Point of sale company, Square has put together an analysis of coffee sales across Australia over the past 12 months.
Square analysed the sales of 1.5 million cups of coffee across Australia over a 12 month period to identify the nation’s favourite espresso beverages, the average price, and a state by state view of what customers are consuming.
According to the data, 43 percent of Australians opt for a latte when it comes to ordering drinks at cafes. This is followed by 20 percent ordering flat whites, 12 percent ordering cappuccinos, five percent ordering long blacks and four percent ordering espresso.
The remaining 16 percent is made up of hot chocolates, filter coffees, iced beverages, teas, mochas, chai lattes and other unspecified beverages.
In terms of size, small coffees take the largest share of Australia’s coffee market at 80.7 percent. This is followed by only 1.2 percent for medium coffees and 18.1 percent for large coffees.
Lattes are the most popular type of coffee sold in VIC, QLD, WA, NT, while NSW and TAS favour cappuccinos. In terms of purchase timing, coffee sales in Sydney peak at 8.00 a.m. in comparison to the later peak sales time of 9.30 a.m. in Melbourne.
When it comes to price, results vary. The average price of a latte ranges from $3.48 (TAS) to $4.08 (NT).
Ben Pfisterer, Australian country manager for Square said that the report demonstrates that customer demand and price sensitivity can vary dramatically by location.
Felipe De Castro Cruz, manager of popular Bondi caf, Sensory Lab, believes that Sydney-siders prefer early morning coffees simply due to the city’s heavy traffic and in terms of the popularity of cappuccinos, De Castro Cruz believes that it comes down to familiarity.
“Milky takeaway coffees are the norm in Australia because they're delicious, and a frothy Cappuccino is probably the drink that most people started drinking when they first got into coffee,” says De Castro Cruz.
“However, our sales of black coffee have been increasing week to week, this is a results of continuous evolution in the coffee industry, and the customer being exposed to more and more delicious coffees. The Coffee drinkers of today are far more picky and educated than they were 10 years ago—the same goes for baristas.”
Commenting on Melbourne’s coffee scene, owner of Stand Up Caf, Dan Chrystal believes that the majority of Melbournites prefer lattes due to the way they are served.
“I find people prefer drinking coffee from glass, rather than porcelain and therefore often order lattes,” says Chrystal. “And as people regularly order the same coffee, this translates into a take away order for cafes like my business, Stand Up Caf.”
