At-home coffee brewing has exploded in popularity during the pandemic. It was a necessity. Coffee shops were closed or had circumscribed curbside pickup services, and if you needed a caffeine fix, it was up to you to make it happen. That led to many people discovering a love for coffee brewing and its many, many rabbit holes. Types of brewers, filters, water, proportions, origins and processing methods, deep dives into making the best coffee were aplenty.
But now that life has more or less returned to normal — or whatever the recent normal is — people are returning to their senior coffee-drinking habits, and a recent report from National Coffee Association shows that out-of-home coffee consumption has reached pre-pandemic levels.
The results are part of the NCA study Trends in National Coffee Data Fall 2024 (NCDT) report, their half-year look at U.S. consumer habits. The biggest takeaway from this edition of NCDT was where Americans are buying their coffee. While at-home coffee remains the most popular among those who had the drink the previous day — holding at 81% — coffee away from home rose to 36% of respondents, the highest level in NCA’s reporting on the subject since January 2020.
Taken together, these figures show that many people who drank coffee in the past did not limit themselves to drinking it at home or on the go. Almost one in five people admit to drinking coffee both at home and in a café.
A total of 63% of people in the survey said they had had coffee the previous day, making it the second most popular beverage after bottled water. People are still addicted to the good stuff, with the report showing that specialty coffee remains at a 13-year high at 45% of all Americans. That trend was bolstered by icy brew, which was the “most popular non-espresso drink” at 21%. That’s up more than 30% since the January 2024 report, likely due to the changing seasons and many opting for cooler beverage options.
So while the pandemic-induced home brewing of coffee seems to be doing well, the habit of drinking coffee on the go seems to be making a comeback. And what’s most promising is that they don’t seem to be cannibalizing each other; people are simply drinking more coffee. For more information on the fall 2024 National Coffee Data Trends report, visit the official website of the National Coffee Association.
