81% of Canadians drink coffee occasionally and over 63% of Canadians over the age of 18 drink coffee on a daily basis making coffee the # 1 beverage choice of adult Canadians. Coffee is a more popular beverage in Canada than the United States with just 49% of Americans drinking coffee on a daily basis.

Daily coffee consumption varies across the country, from a high of 70% in Quebec to a low of just over 53% in the Atlantic region. Approximately 60% of adults in Ontario, 67% in the Prairies and 61% in B.C. drink coffee on a daily basis.

For several decades coffee has been the favourite beverage of adult Canadians, other than tap water and is more popular than tea, milk, beer, fruit juices and soft drinks.

Canadian coffee drinkers' drink an average of 2.6 cups of coffee per day. Men and women are equally likely to be coffee consumers with men drinking slightly more coffee than women.

Coffee is a morning beverage with nearly 51% of coffee consumed at breakfast, 16% in the balance of the morning, 9% at lunch, 10% in the afternoon, 8% at dinner and 7% in the evening.

Medium roast coffees dominate the breakfast market, accounting for 56% of coffee consumed at that time of day.

The majority, 66%, of coffee is consumed at home, 12% is consumed at work, 16% is consumed or purchased at eating places and 5% is consumed in other places such as hospital, schools, hockey rinks and other institutions. Drinking coffee in-transit increased from 2% in 1999 to 7% in 2003.

79% of coffee consumed at home is purchased at a grocery store/supermarket, with 7% being purchased at a gourmet/specialty coffee shop.

Approximately 9% of coffee drinkers' drink decaffeinated coffee on a regular basis.

The share of total coffee consumption accounted for by instant coffee is 17%.

One-half (50%) of adult Canadians consumed a 'specialty' coffee beverage in the past year. However, with 6% of Canadians drinking these beverages on a daily basis, specialty coffee remains an occasional purchase. Iced coffee is growing dramatically. Past year penetration of 24% compares favourably to 21% in 2001 and 14% in 1999.
32% of adult Canadians reported drinking cappuccino during the past year, compared to 38% in 1999.

One-third (32%) of adult Canadians reported drinking a flavoured coffee in the past year. This is unchanged since 1999. Flavoured coffee tends to appeal to younger Canadians with higher income and higher education.

In terms of what they put into their cup of coffee, 20% of Canadian like their coffee black, 7% with sugar only, 33% with cream or milk only and 40% like both dairy and a sweetener.

37% of coffee drinkers have an awareness of organic - up from 30% in 2001. Awareness of fairtrade coffee increased from 4% in 2001 to 11% in 2003.

The Coffee Association of Canada commissioned the Canadian Coffee Drinking Study. The results are based on telephone interviews on 2,500 Canadians 18 years and older. The data is broken down equally over the five regions of the country. For further information or to purchase copies of the report summary please contact Sandy McAlpine or Paige Entwistle at the Coffee Association of Canada at 416-510-8032.