Global coffee consumption is on the rise, growing at about 1.5% per annum according to a 2016 Washington Post article from Thomas Heath. Driving that growth is demand among U.S. consumers led primarily by millennials who now consider daily coffee consumption an integral part of their lives. It doesn’t hurt that millennials are also changing the American workplace as well.

According to the Washington Post, daily coffee consumption among adults between the ages of 18 and 24 climbed 14 percentage points to 48% last year. Among 25 to 39-year-olds, coffee consumption rose to 60%. Conversely, older adults (60 years old and older) recorded a drop in daily consumption, down from 76% to 64%.

Among all the statistics cited in the report, none is more fascinating than the age at which people begin consuming coffee. Younger millennials born after 1995 started drinking coffee between 14 and 15. Their older counterparts, born in the 1980s, began drinking coffee closer to 17.

Coffee in the Modern Workplace

The statistics are interesting, but what do they have to do with coffee in the workplace? Actually, a lot. Coffee has always been a social beverage that encourages people to sit down and talk. Yet the corporate culture of the late 1970s through the mid-1990s did not allow for such activity. Workers were kept busy on their own individual tasks led by a leadership hierarchy that limited any form of socialization to lunch breaks.

Millennials don’t see things that way. They prefer a workplace that is more open and collaborative, a workplace that encourages coworkers to sit down and complete their tasks together. More importantly, their view is rapidly becoming entrenched as millennials take leadership positions left open by their retiring baby boomer counterparts.

The youngest millennials are the first generation to grow up completely saturated by computer technology. They are the first generation to be raised on social media, the internet, and collaboration through digital means. For them, embracing a new kind of workplace hierarchy that has fewer levels is completely natural. To sit down and collaborate over a cup of coffee is more important than grinding away in a cubicle.

Coffee Is Cool, Too

In his article, Heath also observed something else driving both the growth of coffee consumption and the millennial takeover of the workplace: the idea of being ‘cool’. In short, coffee consumption is seen as cool and hip among millennials. Anyone who is anybody drinks coffee.

By the same token, working for a company that willingly embraces the millennial concepts of collaboration and a flat hierarchy is also cool. It would stand to reason that the two would make a perfect fit. They do. Wherever you see millennials gathering – whether it be for work or play – you will find a cup of coffee in nearly every hand.

At Galaxie Coffee we embrace the millennial generation and their love of coffee. We are here to serve the entire greater New York area with the finest office coffee and beverage service.