Annual report: Germans remain true to their love of tea

Germany’s consumers remain largely true to their love of tea. They drank 67.2 liters per capita last year, as can be seen from the “TEE Report 2025” available to the German Press Agency. That was 1.5 percent less than in the previous year. The German tea & herbal tea association in Hamburg explained this with an inflation -related purchase supply, especially for food.

Germans drink 47 billion cups of tea a year

Overall, 27.1 liters of black and green tea and 40.1 liters of herbal and fruit tea were drunk per capita last year. That corresponds to almost 47 billion cups of tea a year. The organic content rose by 2.2 points to 17.7 percent.

With 47.1 percent, herbal and fruit emissions were clearly ahead among consumers, followed by black tea with 23.3 percent, herbal and fruit tea monoses with 20.5 percent and green tea with 9.1 percent. Peppermint was clearly available in the monoses, followed by chamomile and fennel. According to the report, black and green teas were sold loosely for about the same parts and in tea bags, the herbal and fruit teas dominated with 85 percent of the tea bags.

Imported 48,000 tons of tea from 84 countries

The import quantity from 84 countries – especially from India, China and Sri Lanka – quantified the report at almost 48,000 tons. Around 21,000 tons in Germany, in turn, were exported to 106 countries. The largest buyers outside the EU remained the United States with more than 2,600 tons.

In the world comparison, Germany does not matter as a Teeland. According to the report, China alone increased its production around ten times more than Germany imported tea at all. In total, China received around 3.74 million tons of tea, followed by India with 1.28 million tons, Kenya with almost 595,000 tons, Turkey with almost 273,000 tons and Sri Lanka with around 262,000 tons – which is more than 87 percent of the teas created worldwide last year.

Turks drink 98 percent of their harvested tea themselves

Of the teas exported by the global, 76 percent come from China, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Turkey hardly plays a role in export, since the people there drink around 98 percent of the grown tea itself. In China and India, too, personal use is above exports.

“In East Frisia, love for tea seems to know no limits. The coastal dwellers drink 300 liters of black and green tea per capita and year and are simply great,” says the tea report. There are no further explanations. In the past few years, the tea association and the German record institute had also declared the East Frisians to be world masters in drinking tea. However, there is now criticism of this classification.

Criticism of the classification of tea consumption in East Frisia

So it makes little sense to compare the small North Sea region with entire countries like Turkey. Because certainly areas would also be found where more tea would be drunk than in everyone else. In addition, the tea consumption of their guests in the German tourist region is statistically attributed to the inhabitants. The same applies to the famous East Frisian tea drunk with candid sugar and cream, which is sold as a souvenir or by local tea retailers outside the region.