The best coffee city in the U.S. is… Orlando? Plus, according to the National Coffee Association, specialty coffee consumption keeps rising, and researchers debunk online coffee health myths.
‘Specialty Coffee Consumption Hits New Highs’ – via National Coffee Association
It’s time, once again, to see how Americans like their coffee. Every six months, the National Coffee Association (NCA) releases its National Coffee Data Trends report, examining U.S. coffee consumption in depth. The report offers insights into things like how people are brewing their coffee, and whether they’re making a latte at home or grabbing it at a cafe.
In many ways, the fall report echoes the findings of the spring report from earlier this year. For example, two-thirds of those surveyed had coffee in the past day, a finding that remains unchanged since spring. Specialty coffee consumption also increased: 48% had a specialty coffee in the past day, while 59% had one over the past week.
These are both 1% increases on the spring report, but show a significant rise over the past five years—in 2021, past-day specialty coffee consumption was just 36%. (As Daily Coffee News notes, the NCA’s definition of specialty coffee includes frozen and blended beverages and ready-to-drink coffee as well as “traditionally brewed coffee that consumers perceive as being made with premium coffee.”)
Some other key findings from the report:
- While most past-day drinkers made their coffee at home, 38% bought coffee while out and about—that’s the highest level since January 2020.
- Cold/iced coffee’s popularity continued to grow throughout summer months, accounting for 21% of past-day consumption, up from 17% in the spring.
- More than half that had coffee away from home in the past week said they’d ordered at a drive-thru, while 40% ordered through an app.
“Few things are as deeply woven into American life as coffee, and these numbers show our love for coffee is only growing stronger and more diverse,” NCA CEO Bill Murray said in a press release. “Whether it’s brewed at home, ordered at a drive-thru, or enjoyed in a favorite espresso-based drink, coffee continues to evolve while remaining an essential part of millions of Americans’ daily routines.”
Read more on the NCA’s latest coffee consumption data here.
‘The Coffee Capital of the United States Is Not Where You Think’ – via WalletHub
When you think of the best coffee city in America, you probably picture New York City, or Los Angeles, or maybe Seattle. But according to a new analysis, the coffee capital of the U.S. is actually… Orlando, Florida.
Personal finance company WalletHub compared 12 key indicators of what it calls “coffee lover-friendliness” across 100 cities. Metrics included the price of a bag of coffee, price of a cappuccino, spending on coffee per household, and the number of highly rated and affordable coffee shops per capita, among other factors.
Orlando ranked top due to its average household spend of more than $154 per year on coffee, number of coffee shops overall, and the number of cafes offering free wi-fi. The more traditional coffee powerhouse of Portland, Oregon, ranked second, and another Floridian city, Miami, ranked third.
Some other interesting data points include that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had the most coffee shops per capita, while residents of Fremont, California, spent the most on coffee per household. Meanwhile, Garland, Texas had the lowest average price for a cappuccino.
Notably, WalletHub’s research did not account for the vast differences in purchasing power across cities, define what counts as an “affordable” coffee shop, or define pack sizes for its “price per pack of coffee” metric. It did, however, include donut shops per capita and Google search traffic for the term “coffee” per capita.
Read more on the surprising U.S. coffee capital here.
More News
‘Coffee Traders’ Big Shipments Are Set To Boost Exchange Stocks and Weigh on Prices’ via Reuters
‘Labor Department Sues Oklahoma Nonprofit Not Your Average Joe’ via Daily Coffee News
‘The UK Has a New Biggest Coffee Chain – and It’s Bad News for Costa’ via The Independent
‘Pusha T and Pharrell Williams Launch Grindin Coffee in NYC’ via The Source
‘Grounds for Health Marks 30 Years with Annual Coffee Auction’ via Daily Coffee News
‘Starbucks Considers Selling Majority Stake in Its Japan Business, Sources Say’ via Reuters
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
- While the Starbucks union continues its call to boycott the company, Starbucks workers around the U.S. continue to unionize. Over the past two weeks, baristas at stores in Nevada, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma have all voted to join Starbucks Workers United. “We care deeply about our store, our customers, and each other, and we’re coming together to make sure partners are heard, supported, treated with the respect we deserve,” a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Queens, New York, told Patch.com.
- In Canada, workers at a Starbucks in Hamilton, Ontario, have joined the United Steelworkers union (USW). Staff at the store said they faced harassment and abuse from customers, and also cited the lack of a clear wage structure and limited employee opportunities. “We felt that without [a union] we didn’t really have a voice,” one worker told CBC. USW represents workers at several Starbucks locations in Ontario and Western Canada. Starbucks told CBC that the company’s success “starts and ends” with its employees, and that “we respect the right of all partners to make their own decisions regarding unions.”
Is Coffee Good For You?
More than a third of U.S. adults get their health information from social media. However, a new analysis by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) found much of that health information is inaccurate, and that inaccuracy has spilled over into coffee too.
According to ISIC, there are now more than 20 million coffee-related posts on TikTok, and searches for ‘coffee’ have risen 40% in five years. This has fueled myths about coffee, including the claims that coffee is bad for your heart, that drinking decaf is pointless, and that coffee dehydrates you. More than 1 million searches last year were for coffee myths, ISIC found.
In fact, studies into all these subjects have shown essentially the opposite. This newsletter has covered many of them: coffee has generally been shown to be good for your heart; decaf has many of the same health benefits as regular coffee; and dehydration from coffee isn’t a major issue.
“There are so many coffee myths on social media. Many of them are based on grains of truth that have been exaggerated or taken out of context, while others are simply not supported by the evidence,” said Kate Hilton, a registered dietitian, in the ISIC press release. “That’s why it is so important to look critically at what we see online, check where information is coming from, and rely on qualified health professionals and reputable, science-backed sources when making decisions about diet and health.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘In Vietnam, The World Coffee Museum Tells A Global Story’ by Huyen Nguyen
‘Why Mokha, Historic Port That Shaped the Coffee Trade, Is a Prize in Yemen’s War’ by Jonathan Wolfe
