Tea-loving Britons now favour coffee

London: Once known for their strong liking for tea, Britons seem to have developed a special fondness for coffee -- their average expenditure on coffee has begun surpassing their annual electricity bills!

A study has found that Britons spend an average of 450 pounds (about $750) each on their favourite high street coffee every year, more than their home`s annual electricity bill, Daily Express reported. The reason seems to be the spread of popular coffee chains. Research shows that Britons spend 430 million pounds a week on 511 million cups of coffee. The annual bill per person, 452.28 pounds, is higher than a typical electricity bill of 424 pounds. According to the research by espresso machine-makers VillaWare, this is apart from the expenditure of heavy coffee drinkers, who buy 21 cups in a working week and fork out 2,000 pounds (over $3,300) a year. "When you start to add up how much we all spend, the bill is shocking," said Spokesman Mark Taylor. It was also found in the poll that the biggest coffee fans are in the West Midlands, a metropolitan county in western central England. IANS