Few would disagree that it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all the different ways to drink coffee. AeroPress, French Press or good old espresso. These are just a sliver of the types of coffee drinks that people consume on a daily basis.
But there are a few constants people tend to stick to over time. To figure out which ones they are, we looked at the available popularity statistics. We present our findings below and show what types of coffee drinks are in the global top 5 at the moment.
Coffee consumption trends
At this point in time, there are probably countless variations of popular coffee drinks based on espresso or cappuccino. That’s right, just think about the different versions of a Mocha Frappé you can get. Or all the long blacks and flat whites.
However, there a few coffee stars that have enjoyed steady popularity. We tested out a few keywords in Google Trends to see what types of coffee are those stars in the US and the UK. See below which of those scored the highest in terms of search popularity since 2004.
Of course, one would need to go much deeper in research to get a more accurate picture. Nonetheless, this is what it looks like when you insert the keywords into Google Trends. The winner is clear!
United States
United Kingdom
Of course, there are several caveats to consider before making conclusions based on this data. For one, search popularity iteself is not a good indicator of actual consumption or sales.
Secondly, there are confounding factors that likely skew the results. One example is the movie Red Eye released in August 2005. Looking at the chart, it can be easily identified by the large spike in search volume during that time. Another is the release of “We No Speak Americano” in February 2010 and its more popular version a few months later. This is also clear in the charts.
Third, the state of the internet in 2004 was nothing like today. Not to mention mobile search and search engine improvements. The obvious implication is that an average person searching the term “espresso” almost twenty years ago probably doesn’t accurately match someone doing so today.
And there are probably dozen other reasons to remain cautious about this data. Still, Google search volume is probably one of the best indicators of popular interest freely available to us.
The most popular types of coffee
According to the data, the clear winner of the popularity contest is good old espresso. Interest via search volumes for the term has grown steadily since 2004. And it beat other types of coffee without a problem. This is true for both the US and the UK. Specifically, between January 2004 and March 2022, Google searches for the term “espresso” have grown by 121% in the US and 109% in the UK.
Another trend is the corresponding popularity of latte. Its search volumes have very much copied espresso’s tracks. Though it is interesting to see that while in the UK this has hold constant, latte never takes over espresso in terms of search volumes.
On the other hand, spikes in searches for latte in the US regularly exceed, and precede, searches for espresso. Specifically, latte peaks every September and espresso in December, regularly. As if the masses lived in a cyclical latte-to-espresso fall and winter histeria. Or perhaps people simply get bored of milky coffee at the end of fall and reach for a stronger alternative. Anyone have a good explanation?
The last trend to notice might be the relatively low but steady popularity americano enjoys in the US. On the other hand, searches for the term have steadily fallen in the UK.
See below for a table summary of volume growth rates for the relevant coffee drinks.
United States
| Jan 2004 – March 2022 Growth Rate | |
| Espresso | 121% |
| Latte | 420% |
| Red eye | 69% |
| Americano | 300% |
| Black coffee | 380% |
United Kingdom
| Jan 2004 – March 2022 Growth Rate | |
| Espresso | 109% |
| Latte | 1400% |
| Red eye | 100% |
| Americano | 350% |
| Black coffee | 533% |
It is probably safe to assume that the same types of coffee will continue to hold their popularity rankings in the next few years to come. Although relatively younger coffee drinks are becoming more and more popular, it is hard to imagine people will drink fewer espressos.
So if you’re worried that you might be missing out on exciting new coffee drinks, you can relax. According to the available data, most of us still prefer espressos and lattes over everything else!
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