Buzz kill? Gen Z less interested in coffee than older Canadians, survey shows

Are younger Canadians now less interested in coffee than previous generations? A new study shows that Gen Z is the least likely to have a cup of Joe with their breakfast.

Are younger Canadians less interested in coffee than previous generations?

A new study shows that Gen Z is the least likely to have a cup of Joe with their breakfast.

The study was released Wednesday by Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab. It found that 30.4 per cent of those in Gen Z, defined as those born between 1997 and 2005, chose coffee as their preferred beverage for breakfast.

That’s lower than all the older generations, with millennials coming in at 46.9 per cent, Gen X at 55.4 per cent, Boomers at 66.2 per cent and The Greatest Generation at 81.2 per cent.

The survey was done in March 2024 and contacted 9,165 Canadians.

University of Guelph food professor and research chair Alejandro Marangoni told Global News that younger Canadians below 30 years old are paying a lot of attention to studies about caffeine and its impacts.

Findings show that overconsumption of the stimulant can actually lead to loss of energy. Coffee can increase the amount of glucose, which gives us energy, Marangoni explains. In response our bodies release insulin to get equilibrium but in the process it can remove too much glucose, which causes the well-known crash one can feel after drinking a lot of coffee.

“Coffee messes up that natural equilibrium,” Marangoni said. “The more caffeine you have during the day, the more you’re going to mess around with that natural cycle (of glucose levels).”