During the colder winter months at Iowa State, coffee sales are at their highest. ISU students are ordering more coffee and espresso drinks than ever before.

Each year, 600 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the entire world, according to the International Coffee Organization, which is based in London.

Coffee is one of the world’s most widely traded commodities and is produced in more than 60 countries. Of those countries, most are dependent on coffee to provide the livelihood to more than 125 million people around the world.

Dan Fincham manages six of Iowa State’s campus cafes, and he said coffee sales have almost tripled in the eight years he has been at Iowa State. 

“Some of this is because we have added locations over the years — Design [Cafe], Gentle Doctor [Cafe], and the MU Market & Cafe have been around the longest, but Business [Cafe] opened in 2003, Courtyard [Cafe] opened in 2004, and Bookends opened in 2007,” Fincham said.

At Iowa State, Bookends and Caribou Coffee have the top coffee sales on campus. With between 1,500 and 1,800 customers a day, Bookends — along with Business Cafe, Courtyard Cafe, Design Cafe, Gentle Doctor Cafe and the MU Market & Cafe — collectively sell, on average, more than 600 cups of premium drip brew coffee a day.

Caribou has between 1,200 and 1,500 sales of coffee, espresso, coolers and smoothies each day, and sells an average of 200 cups of its brewed coffee each day.

Lindsay Lampe, assistant manager of Caribou, said that since Caribou has opened, every year has gotten busier.

“More people know the Caribou name and they like the caffeine to get them through the day,” she said.

Lampe said Caribou’s busiest time is during fall semester. Hot drinks are purchased year-round, but they are most popular from September to March.

Conversations Dining Center, located in the basement of Oak-Elm, also has its own coffee bar and bakery, featuring Peace Coffee along with espresso drinks. For breakfast, students can order their drinks to go, but for lunch and dinner, students are asked to sit and enjoy a cup of their favorite hot or iced espresso or coffee beverage within the dining center.

Conversations Manager Tammie McElroy said the Coffee Bar serves about 960 cups of coffee during the five days Conversations is open per week, an average of 192 cups per day.

McElroy said she herself begins every morning with a cup of caffeinated coffee to get her through the day. She also said she believes the reasons for drinking coffee change with age and agrees coffee is an “acquired taste.”

While each business can notice the regular trends among coffee drinkers, such as a rise of hot drinks during colder weather and more iced and cooler drinks during warmer weather, McElroy also has noticed trends related to academics.

“During finals and Dead Week, people are up studying longer and we go through more espresso,” McElroy said.

McElroy said she does not know the effects energy drinks and caffeinated beverages will have on students in the future, but she can see these effects appearing later down the road in students’ lives.

Fincham said he also has noticed trends among student coffee consumption, unrelated to weather, including, “a significant increase in iced coffee/espresso beverages and increasing demand for organic/fair trade coffees.”

All six of Fincham’s cafe locations on campus serve coffee from the Roasterie, a coffee company based out of Kansas City, Mo., whose founder, Danny O’Neill, is an ISU alumnus.

According to the Roasterie’s website, the company “imports only 100 percent Arabica Specialty Grade coffee from 31 different producing countries, each coffee bean purchased by the Roasterie has been picked by hand and is a strong advocate for Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, Organic, Smithsonian Bird Friendly certifications and more.”

“All of the locations that serve coffee from the Roasterie serve organic/fair trade coffee,” Fincham said.

In 2012, Caribou Coffee became 100 percent Rainforest Alliance Certified as well, and it sources all of its coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified farmers.

For students interested in getting the most energy out of their coffee, Fincham gave a few suggestions.

“If they like straight drip brew coffee, I would recommend getting a double shot of espresso or a ‘Grade Booster’ [brewed coffee spiked with espresso],” Fincham said. “Otherwise, a cup of light roast drip brew has more caffeine than a cup of dark roast.”

For students who prefer lattes, mochas and signature beverages, the most effective way to boost the caffeine content is to add an extra shot of espresso to the beverage.

Lampe said she is not quite sure if students really like the taste of coffee, or if they just like the energy boost that comes with the beverage.

Either way, students fill up at Caribou, as well as the other cafes around campus, on a daily basis at Iowa State, seeking that little kick to get them through the day. Lampe said some individuals come in as many as three times per day to get coffee.

“We do have quite a few regulars,” Lampe said. “We may not always know their names, but we know their drinks.”