Demand - Decaffeinated coffee

Decaffeinated coffee was developed in Europe but achieved its first broad market in the United States during the 1950s. World consumption of decaffeinated coffee is difficult to gauge owing to the lack of separate data on this type of coffee in many importing countries.

However, in the United States consumption of decaffeinated coffee, which was relatively stable for a number of years accounting for around 8%–9% of mainstream sales and about 20% of sales of specialty coffee, has, according to the latest NCA Coffee Drinking Study, virtually doubled in the last few years to 15.9% in 2009.  Elsewhere, consumption of decaffeinated coffee has been fairly static over the last decade, although this situation is not entirely clear-cut in that in many countries new low-caffeine coffee products have been introduced. These products are not caffeine free but are either a mixture of regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee or blends of coffees with a naturally low caffeine content. These products are sold as ‘light’ coffee.

Source: Various trade publications and estimates.

Updated 11/2010