Why a Hot U.S. Economy Isn’t Good for the Entire Coffee Industry

When the economy’s booming, Americans are more likely to get their daily caffeine fix at the corner coffee shop. That’s bad news for roasters that sell beans at supermarkets.

Total retail sales, the measure for home brewing, will probably drop this year to 764,000 metric tons from 766,000 in 2017, according to Eric Penicka, an analyst with market researcher Euromonitor International. What’s more, they’ll probably stay flat through 2022 as consumers flock to coffee shops and restaurants, where sales are expected to increase about 1 percent annually over the period.