Americans drinking better but less coffee: poll

By Marcy Nicholson

AVENTURA, Florida (Reuters) - More Americans are drinking gourmet coffee than ever before but fewer people overall are having any kind of coffee every day, the National Coffee Association of USA (NCA) said on Saturday.

More than 6,000 adults in the United States were questioned in a telephone and Internet poll in January and February for the 2008 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey to be published in May. Preliminary data was released at the NCA's annual convention in Florida.

According to the survey, 17 percent of adults drank gourmet coffee daily -- up from 14 percent in 2007. Gourmet coffee includes espresso-based drinks.

But overall daily coffee consumption eased to 55 percent of adults from 57 percent a year ago. In 2004, the figure was 49 percent.

Daily consumption by 18-to-24-year-olds fell to 26 percent from a high of 37 percent in 2007, the NCA said.

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