Two-Thirds of Americans Said They Drank Coffee Yesterday, NCA Report Finds

Coffee has retained its spot as the most popular commercialized beverage in the United States, with 66% of U.S. adults saying they drank it within the past day, according to the Spring 2026 National Coffee Data Trends (NCDT) report from the National Coffee Association.

Coffee-based drinks topped bottled water (64%), tea (47%), soda (46%) and juice (26%) in past-day consumption in the biannual NCDT report, conducted by the firm Dig Insights and commissioned by the NCA. The trade group has been issuing the report since 1950. 

Data for the Spring 2026 edition were collected January 5-20, 2026, from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 18 and older who reported drinking something other than tap water within the past day. 

Daily Drinking

Past-day consumption has held at 66% for three consecutive NCDT reports — Spring 2025, Fall 2025 and now Spring 2026 — following the 20-year high of 67% reached in Spring 2024.

Past-week consumption stands at 73%. The NCA estimates nearly 195 million American adults drink coffee each week, totaling roughly 507 million cups per day nationally.

Specialty Coffee Growth

Specialty coffee continues a multi-year climb. Fifty-eight percent of American adults reported having a specialty coffee in the past week, up from 57% in last fall’s report and representing a 9.4% increase since 2022. Meanwhile, traditional coffee consumption has remained flat at 62%.

The NCA attributes the specialty growth primarily to espresso-based beverages, with past-week espresso-based consumption climbing from 40% in 2022 to 45% now. Lattes lead that category at 21%, up from 18% in the Fall 2023 report, followed by espresso at 20% (up from 16%), cappuccino at 17%, mocha at 12%, Americano at 10%, macchiato at 9% and flat white at 5%.

Cold and Hot Trends

Among non-espresso cold coffee beverages consumed in the past week, cold brew led at 18%, followed by frozen blended at 15% and nitro at 6%. Cold brew has risen 31% since 2025.

As one of two annual NCDT reports now issued by the group — the fall report following summertime surveys and the spring report following winter surveys — the 2026 spring report reinforces temperature trends. For 2026, 78% of past-day cups were served hot, up 13% from fall 2025.

Cold or iced formats still accounted for 17% of daily cups in the winter survey, a sign of the category’s growing popularity even in colder weather.

Where People Drink

Eighty-five percent of past-day coffee drinkers said they drank coffee at home — the highest figure recorded since 2012, according to the NCA.

Thirty-six percent also drank coffee out of home, with the workplace (14%), in-transit locations (13%) and eating places (10%) as the most common outside venues.

Among people who said they drank coffee at home yesterday, 37% said they used automatic drip machines, followed by single-cup machines (28%), ready-to-drink (15%), espresso machines (13%), cold brewing (13%), instant coffee (11%) and bean-to-cup brewers (8%).

Regionally, the Northeast led past-day consumption at 75%, followed by the West (68%), South (66%) and Midwest (57%). American coffee drinkers reported consuming an average of 2.8 cups per day.

The full Spring 2026 NCDT report is available for $550 to members as part of the NCDT Market Research Series, or for $1,499 to nonmembers as a standalone report.

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