Tea is under serious threat as the nation’s favourite hot drink.

Outside the home, Britons are now drinking almost two and a half cups of coffee for every one of tea – 2.1billion versus 874million annually.

The expansion of chains such as Starbucks and Costa is testament to the rise of caffeine. Tea consumption, meanwhile, has fallen 19 per cent since 2010.

Outside the home, Britons are now drinking almost two and a half cups of coffee for every one of tea – 2.1billion versus 874million annually

Speciality coffees – such as Americanos and cappuccinos – dominate the market, with brewed or filtered versions comprising only 23 per cent of sales.

Cappuccinos, which cost as much as £3, are the clear number one. Some 486million were sold last year, a rise of 12 per cent on 2012.

The Americano saw the fastest growth, of 33 per cent, taking the total cups sold to 431million, perhaps because it tends to be cheaper.

The figures, published by researchers NPD, show sales of espresso are up 31 per cent to 99million a year.

By contrast, sales of traditional brewed coffee fell 20 per cent. Britain’s coffee consumption ranks third among the ‘Big Five’ European markets. Italy tops the table with 4.78billion cups a year ahead of France at 2.27billion. Germany gets through 1.93billion cups while Spain drinks 1.77billion.

Britain stands out because it is the only market where coffee consumption away from the home has grown in the past five years. Muriel Illig, of NPD, said tea’s status as the national drink was at risk. ‘As coffee climbs then tea is teetering – it really needs to fight back,’ she said.

‘The share of tea in a country famed for its love of this beverage has slipped significantly and the thirst for speciality coffees completely swamps demand for speciality teas.

There’s no quenching our thirst for the three most popular speciality coffees – cappuccino, latte and Americano – and those three account for around two thirds of all the coffee we buy away from home.’

Tea has been a feature of national life since the 1700s and subsequently through the 1800s when it arrived under sail from China on tea clippers like the Cutty Sark.

The expansion of chains such as Starbucks and Costa is testament to the rise of caffeine. Tea consumption, meanwhile, has fallen 19 per cent since 2010