Tea vs coffee: Your office drinking habits exposed

It’s the question that divides the nation – tea or coffee?

At Bluespot Furniture, office drinking habits are a hot topic. Like many UK businesses, our team runs on tea and coffee – it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, you can guarantee that the kettle will be on somewhere in the office!

It goes without saying that we’re a nation of hot drink lovers, but we wanted to know more about the reasons why. Recently, we commissioned some research into office drinking habits, conducting a survey across UK businesses in search of the important answers.

Here’s what we found…

Women drink more hot drinks

According to our research, 59% of women drink more than 4 cups of tea or coffee each and every day – compared to just 42% of men who do the same.

Why women prefer coffee

It’s official – UK women prefer coffee, whilst men prefer tea! According to our survey, only 46% of men drink more coffee than tea, compared to 54% of women.

64% of women cited health reasons as the key driver behind their coffee drinking. The most popular response was that coffee can fight diseases like cancer and help you live longer, whilst some believed that drinking coffee was an effective way to burn fat.

One respondent, who works in IT, cited a 2011 Harvard Study, which stated that women who drank at least 4 cups of coffee a day were up to 20% less likely to become depressed!

However, just 31% of women said that taste was the main reason behind their office coffee drinking habits.

91% of coffee drinkers like to drink out

Look at any UK high-street and this won’t be a surprise, but 47% of coffee drinkers buy coffee from a café at least once a week. Another 32% visit a café at least once a month – meaning more than 9 out of 10 coffee drinkers in the UK buy at least one coffee from a café every single month.

The primary reason given for visiting a café regularly wasn’t to get away from the office but to drink better-tasting coffee than the brews available at work.

We drink more tea and coffee in the mornings

Our office drinking habits change throughout the day.

75% of tea drinkers and 81% of coffee drinkers have at least one cup in the morning, with 41% of tea drinkers and 45% having another cup for elevenses.

At lunch, 42% have a tea with lunch, compared to 37% who have a coffee. 55% of tea drinkers have one during the afternoon, compared with just 45% of coffee drinkers. Both tail off, and during the evening, just 26% of tea drinkers and 20% of coffee drinkers have another cup.

To milk or not to milk?

83% of us take milk in our hot drinks.

When it comes to the amount of milk, 31% prefer ‘just a little’, 42% say they want an ‘average amount’ and 8% want ‘a lot’. 17% prefer to take their tea or coffee black.

Office furniture from Bluespot Furniture

How do our stats fit your business? Is your office staffed by tea or coffee drinkers?

Whether you enjoy tea, coffee or both – a nice hot drink at work is made all the better if you can enjoy it from the comfort of the right office furniture.

With thousands of different office desks, office chairs and storage solutions in an unrivalled range of sizes, styles and colours, you’re sure to find something to suit your home or business office at Bluespot Furniture.