✉️ This story was featured in this week’s Coffee News Club.
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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.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.
