We are doing what everyone else in the nation is. According to NPD Group of Rosemont, Ill., coffee is the most frequently consumed morning beverage and more people are drinking it outside the home. “Coffee has become fast food,’’ says Harry Balzer, NPD Group’s chief food and beverage industry analyst. Even McDonald’s serves hot and cold premium roast coffee, lattes, and cappuccinos.
Balzer says the trend is toward cold drinks. “Hot takes effort.’’ While soda was the fastest growing category of cold caffeine in the 1990s, in the last 10 years that has been predominantly cold coffee drinks and iced tea. Balzer also sees a trend in more lattes.
Most cold coffee beverages are milky-creamy; many are flavored French vanilla or hazelnut. One sipper says an iced drink doesn’t burn her lips; others say they can drink it faster. Brooks Chamberlin, 25, of Newton, gets a Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee near work. “Iced is watered down and not as strong,’’ he says.
If they are headed to work or not, people have established morning routines, choosing the same brew at roughly the same time. Most stick with what they know. These morning folks readily admit to caffeine addiction. Southborough resident Jennifer Stephens, 26, returns from walking the dog and coffee’s ready in a coffeemaker programmed to brew at 6:15 a.m. “If I don’t have it I’m sluggish,’’ she says. At Au Bon Pain cafe in South Station, Sonia Pierre, 47, of Hyde Park, fills her thermos with coffee, light cream, and sugar. “It’s what keeps me awake,’’ she says. She needs a caffeine boost, but recently switched from Starbucks because that was “too much of a jolt.’’
