Bunuel wrote:
India ranks fifth in the world production of coffee. Popular thought has long associated India with tea and especially with masala chai, but clearly, we need to recognize India as one of the great coffee-drinking nations as well.
This argument is flawed primarily because the author
A. fails to distinguish between coffee production and coffee consumption
B. does not supply information about all beverages people drink in India
C. depends on popular thought rather than on documented research findings
D. does not specify the exact quantity of coffee produced by any nation
E. makes no references to the reputed health benefits of coffee
Magoosh Official Explanation
India produces a lot of coffee, but this doesn't necessarily mean that India is drinking all that coffee.
(A) is the credited answer. Just because the nation of India produces a great deal of coffee doesn't necessarily mean that the people of India themselves consume a large amount of coffee. Many nations produce a lot of something and then export most of it.
(B) is minimally relevant. The piece of information conspicuously absent is how much coffee folks in India drink. How much of everything else they drink is only secondarily related.
(C) is wrong --- only the position the argument opposes --- India is associated "with tea and especially with masala chai" --- is based on popular thought. The statistic cited at the beginning, if true, has all the appearance of verifiable data, not mere opinion, and that is the true support on which the argument depends.
(D) is somewhat relevant --- certainly, knowing coffee consumption of India compared to other countries would be helpful, but this doesn't capture the logical flaw that the argument makes.
(E) is entirely irrelevant. How healthy coffee may or may not be has no bearing on whether it is a popular drink in India.