Australians are drinking coffee in huge numbers, but 55% now say instant is their primary way of making it at home, highlighting a widening gap between the country’s celebrated cafe culture and the reality of weekday cups.
The finding comes from research firm Vypr’s new Australian Consumer Horizon report, based on a survey of more than 3,600 consumers and reported by Retail World on 28 June 2026. Vypr found that 70% of Australians drink coffee daily and another 16% have coffee two to three times per week, but most are preparing it in the quickest, cheapest formats rather than replicating cafe-style beverages at home.
“There’s a big difference between the coffee Australians aspire to and the coffee most are realistically making before work each morning,” Vypr chief revenue officer Sam Gilding told Retail World. He added that while people still value barista-made coffee and quality experiences, rising household costs and busy routines mean instant “remains the format that fits most easily into everyday life”.
Instant coffee dominates especially among older drinkers: Retail World reports that 80% of Australians aged 65 and over drink coffee daily, and 69% of this group primarily use instant. Among 55–64-year-olds, daily consumption reaches 91%, with 59% relying on instant. The article notes that Moccona is the instant brand most commonly found in Australian households.
Pod machines and ground or filter coffee share second place overall at 17% each, according to the Vypr data cited by Retail World, but their usage skews younger. Pod use peaks at 28% among 45–54-year-olds, while ground and filter methods are highest among 35–44-year-olds at 27%. Among pod users aged 25–34, 69% say recyclable pods would make them more likely to buy, compared with 48% of consumers nationally; among 18–24-year-old pod users, 62% say the same.
Even as more Australians brew at home, analyst Barry Urquhart of consultancy Marketing Focus told ABC News in 2024 that many consumers still see cafe coffee as non-negotiable when they do treat themselves. When people try to rein in coffee spending, he said, “they’re not reducing the size of the cup, or changing the outlet, brand or going to the cheaper options … They’re saying, ‘No, it’s still important for me to have the good branded coffee I enjoy, made by the barista I know and trust’.”
However, Urquhart also told ABC that supermarkets are “now declaring instant coffee brands are booming” as customers cut back on the frequency of cafe visits. ABC reported in the same coverage that supermarket coffee prices had risen sharply over the previous six months, indicating that in-home formats are not immune from wider cost pressures.
Those pressures are pronounced for cafes and suppliers. In 2025, ABC reported that Whyld Coffee owner Rachel-May Follan had seen the price she paid for organic green beans jump from about $4 per kilogram in 2024 to $14 per kilogram in 2025. She told ABC that coffee itself accounts for only about 13% of the cost of a cup, with Whyld Coffee making around $1 gross profit per cup before rent, wages, packaging and milk are considered.
Wholesale costs have surged further up the chain. ABC reported that Essential Coffee chief executive Todd Hiscock saw labour costs rise 9%, rent 29% and insurance 6% over two years, while wholesale coffee costs increased 119% between November 2023 and mid-2025. Australian Coffee Traders Association chair Joe Taweel told ABC in 2024 that adverse weather in coffee-growing regions was keeping bean prices high.
These mounting costs are prompting debate about how much Australians will pay for a cafe coffee. ABC’s 2025 reporting cited unnamed industry leaders predicting barista-brewed coffee prices may need to rise to as much as $12 per cup, and other predictions of a rise to $10 from a then-average of $5.50. Hiscock told ABC that Australia’s median coffee prices would need to increase to between $8 and $12 per cup to remain sustainable, while Follan suggested a more modest target of around $6 to $7.
On the retail side, a Woolworths spokesperson told ABC in 2025 that “the industry is managing higher commodity prices of green coffee beans”, and said the supermarket was working with suppliers to offer products at a range of prices. In June 2026, The New Daily reported that a bumper coffee harvest in Brazil could ease some pressure on supply, but quoted unnamed experts saying no dramatic retail price drops were expected in the near term.
With Vypr’s data showing instant coffee entrenched as the main at-home format, ABC’s supermarket reports of booming instant sales, and ongoing cost challenges documented by cafe operators and suppliers, the Australian market is presenting a clear picture: consumers are keeping coffee central to their daily routines, but are steadily reshaping how and where they drink it.
