Future of tea as national beverage still unclear in India
Recent hopes to declare tea as the national beverage of India have come under attack from the local coffee lobby. Similar demands in 2006 were shelved after objections were raised by some of the state governments that such plans could hurt the interests of coffee. Proponents of the plan claim that tea is part of Indian culture and is deeply rooted in country's history. Numbers seem to support this, as India consumes roughly ten times more tea per capita than coffee. Furthermore, coffee consumption is confined to a handful of regions, whereas tea is widely drunk throughout the country. India's annual coffee production is 302 million kilograms, whereas that of tea is 988 million kg.