Coffee stands as one of the most popular drinks in the entire world, alongside other staple beverages such as tea, beer, and plain water. This creates an enormous worldwide market for coffee beans, grounds, and accessories such as stir sticks, sugar packets, cups with lids, and more. For those who want to drink their coffee to go, a paper cup is nearly always the best route to take. A business professional in a rush can get their morning coffee in a paper cup with a plastic lid and take it nearly anywhere. Other times, Styrofoam or paper cups may be found a the office in the break room, where a coffee station may be ready for use. Just how big is the coffee industry today? When is the best time to have a cup?
The Coffee Market
It is safe to say that the coffee industry is a juggernaut, and this is especially true in the United States. France and Italy are known for their charming outdoor coffee and tea cafes, but Americans are a ravenous customer base for this drink. To illustrate this point, as of 2014, the United States imported an impressive haul of 27.5 million bags of coffee. This represented 25% of the world’s un-roasted coffee imports, making the United States the single largest coffee market of all. This makes for a huge market value. The retail value of the American coffee market is estimated to be close to $48 billion, and specialty drinks make up around 55% of that market share. Coffee stores big and small are hard at work selling this drink, whether it be black coffee, iced coffee, lattes, espresso, or anything else. Combined, independent and small coffee shops sell an impressive share of all American coffee, with the rest being sold by major, well-known chains.
Plenty of Americans are supporting this industry. Around 150 million people, nearly half of the entire population, drink coffee at least occasionally, and many Americans drink it regularly. Among all drinkers, around three cups are consumed per day per person, and for the entire American population, the average is 1.64 cups per day. Most often, coffee is consumed with breakfast, given how it is a stimulant. Nearly 65% of all coffee is consumed during the breakfast time of the day, with 30% of coffee being consumed between meals and only 5% being consumed with other drinks. Around 35% of coffee drinkers consume it plain, or black, and 65% of drinkers add sugar or cream to their drink for flavor and sweetness.
How to Drink
A business professional may want coffee to boost their cognitive performance during the work day, but there may not be time to brew it at home. Instead, many Americans today choose to get coffee to go from any number of coffee shops in their area. These shops will offer paper coffee cups with spill-resistant plastic lids, and this can be very convenient. These paper cups typically come with a cardboard sleeve that protects the hand from the heat of the drink, and the plastic lid resists spills and also helps contain the heat. These spill-proof, lightweight containers can be taken on board a bus or taxi, or even a subway without any mess. And of course, a person can drink from it while walking. The paper cup can later be disposed of in any trash receptacle.
What about at the office? Many American office workers like to have a cup of coffee for their day, and this means that a coffee station may be set up in the break room. The office co-workers can take turns buying new coffee beans, grounds, sugar and cream packets, and more on a rotation basis. Meanwhile, anyone who finds an empty coffee pot is urged to refill it right away, so everyone can have a drink at any time. Anyone who uses the coffee station is urged to keep it neat and tidy, and clean up any messes that they might make. Employees may also offer paper cups or Styrofoam cups for convenience, and rotate between who buys and restocks these items. All of this can make for an affordable and fair coffee station for anyone to use at their leisure.