Coffee Drinkers’ Top Choice

The United States of Coffee

Throughout the years, with a steady 7% annual growth rate, coffee shops are becoming one of the fastest growing businesses. According to Reuters, Americans are consuming coffee more than before, with 64 percent of Americans age 18 and over consumes at least a cup of coffee everyday.

Given how diverse the United States is, there is bound to also be diversity in our choices in coffee. To dig into this further, we collected data on the amount Americans searched for Americanos, Cappuccinos, Lattes, Iced Coffees, Espressos, Breves, Black Coffees, Cortados, and Mochas on Google. Our study showed that out of the 50 States, 28 states’ top search is Cappuccino (56%), and 11 state’s favorite search is Iced Coffee (36%). Espresso is also the top search within 6 states, Latte being the top search in 2 states. Surprisingly, Breve is the number one search in New Mexico.

Breve being the top searched coffee in New Mexico was a huge anomaly in the data, so we decided to dig deeper. We found that the largest ethnicity in New Mexico is Hispanic, with 48.8% of the population (Ibis Health). As reported by Packaged Facts, Hispanic culture tends to cook with dairy products more often than other races, such as Asians, Caucasians, etc. So how is this related to Breve being the top searched coffee in New Mexico? Breve is made with Espresso, high amounts of Half and Half/Milk, and a tiny foam on top. Therefore, there is more dairy ratio compared to the amount of coffee.

Did you know, the top 4 coffee searches in all 50 States are Cappuccino, Latte, Iced Coffee, and Espresso, in respective order? Interestingly, every time when Cappuccino rated as first in search, the searches on Iced Coffee (11 states), Latte (9 states), and Macchiato (8 states) came in second.

Compiling the data, here are the top three searches by population of the states:

1. California (38.19% Cappuccino, 31.25% Macchiato, 30.56% Latte)

2. Texas (36.24% Iced Coffee, 35.24% Cappuccino, 28.52% Latte)

3. New York (35.63% Cappuccino, 33.84% Macchiato, and 30.54% Espresso)

We thought the weather may have been one of the primary influences for a preference in coffee, but it might just be the coffee culture in the state. For instance, Espresso coffee was the top search in Washington, Oregan, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska. Who doesn’t love a shot? The richness from a cup of fresh pressed Espresso may just speak for itself. Maybe coffee culture runs on the wholesomeness of Espresso beans, a single shot might get you through the day, and it is easy to mix and match with different drinks to create your own flavor.

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Methodology:

Our research was done using Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends in April 2019. We collected data on the number of different coffee searches from all 50 States within the last 12 months.