The single-serve format, which involves machines designed to brew one cup at a time, continues to grow. The study showed that 13 percent of the U.S. population drank coffee made in a single-cup brewer the previous day, up from 10 percent in 2012.
Mintel, a Chicago-based market-research firm, reports that the single-cup coffee market has exploded from $103 million in sales in 2007 to $11.8 billion in 2012.
"The interest in coffee makers has been increasing, increasing and increasing as people look to replicate the coffee shop experience at home," said Martie Sullivan, owner of Sweet Basil Gourmetmare and Cooking School in Scottsdale, Ariz.
In addition, experts credit coffee's new-found image as healthy for driving up sales. Coffee, caffeinated or decaffeinated, may help extend the lives of people who drink it daily, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institute.
Men who drank two to three cups a day had a 10 percent chance of outliving those who drank no coffee, while women had a 13 percent advantage, according to the 2012 study.
Other research suggests coffee lowers the risk of diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.
"I don't think it's just a coincidence that consumption increased during a time when research refuted the old health myths and proved that coffee was in fact good for you," DeRupo said.
Changing demographics
While steady growth of consumption continues, the demographics of coffee drinkers constantly changes.
NCA tracked Hispanic-American drinkers for the last two years, and now ties increases in overall coffee consumption to them: 74 percent of Hispanic-Americans drink coffee daily, a full 12 percentage points ahead of non-Hispanics.
"We're doing a better job of including the Hispanic-American coffee-drinking habits into the survey, and we credit this with part of the overall gain," DeRupo said.
But the younger generation is drinking less.
Among those ages 18 to 24, 41 percent said they drank coffee daily, down from 50 percent in 2012. Young adults also greatly reduced their daily intake of non-gourmet traditional coffee, dropping to 17 percent from 27 percent last year, the study showed.
Experts, however, are hesitant to label the decrease a trend. Coffee drinking among youths has been volatile, bouncing up and down annually, for the last decade.
Despite changing drinking habits, coffee consumption is expected to continue climbing.
"We usually flip over new foods, not something that has been around for centuries," Thompson said. "But today coffee's got everything going for it, plus a jolt of caffeine that's hard to beat."
