Number time

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Our faithful friends. That don't lie. Unlike those unreliable human bastards.

I like this set because it doesn't just cover alcoholic drinks, but hot drinks, too. In fact, that's where all the interest is. Especially tea and coffee.

The two started not that far apart. But while tea consumption doubled between 1852 and 1872, coffee consumption fell by more than 50%. Though the big winner was cocao, the consumption of which quadrupled over the period covered.

Other highlights: beer consumption rising a bit, foreign rising in the first 20 years then falling back, domestic spirits declining, foreign and colonial spirits rising.

The increase in tea consumption, unsurprisingly, seems to coincide with the expansion of tea production in India.

It would be interesting to see the numbers longer term, especially the tea to coffee ratio.

Consumption of various drinks per head 1852 - 1888
	British Spirits.	Foreign and Colonial Spirits.		Foreign Wines.	Beer.	Tea.	Coffee.	Cocoa.
Year ended Dec. 31.	Gallons per Head	Gallons per Head	Gallons per Head Spirits of all kinds	Gallons per Head	Barrels per Head	Pounds per Head	Pounds per Head	Pounds per Head
1852	0.918	0.177	1.095	0.231	0.610	1.993	1.274	0.121
1862	0.644	0.177	0.821	0.334	0.661	2.694	1.178	0.124
1872	0.843	0.285	1.128	0.526	0.884	4.005	0.978	0.244
1882	0.809	0.236	1.045	0.406	0.766	4.673	0.884	0.338
1885	0.732	0.221	0.953	0.379	0.746	5.021	0.899	0.402
1886	0.707	0.235	0.942	0.359	0.739	4.877	0.861	0.413
1887	0.700	0.220	0.920	0.366	0.747	4.948	0.790	0.434
1888	0.693	0.243	0.936	0.358	0.744	4.950	0.815	0.486
Sources:
"The Brewers' Guardian 1889", 1889, page 307.