Hispanics like coffee more than other market segments
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 1, 2012
Espresso-based beverages are popular among Hispanics
Photo: HispanicMPR
Hispanics like to drink coffee more than other racial and ethnic groups. They begin drinking coffee earlier than other groups and in their older years are more likely to be exclusive coffee drinkers; and 74 percent of Hispanic-Americans drink coffee daily, twelve percentage points ahead of other Americans. As they become acculturated they mimic the attitudes and behaviors of non Hispanic coffee drinkers, according to Ethnicity and Coffee: Focus on Hispanic-American and African-American Coffee Consumption Across the U.S. Market, a new study by the National Coffee Association, part of the organization’s NCA Market Research Series.
The study examined coffee consumption on a past-day, past-week and past-year basis. The researchers concluded Hispanic American respondents were more likely than Caucasians and African Americans to consume coffee on a past-day, past-week and past-year basis.
Hispanic American respondents to the survey were more likely compared to Caucasian and African American respondents to drink decaffeinated coffee and espresso-based beverages on a past-day basis. On a past-week and past-year basis, Hispanic American consumers were more likely compared to Caucasians and African Americans, to drink espresso-based beverages. The interviews led the Association researchers to the conclusion that higher past-week penetration among Hispanic Americans is driven by cappuccino and espresso; and that they are more likely to consume both of these beverages on a past-week basis.
The Association surveyed 2,955 Hispanic, Caucasian, African American and Asian and Other individuals. In order to be certain of the tastes and behaviors of Hispanics that group was over represented; one thousand Latinos were interviewed. To make sure the over representation did not bias the results when the researchers profiled the overall population the final dataset was weighted based on age, gender, region and ethnicity to match the U.S. population based on the 2010 U.S. census.
The breakdown by country of origin or geographic area among the Hispanics interviewed for this project was: from Mexico (502), Other (137), Puerto Rico (132), Cuba (81), and Dominican Republic (52). By language preference (defined as level of acculturation by the researchers): Spanish Dominant (336), Bilingual (312) and English Dominant (269).
The National Coffee Association of U.S.A, Inc. (NCA), established in 1911, is a trade organization for the coffee industry in the United States. Its leaders strives to serve all segments of the domestic coffee industry, including traditional and specialty companies. A majority of NCA membership, which accounts for over 90 percent of United States coffee commerce (according to the organization website), is comprised of small and mid-sized companies and includes growers, roasters, retailers, importer, exporters, wholesaler, suppliers and allied industry businesses.
