I am a tea drinker. There, I said it. I’m no longer ashamed to admit it. I … drink … tea.

I know we live in a coffee-centric society. Tea drinkers have a foreign air about them. Teatime and oolong tea leaves have a “not-from-here” feel culturally.

I have a friend who spent a summer at a cattle station in Australia. Every day at 10 and 4, they would stop their present work, ladle water out of the nearest water trough or mud puddle, boil it for 10 minutes, and then let the tea steep for five minutes. This would calmly proceed while the stampede or whatever chaos would continue around them. To an American who grabs a to-go cup of coffee from the convenience store, teatime is unfathomable.

As you read this column, gripping your favorite cup of acrid liquid with wispy clouds of steam tickling your senses, I must explain myself. There are too many putrid beverages in this world. For most, their coffee is so foul-tasting that a double shot of cream and sugar is required as flavoring. As my grandmother would say, “If you waste your time with cream and sugar, why don’t you just drink hot chocolate with the children?” She would then smile a yellow-toothed grin and laugh with the breath of a not-yet-warm diesel engine.

Today, you can take it several steps further. You can add vanilla, peppermint, raspberry, pumpkin or mocha (in the same way that Alfredo is mac and cheese for grown-ups, so is mocha hot chocolate for adults). Amaretto and Irish cream can be added, not for the alcohol, but for the nonalcoholic version that tells the world, “I want to smell like a morning drunk, without the charming buzz.” My wife’s favorite warm beverage is a steamer. A steamer is a drink that has all the yummy coffee flavoring without the bitter jitters and the crash of coffee. She may be smarter than all of us.

The reason I drink tea instead of coffee is it takes less time in the morning to brew a strong and pleasant-tasting cup of tea than coffee. A good, strong cup of coffee requires boiling water in a stovetop percolator, followed by a 45-minute simmer to allow it to thicken and mellow. My morning cup of tea is heated to just before boiling and then poured over 3 teaspoons of loose green tea leaves. Steeping takes about five minutes, but the flavor gets stronger the longer you wait. That is a strong cup of tea.

I saw a statistic (for what it’s worth) that 88% of Americans prefer a strong cup of coffee. A statistic I just made up, but one that is plausibly true, is that 90% of Americans have never had a strong cup of coffee. And I won’t mention any names – Starbucks – but burning your coffee beans does not make a cup of coffee strong.

That disconnect makes an interesting conversation piece. If you are a purveyor of coffee, do you assume that 88% of your market wants a strong cup of coffee, or do you brew the same weak cup of coffee that sells consistently?

The same question is asked in the agricultural industry. Do we give our consumers what they say they want or what they are willing to purchase? For instance, 50% of Americans say they want non-GMO food to purchase, but only 25% of consumers actually purchase non-GMO foods. And 30% of American consumers say that they want organic foods, but only 4% of consumers buy organic foods.

So what is a producer to do? Do we produce food that our customers say they want, or do we produce food that the customers actually purchase? Answering this question may be the difference between profit and loss in the near future.

I remember an old rancher who had a rib brand on his cattle. It was the same brand and location that his father and grandfather used. The Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program suggested less hide damage from a brand on the hip instead of on the ribs. His opposition to moving the brand to the hip was almost irrational in his stubbornness. “The only way I’ll move my brand is if my buyers penalize me with a discount … only then will I change.” He may be onto something.

Giving a customer what they really want is often quite different from what they say they want. Henry Ford famously said, “If I asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘a faster horse.’” Some days a faster horse may be preferable, but most people will still take the car. The real answer is found in giving our consumers a convenient and quality product at an affordable price.

Would Americans choose a good, strong cup of coffee if it was actually offered to them at their favorite coffee shop? We may never know. That is a question you should ponder as you clutch your lukewarm dirty water. As for me, I will drink my comfort beverage as intended … strong.