In This Economy? An Update On Coffee Consumption Behavior

When the National Coffee Association (NCA) conducted their semiannual National Coffee Data Trends research over the summer of 2025, they created a list of behavioral changes coffee drinkers might make in response to prices and asked: “Have you done any of the following within the last few months in response to the increase in coffee prices?” 

They found that 59% of coffee drinkers had changed at least one coffee buying behavior. They asked that question again this winter and 61% of respondents indicated they had “changed at least one coffee purchase behavior in the last few months.”

Here’s a list of the top four changes in coffee purchasing behavior followed by the percentage of coffee drinkers indicating they engaged in that behavior, first during the summer of 2025 and then in the winter of 2026.

• Stocked up on coffee when I saw that it was on sale: 20% vs 21%

• Reduced buying coffee from cafes/coffee shops/restaurants when I'm out: 15% vs 18%

• Bought coffee ONLY when I see it on sale in stores: 15% vs 15%

• Switched to a less expensive coffee brand to drink at home: 15% vs 15%

Clearly, coffee drinkers continue to engage in cost management behavior; but importantly, these changes are not impacting the overall consumption of coffee. While the number practicing some form of cost management increased by 4 million coffee drinkers over six months, overall daily consumption has remained steady at 66% of adults. Consumption among occasional coffee drinkers (past week) also remains stable at 73% of adults.

Once again the survey results seem to confirm that coffee is an inelastic product as individual consumption among daily coffee drinkers has remained in the neighborhood of three cups per day. While coffee drinkers might change the coffee they purchase, they do not, generally speaking, drink less coffee.

And believe it or not there is reason to celebrate something that actually happened between January 2025 and January of 2026: Occasional consumption (past week) of specialty coffee increased from 55% of the adult population to 58%. That’s 8 million people! 

Lattes have seen a notable winter over winter bump, from 17% of adults having had a latte during the past-week in January 2025, to 21% in January 2026. Otherwise, year-over-year consumption of most coffee beverage types remains consistent and changes seen over six months are largely seasonal (e.g. consumption of frozen blended coffee drinks drop by around 4% from summer to winter). 

Cold coffees aside, home brewing methods are not generally seasonal and are seeing some shifts that may be associated with higher prices. From January 2025 to January 2026, daily use of an espresso machine at home increased from 10% of daily coffee drinkers to 13%. Coincidentally–and I think also symbolically–this 3% increase in home preparation of espresso mirrors the 3% increase in coffee drinkers who say they have reduced the amount of coffee they buy from cafes, coffee shops, and restaurants. Of course, we don’t know what type of equipment is being used to make all this espresso, but we can rule out Mokka Stove Top brewers because that is one of the choices (3% if you’re wondering).

Over this same period, daily use of single-cup brewers has gone from 23% to 28%. As discussed in a previous blog, I believe this is an attempt at cost management by coffee drinkers even though single-cup pods often cost more per ounce of coffee than other categories of coffee for preparation at home. My postulation is that this is an attempt to avoid waste and control portions. Yes, per ounce, single-cup pods can be expensive but brewing three single cups using a pod brewer will almost always be cheaper than brewing an entire pot of coffee. Ownership of single-cup brewers has also increased by 5%, from 42% in 2025 to 47% in 2026.

Unfortunately, convenience trumps quality more often than we might care to consider, which is why we don’t see coffee drinkers who want to avoid waste and control portions switching to pour-over methods instead. In fact, daily use of pour-over methods dropped from 2% to 1% from January 2025 to January 2026. 

As for personal financial outlook, last year after just six months, from January 2025 to June 2025, the number of people who reported their financial situation having gotten worse over that period went from 24% to 31%. Although that number has softened somewhat to 29% in January 2026, it remains 5% higher than January 2025. 

It is worth noting that between the summer of 2025 and the winter of 2026 the number of coffee drinkers reducing coffee purchases from cafes, coffee shops, and restaurants has increased from 15% to 18%. This 3% drop is consistent with similar drops in food and beverage retail overall. In October 2025, a survey by YouGov revealed that 37% of Americans were dining out less frequently than they had been a year before and 83% said restaurant prices had increased "noticeably." 

As with coffee, diners have some strategies for managing costs:

• Choose cheaper restaurants: 60%

• Use discounts or coupons: 53%

• Order fewer items: 51%

• Skip drinks: 42%

• Skip desserts: 38%

• Order soft drinks rather than alcoholic drinks: 14%

This is known as “trading down.” People still want to go out, but they want to spend less money. This can be a double whammy for some restaurants in that there are two motivations behind a tactic like choosing a cheaper restaurant. First, diners just need to spend less money because not only are restaurants more expensive, everything else is more expensive too. Second, diners want to spend less because they don’t believe the food or experience is worth the price.

Trading Down may be an easier phrase than the professorial “inelasticity,” which I am inclined to wave about at the slightest excuse, but it’s the same thing and maybe something to think about. While most owners of fine dining establishments can’t easily open a second family restaurant or fast-casual outlet across town to capture changes in consumer behavior, most coffee roasters can bring more variety to their offerings.

Note: This blog is based on information from the National Coffee Association (NCA) National Coffee Data Trends Spring 2026 Report. I provided here a handful of statistics, but it should be noted, I barely scratch the surface of what is available within the report. The full report provides over 100 pages of comprehensive and detailed data on a vast variety of issues important to coffee professionals. I encourage anyone with the means to purchase the full report from the NCA.