Coffee machines are increasing but coffee consumption declining in Australia

In December 2013, 56 percent of Australians were likely to visit a café for a tea or coffee compared to 54 percent three years earlier.

This is just one of the findings from a recent survey conducted by Roy Morgan Research.

Interestingly in December 2013, 44 percent of people had a coffee machine at home or work, This compared to only 38 percent in 2009.

It seems that coffee consumption is on the increase and the number of coffee machines in use is not impacting on the café trade.

However the survey shows that the actual number of cups an Australian adult is consuming has decreased from 10.5 per week to 9.2 in 2013.

So the survey is showing that we have more machines and are visiting cafes more, but have reduced the amount of cups of coffee we are actually drinking. The reason may be as simple as an developing taste for good coffee, in other words we are looking for quality not quantity.

The survey also showed us who are the biggest coffee drinkers in our community. There seems to be a strong relationship between the number of hours someone works and the amount of cups of coffee they drink. The survey showed that longer hours, most likely means more coffee with an average of 10.1 cups per week, compared to only 8.6 cups for those doing less than 39 hours each week.

It wasn’t only the longer hours that resulted in more coffee consumption, the survey also showed that having children increases the number of cups per week. Those with children were drinking 9.6 cups per week in December 2013, compared to only 7.2 cups for those without children. The older the children, the higher the number of cups drunk each week.

Angela Smith, Group Account Manager Consumer Products, Roy Morgan Research; “While it makes sense that people who work long hours would consume more coffee, their need for caffeine goes beyond this, to the point where they also drink more Cola and energy drinks than people who work fewer hours. The news that parents of older children drink more coffee in an average week than those of infants may seem surprising, considering the stereotype of the sleep-deprived new parent, but this is simply a function of age. Our data shows that older people drink more coffee, and parents of older children are typically older than those of infants. Mind you, their extra caffeine requirements might also be linked to the sleep they lose through lying awake at night, worrying about where their kids are or what they’re up to”.

Written by Rachelle Williams – the Green Food Safety Coach