May 2, 2024 - Food and Drink
The South has a coffee drinking problem
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We Southerners really love our coffee.
Driving the brews: 66% of adults in the South drank coffee in the past day, up from 60% in 2020, according to a recent National Coffee Association survey.
- For NCA's purposes, the South is all the East Coast states below the Mason-Dixon.
The big picture: Nationally, daily coffee drinking among U.S. adults is at 67%, a high of more than 20 years, NCA polling shows.
- That's makes coffee the nation's most consumed beverage, NCA notes, outranking water (tap and bottled) and soda as America's bevvy of choice.
- In 2004 when NCA began tracking national data, less than half of adults had coffee in the past day nationwide.
Between the lines: Although drip coffee is the most popular way to prepare coffee, consumption of espresso-based beverages has been growing nationally.
- Lattes are the most popular — 18% of American adults drank one in the past week — followed by espresso shots and cappuccinos, NCA says.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to note that 66% of adults in the South drank coffee in the past day, up from 60% in 2020 (not up 6% from 2020).