Daily coffee consumption at 20-year high | Hacker News Reader

Daily coffee consumption at 20-year high

ncausa.org

14 pointsecliptik10 comments

FWIW this defines coffee consumption as percentage of people who report having consumed coffee within the last day. I would have assumed by the headline it was talking about total or even per capita consumption.

This was it interesting though:

> NCA’s Spring 2024 National Coffee Data Trends (NCDT) report reveals that 67% of American adults had coffee in the past day (more than any other beverage, including tap or bottled water)

Given that this is an article by a coffee trade organization, I'd expect it to be biased towards coffee. It may be that Americans drink more water but by splitting it into two categories for tap and bottled, they are able to claim a plurality here.

I wonder if any of the increase among older folks is driven by there being fewer and fewer places to socialize, pushing people to go to coffeehouses.

> Increased past-day coffee consumption is driven by consumers ages 25+. The greatest increase is among consumers 60+, whose past-day consumption increased by 9% (from 67% to 73%). Consumers aged 25–39 and 40–59 both saw consumption rise by 4.5% (from 67% to 70% and from 66% to 69%, respectively). Consumption by 18–24-year-olds held steady at 47%.

This surprised me. I'd have thought that since, according to countless headlines, younger generations are drinking less alcohol that they'd be offsetting that with consumption of more coffee.

>I'd have thought that since, according to countless headlines, younger generations are drinking less alcohol that they'd be offsetting that with consumption of more coffee.

Why are these two things even remotely related? It seems like you just stuck two completely different thoughts together.

Younger people are drinking more "energy drinks" than coffee I think.

> Why are these two things even remotely related? It seems like you just stuck two completely different thoughts together.

I mean, they're both beverages that people consume which, to different extents, alter their perceptions? It's not like I was saying I was surprised by a lack of correlation between entirely different activities, like people playing less poker and eating more cookies. There's also an historical thread of people who are adamantly against (straight edge; sometimes contentious but here's the originator's take: youtube.com/watch?v=jRe54BpFdeE) or adjacent to drinking culture (mods, hackers, athletes, etc.) who are more into coffee/caffeine. Those folks may use it as a crutch, as a way to disambiguate themselves (I know people who do this) or just as an alternative. So, instead of going to a bar on a Friday night, they will go to a cafe. Therefore, my thinking was that if younger generations are not drinking as much, they may be gathering and consuming other beverages instead (i.e. coffee).

Meditation is nearly impossible while caffeine is still in my body… Maybe coffee caused the sacrifice of religion for more technology

I started drinking paper filtered coffee a few years ago after reading various Harvard health articles all but suggesting that drinking (paper filtered) coffee is a health benefit for you (assuming that the side effects of coffee on oneself is tolerable).

This reminds me of all the breakfast and health related research done by Quaker.

Eliminating caffeine will be the next trendy health thing to do.

remember, coffee lovers love decaf, because they can drink it all the time

(yes, I know quantity != quality; also decaf doesn't mean caffeine-free)

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