Government data, people of South Korea drink coffee 12.3 times a week on average, more often than they consume their main staple, white rice, which is eaten seven times a week, and their main side dish, kimchi, which is served 11.8 times a week on average, reports South Korean agency Yonhap.

These data, in fact, show that South Korea is the sixth biggest consumer of the black liquid, even though it is only the 27th most populated country in the world. The local coffee market more than doubled in 2014 compared to five years before, with revenues amounting to USD 5.34 billion, and it has been estimated that last year's revenues amounted to USD 6 billion.

South Korea imports coffee beans from countries including Brazil, Columbia and Vietnam, and it is a great exporter of processed coffee.

coffee

drinking coffee in South Korea