Nearly half of Americans drink soda daily; Daily coffee consumption on the increase

A recent Gallup survey found that nearly half (48%) of Americans drink soda daily. For those that do drink soft drinks, the average is 2.6 glasses per day.

That same survey found that 64% of Americans reported that they typically drink at least one cup of coffee per day, with average consumption of 2.5 cups.

Meanwhile, the National Coffee Association of the USA released its 2012 National Coffee Drinking Trends Report that found that the number of survey respondents reporting they had consumed coffee during the previous week jumped from 68% the previous year to 73%. It also reported that gourmet coffee consumption had increased from 37% of all coffee consumed in 2011 to 46% in 2012. 32% of Americans reported drinking a gourmet coffee ‘yesterday.’

Although the NCA report looked at weekly versus daily frequency like Gallup did, it found that regular coffee consumption exceeds soft drink consumption by 10 percentage points. This is basically consistent with Gallup’s findings that more people drink coffee than drink soft drinks.

For LBEs and FECs, this may mean a major adjustment to your beverage service, especially when it comes to offering gourmet coffees.