http://www.realcoffee.co.uk/Article.asp?Cat=Trivia&Page=1 European countries rated for their coffee consumption per capita (in kgs) in 1997: #1 Finland: 12.82 (I read somewhere else that this amounted to 9 cups / day). That sounds unreasonable to me. 9 cups is breakfast. See below for "true facts" ...
http://www.healthandage.com/Home/gid2=1078 "Finland has one of the world's highest intakes of coffee per person. The average amount consumed in this study was between five and six cups each day. While each serving of Finnish coffee is smaller than the usual US serving -- about 4 ounces compared to 8 ounces or more -- the coffee is stronger, so the Finns were consuming about the same amount of caffeine (approximately 100 milligrams) per cup."
http://www.hut.fi/~untamo/file2.doc.html "Coffee drinking in Finland became forbidden in the year 1767 but it didn't succeed; those who had money enough bought this expensive "unhealthy luxury drink" illegally, in secret. Finally, the Government had to give up and the citizens got this "healthy medicine"as they knew it. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it spread throughout the countryside, first among the wealthiest people. It became so popular with public celebrations in villages that everyone wanted to drink it also in their homes, at least on Sundays after church attendance. And if one couldn't afford it, one didn't have to stay without; a mixing of substitute and real coffee became less expensive. They added usually rye, barley, peas, beans and chicory etc. Later it might happen that when the harvest turned out badly and there was then lack of food they had to leave the real coffee away totally. But it helped people in such situations when they didn't have to leave "coffee" drinking."
http://www.euromonitor.com/Hot_Drinks_in_Finland "The Finnish retail market for hot drinks was relatively stable in 2002 with a volume increase of almost 2% during the year. Following a drop in retail volume sales in 2000 due to increasing coffee commodity prices, 2001 was a good year for hot drinks in Finland, with volume increases of around 9.5%. Falling coffee prices ensured the market continued to grow during 2002. Increasing demand for more premium, specialised and novel products, particularly in tea and coffee, have been underpinned by increasing disposable incomes as well as a higher propensity among Finns to spoil themselves."
For a social history of coffee and its role in the Protestant Reformation, see Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants (Chapter 2).
"Sometimes, when I had drunk a lot of coffee, and the least little thing would startle me, I noticed quite clearly that I jumped before I had heard any noise." - Lichtenberg
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ps. http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/border/kanwin2.html Slurpee Capital: Winnipeg --> Winnipeg has the highest per capita consumption of 7/11 convenience store "Slurpee" in North America -- a total of 6800/month. (Canadian average was 4500/month.)