More people are brewing coffee at home. But why? Plus, switching from dairy milk to oat makes a big difference for cafes looking to decrease their carbon footprint, and Starbucks wants ChatGPT to help you order coffee for some reason.
‘Remote Working, Prices Drive US Home Coffee Consumption to Highest in 14 Years’ – via Reuters
It’s April, which means it’s time for the National Coffee Association to release its National Coffee Data Trends report examining how people in the U.S. consume coffee. Released twice a year in spring and fall, a summary of past reports indicates that people love coffee and that more and more are drinking specialty.
This year’s report is no different: coffee is the most popular beverage in the United States, with 66% of those surveyed saying they drank coffee in the past day. But one thing that has changed: more people are making coffee at home. The report shows that among people who said they had coffee in the past day, 85% brewed it at home. This is the highest percentage since 2012, and up 5% since January 2020.
Reuters reporter Marcelo Teixeria spoke with industry analyst Gerd Müller-Pfeiffer, who said that the rise in hybrid or remote work arrangements, combined with high retail prices, has led people to brew their own coffee at home. Additionally, improvements in home coffee tech have made it easier than ever to make delicious coffee. “Home machines now deliver near out-of-home quality,” he said.
Other highlights from the report include that specialty coffee remains popular. The report found that 58% of Americans drank specialty coffee in the past week, only 1% higher than the last report, but up more than 9% since 2022. Overall, the NCA estimates that nearly 195 million people drink coffee each week, consuming 507 million cups every day.
“Coffee has long been a touchstone in Americans’ daily lives and a powerhouse in our economy, adapting to fit different tastes, trends, budgets, and routines over time,” NCA CEO William “Bill” Murray said in a press release. “We expect that to continue for many decades to come.”
Read more on the latest coffee trends here.
‘Study: ‘Default Nudge’ to Oat Milk Reduces Carbon Footprint of Cafe Drinks’ – via Daily Coffee News
Pretty much every coffee shop offers non-dairy milk options like oat or soy. But most charge extra for alternative milks or require the customer to explicitly request a non-dairy beverage. At the same time, dairy milk has a vastly higher carbon footprint than alternatives.
What happens when a coffee shop switches it up and makes oat milk the default? A new study, published in Global Environmental Psychology, found that doing so can reduce a latte’s carbon footprint by up to 34%.
The experiment took place at a university coffee shop in the U.K., where milk offerings were switched so that oat milk became the default, and customers had to ask for dairy. The cafe posted signs explaining the change, noting it was for environmental reasons. Another campus cafe continued with dairy as a control.
The study revolved around the idea of a “default nudge,” the concept that most people will go with the pre-selected option. The study used an ABAB experimental design, which includes four phases: a first baseline, an intervention, a second baseline, and a second intervention. This allows the researchers to more accurately gauge their study’s impact, as it provides two separate sets of measurable results over a longer time frame and with more participants.
During the first baseline phase, when dairy was the default, 16.6% of customers chose oat milk; after oat milk became the default during the first intervention, that jumped to 51.9%. Dairy milk was then returned to the default for the second baseline phase, where oat milk consumption fell to 23%.
During the second intervention, the number who went with the default oat milk jumped again to 46%. While still high, the authors suggest that the slightly lower rate indicates that more research is needed on the nudge’s longer-term effects. The control cafe didn’t see a change in its oat milk usage over the same period.
“We found that customers were approximately three times more likely to consume plant-based milk when oat milk was the default milk option instead of dairy milk and that the mean milk-based carbon footprint per drink reduced by 25%–34%,” the authors wrote in their conclusion. “These findings suggest that default nudges can help encourage plant-based diets among consumers by reducing dairy consumption and enhancing sustainable plant-based milk consumption.”
Dairy milk plays a big role in a coffee shop’s carbon footprint—Starbucks calls it a “key contributor” to the coffee giant’s overall impact. A 2025 study found that milk was responsible for more than 75% of a latte’s carbon footprint. Several coffee companies, including Blue Bottle and Stumptown, have already switched oat milk to the default in their cafes to lower emissions.
“We hope by providing more people with the experience of oat milk we might inspire guests to choose it more often both at our cafes and at home, so together we can reduce our greenhouse gas footprint from dairy,” Blue Bottle stated in a blog post explaining the move.
Read more on the oat milk nudge here.
‘ChatGPT Can Now Help You Pick Your Starbucks Drink’ – via Restaurant Business Online
Ever go into a coffee shop and not know what to order? Rather than look at the menu or—perish the thought—talk to the barista, Starbucks customers can now ask ChatGPT.
Starbucks is testing a beta app within OpenAI’s generative chatbot that will let users get drink recommendations from ChatGPT by asking for suggestions, describing their mood, or uploading a photo.
“Over the past year, one thing has become clear: customers aren’t always starting with a menu. They’re starting with a feeling,” Paul Riedel, Starbucks’ senior vice president for digital and loyalty, said in a statement. “We wanted to meet customers right at that moment of inspiration and make it easier than ever to find a drink that fits.”
Joe Wilkins, a writer with Futurism, tested the app and found that “it didn’t blow us away with creativity.” Two separate prompts returned the same drink recommendation; after that, the app kicked him out. “Even with the best-faith read, it’s hard to understand what problem this is meant to solve,” Wilkins wrote. “If you don’t already know what you want from Starbucks, you’re in a place that vibe coding can’t fix.”
This move to embed technology and automation further within Starbucks comes at a time when CEO Brian Niccol has pledged to return the company to its coffeehouse roots. Last May, Niccol acknowledged that the focus on automation had been detrimental to the brand and decided that investing in more staff was key to the customer experience.
Read the full story on Starbucks’ AI integration here.
More News
‘Bala Of Taiwan Is The 2026 World Latte Art Champion’ – via Sprudge
‘Philz Coffee CEO Restores Pride Flags in Stores After Intense Backlash: ‘I Made a Mistake’’ – via The Advocate
‘Coffee Quality Institute Revives Coffee Corps Program’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘ICO Market Report: The Crisis in the Middle East Pushed Coffee Prices Up in March, Despite an Improved Global Supply Outlook’ – via Comunicaffe
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
Workers at the first-ever Starbucks in Seattle are unionizing. The historic Pike Place store is a tourist destination, with long lines out the door most days, and its interior remains largely unchanged since its opening.
(Technically, it’s actually the second location for the store. The original location was in a building a block away and sold roasted coffee between 1971 and 1976. It moved to Pike Place Market when the building was demolished.)
The Pike Place spot acts as a museum of sorts: cups feature Starbucks’ original branding, and the store doesn’t serve food or accept online orders. It is also much busier than most locations, which is one of the reasons that workers decide to file for a union election. “We felt that experience we care so much about, we’re feeling it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain that with the current way Starbucks is operating,” Skyler Blair, a Pike Place barista, told The Guardian.
Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said that workers at the original location earn more than baristas at other stores, and that not all Pike Place workers were supportive of unionization. “Filing a petition is simply the start of a process. Our partners are at the heart of who we are, and today, we offer industry-leading pay and benefits,” Anderson told The Guardian.
Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, workers at Stauf’s Coffee Roasters have announced their intent to unionize. The move stems from a January decision by the company to serve ICE agents—a decision reversed after an all-staff meeting in which employees voiced their opposition.
Based on conversations after that meeting and the company’s subsequent failure to issue a public statement about its changed stance, baristas, line cooks, bakers, and warehouse staff decided to unionize with Unite Here Local 24. “That was one of the reasons we went public [with the unionization] announcement, because we knew through that announcement that we were re-engaging with the community about who we are,” organizer Matthew Greene told Matter News.
Organizers said that the majority of the company’s 80+ workers are in favor of unionizing, although some expressed concerns over “rocking the boat.” The goal with unionizing, organizers said, would be to increase wages across the board so that workers would be less reliant on tips. Workers also expressed a desire for more consistent standards between Stauf’s five locations. The company did not respond to Matter’s requests for comment.
Beyond the Headlines
‘Wall Street’s Elite Team of Coffee Tasters Who Keep the Global Market Running’ by Krystal Hur
‘Six Big Themes from World of Coffee in San Diego’ by Eric Grimm
