Youth Invigorate US Coffee Consumption

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Young coffee drinkers and “soaring consumer enthusiasm” across all demographics has reversed a three-year decline in US coffee consumption, according to the National Coffee Association’s annual drinking trends survey.

The percentage of Americans drinking coffee on a daily basis increased to 62% this year, up from 57% in 2016, according to the NCA’s National Coffee Drinking Trends (NCDT) tracking report.

The increase brings for past-day overall coffee consumption reverses slow declines since 2013. “More of us are drinking coffee, and younger consumers appear to be leading the charge,” said Bill Murray, NCA president and c.e.o. “A steadily growing taste for gourmet varieties is also driving a wider trend toward specialty beverages.”

While the frequency of daily consumption continued to grow for all age groups, the most robust increase occurred among those 13-18, whose daily consumption rose to 37% in 2017 from 31% in 2016, capping a 14-point increase over 2014’s 23%, according to the NCDT. Gains were seen across all demographics according to Murray.

“The 40-59 group showed an 11-point uptick over last year – moving from 53% in 2016 to 64% in 2017 – but the increase essentially restored levels seen in 2014,” he said, adding. “Those 60+ moved to 68% in 2017 from 64% last year, while the 25- to 39-year-olds increased from 60% to 63%, and the 18-24 cohort edged up to 50% from 2016’s 48%.”

The report cited “soaring consumer enthusiasm” for espresso-based drinks and other gourmet coffee varieties across most demographics. Specifics are detailed in a separate report, Generational Report: Coffee Through the Ages.”

When gourmet coffee beverages are singled out, the changes were even more dramatic, according to Murray.

Compared with last year, daily consumption among those 40-59 jumped to 39% in 2017 versus 24% in 2016. Consumption increases among the other age groups were: 36% to 39% for those 18-24, 41% to 50% for the 25- to 39-year-olds , and 24% to 34% among the 60+ cohort.

Among13- to 18-year-olds, 29% drank a gourmet coffee beverage yesterday, compared with 19% for traditional coffee, and a 70% share of the cups they drank were gourmet versus 30% non-gourmet, according to the tracking report.

Other findings include:

• The 2017 results show the largest one-year increase in past-day espresso-based beverages in NCDT history – a jump from 18 to 24%.

• More than half of all cups of coffee consumed in the past- day were gourmet – 59% in 2017 versus 46% in 2012.

• “Non-Espresso-Based Beverages,” a new category for 2017 consisting of non-espresso, gourmet coffee-based beverages, made a strong debut in past-week consumption:

o Frozen Blended - 14%

o Cold Brew – 11%

o Nitrogen-infused - 3%.

Single-Cup

Single-cup brewing continues to grow exponentially in 2017. New data shows that nearly one-third of American households (33%) now own a single-cup brewer, up from 29% in 2016. That means since 2012, ownership has grown nearly five-fold. Thirteen to 18-year-olds reported that single-cup ownership in their households jumped from 23% to 31% over the last two years.

Purchase intent also increased – those who would “definitely or probably buy” a single-cup brewer jumped to 17% in 2017, up from 10% in 2016. Similarly, definite or probable gifting intent jumped by 5 percentage points over last year.

Data in the NCDT report is also made available on an interactive, online platform that enables customization by applying multiple demographic filters. And, the NCDT report and companion reports, like the new Generational Report, are now published in time for the NCA Convention, rather than in early summer as in years prior to 2015.  

Learn more: www.ncausa.org