American coffee consumption declines

[Jenise]

From Eater.com:

Americans are drinking less and less coffee, thanks in part to K-Cups. According to Reuters, while the country is spending more money on coffee, people are — for the first time in six years — not consuming as much of it. Of the world's top eight coffee-drinking countries, America is the only one to see a "decline in consumption." The amount consumed is expected to drop from 24 million 60 kg bags down to 23.7 million this year — or approximately 126.9 billion 8-oz cups of coffee down to 125.4 billion cups — according to a biannual coffee report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This is in part due to the rapid growth of single-serve coffee machines like the Keurig. Consumers now only brew "what they intend to drink," which Reuters writes is reducing the amount of coffee wasted. Coffee roaster Pedro Gavina laments, "People used to make a pot of coffee, now they make a cup." Coffee drinkers are also buying more single-serving pods and less bags of coffee. The Washington Post notes that "more than one out of every three dollars spent on coffee in this country is spent on a coffee pod."

A National Coffee Association survey reveals that despite the backlash, the number of American households that own single-serve coffee machines has gone up. In 2014, only 15 percent of households had one, but in 2015, that number jumped to over 25 percent. The growth is surprising considering that K-Cups are widely criticized for being wasteful and for having a negative impact on the environment. Even the pod's inventor, John Sylvan, regrets ever creating them.

I don't and won't use Keurig. But we too have gone to single servings instead of whole pots with our Bodum individual French Press mugs. Considering how absolutely essential to life we've found these mugs to be, I'm downright amazed that they didn't catch on, or that people would prefer K-cup coffee. It's faster than French press, but in no other way is it better.

[Robin Garr]

Interesting. Disregarding the source - our local Eater outlet was so awful that it imploded in less than a year - it doesn't surprise me that single-serving coffee is making a difference. I won't use a Keurig either, but over recent years we've used a small French press (just enough for two, with a little bit left for warmups), a single-serving Melitta filter cone, and currently an Aeropress, which is especially awesome.

I never did like the idea of making a pot that I wouldn't drink, so single-serving was a no-brainer over here.

[Jenise]

We never intentionally tried to cut back. We liked drip coffee pot coffee just fine and had just bought a brandy new one about the time we bought the Starbucks version of single cup French Press mugs to take on our boat. And then we remodeled the kitchen and now had an instant-hot tap, and one day one of us got up much earlier than the other and made a cup in the travel mug instead of making a whole pot, so the other person did likewise later. And so it went every day for about two weeks, and then one weekend we got up at the same time and made a pot of drip coffee out of the very same coffee beans we'd been using in the mugs--AND WE COULDN'T STAND THE TASTE. Was shocking that our tastes had changed that fast, frankly. We've never looked back, though we've upgraded to Bodum which keep the coffee hotter longer. I've been sitting here at this desk with a cup that was made at 9:30 (it's now 10:56), and it's still fantastically hot. Not only is the first sip better than any other coffee, it stays like that for up to about three hours. It never acquires the burnt flavor that drip coffee does after about 20 minutes of sitting on the so-called warming element.

And if an hour after I make it I find myself on my way to the dentist or something? It goes with me!

We finally bought more mugs so that we could serve coffee this way to company, since stepping back to drip coffee became so unacceptable. I've never found a Keurig coffee--I've had many in hotel rooms and waiting rooms--I wanted a second cup of. Most of them are dark roasts that taste burnt to me. In fact, out of self-defense last November, we were staying at a hotel for a couple days and we bought 'blonde roast' k-cup thingies at a Walgreens around the corner to use back in our hotel room, and now we take those with us when we travel.

But I do hate the waste of those k-cups. No waste in the Bodum! When I'm finished, I add some water to loosen the grounds and it all goes into the garden.

Not in this house.

We make a standard pot for the two of us every morning.

Then, for the rest of the day, I rely on my Nespresso machine for lungos, applied as needed.

Robin, I won't buy a Keurig either, but since I indulge in a Nespresso I can rationalize that by telling myself I'm saving money by not buying as much at a Starbucks or Peets, not using as much gas, etc., etc. You know: all the things we tell outselves when we need to.

No reduction here. True love is off caffeine for awhile, so I make here a pot of green tea in the morning. That leaves the whole liter of coffee for moi. Wonderful.

K-Cups is what the office provides so that is what I drink.

At home, I go to one of the coffee shops in the neighborhood. I rarely make coffee at home. When I do, I have a Melitta cone and I have an itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny drip maker.

[David M. Bueker]

I have a 4 cup pot (drip) that I make ultra-strong each morning (I only make about 3 cups, using enough coffee for about 6). Laura does not drink coffee.

In general that is the end of coffee for me each day.

It is rare for us not to drink all of the coffee that is made, however much that is. In the past, I would make a full 10-cup pot, drink seven of the "cups" myself (which is really about two large mugs) leaving three (or about one large mug) for my wife. In the past year, that last three cups has gone to my daughter rather than my wife. On rare occasions, I'll make another three cup pot for wife or daughter. If anyone wants coffee after 10 AM or so, I'll use the Aeropress.

Interesting analysis by country.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... 10/283100/

You guys are trailing us but Canada is way behind the Netherlands and all of Scandinavia!

It's dark up there, what else have they got to do?

It's dark up there, what else have they got to do?

Hey, when we Eskimos crawl into our igloos it isn't just to blubber!

(Sorry for the Eskimo humour - you have to be inuit to get it).

Ice see what you mean, though it's cold comfort, to be sure.

[Jenise]

Interesting analysis by country.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... 10/283100/

You guys are trailing us but Canada is way behind the Netherlands and all of Scandinavia!

Not quite the brewed awakening you might imagine. We'll give you Florida and Texas (for a variety of reasons ), that'll bring your numbers way down.