Coffee is a pretty popular drink—as a Sprudge reader you don’t need me to tell you twice. But just how popular? Incredibly popular, according to the National Coffee Association, whose recent poll finds that coffee consumption in America is at “the highest it has been in two decades.”
The announcement came on Tuesday, March 15th, with the release of the NCA’s Spring 2022 National Data Trends report (which costs $1,500 to read, but is summarized for free via press release), “an exclusive compendium of the most in-depth coffee industry market research currently available.” Based on their consumer polling of Americans aged 18 and up, 66% of the population drinks coffee everyday, beating out every other beverage, including tea, juice, soda, and water, both bottled and tap. This is up 14% from the same time last year and represents the largest year-over-year increase since the NCA began tracking the metric.
The boost in popularity can be seen both in home and at cafes. Per the findings, at-home coffee consumption is holding strong with 84% of all coffee drinking taking part, still four points up from pre-pandemic numbers. And coffee in cafes is seeing an 8% spike in popularity from the same time last year, indicating that we have settled into whatever stage of the pre-post-pandemic this is, though the total 27% of respondents going out for coffee haven’t quite reached pre-pandemic levels. Per NCA President and CEO (not that) Bill Murray:
Given decades of independent scientific evidence that coffee drinkers live longer than people who never drink coffee, it’s fitting to see America’s top beverage emerge from COVID-19 more popular than ever at home, on the go, in the office, and in coffee shops around the country.
In total, an estimated 517 million cups of coffee are consumed every day in America, roughly 1.6 cups for every person in the country and 3.1 cups per daily coffee drinker. Cappuccinos and lattes unsurprisingly tie for the most popular espresso-based beverages at 17% each, and drip coffee makers are the preferred home brew method at 41%.
And perhaps the biggest winner here is specialty coffee. The NCA’s Data Trends Report finds that 43% of coffee drinkers are opting for specialty coffee. This amounts to a 20 point increase since the same time last year and the highest level of interest to date.
While much of this falls into the “sounds about right” category of market research, it is nonetheless interesting to see the growth of coffee, particularly the specialty sector, in a by-the-numbers way. For more information or to view all the fun factoids, visit the National Coffee Association’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
