Each year, the National Coffee Association of the USA publishes their report on National Coffee Drinking Trends. The report has become one of the bibles of the coffee industry. The 2008 report has recently been made available, and the NCAUSA web site gives a brief summary of what the organization has found out about how we Americans like our coffee. Here are some highlights from the 2008 Coffee Drinking Trends report:

• 17% of the adult population consumed a gourmet beverage on a daily basis in 2008 and 14% in 2007.

Drinking gourmet coffee has become a national pastime. It's not just the explosion of Starbucks across the nation that's fueling it, though their marketing has certainly awakened the taste buds of a whole generation. These days, you can buy your gourmet coffee at any number of places. Here are just of the few 'new' outlets for gourmet coffee.

• McDonalds, which started selling Newman's Own Organic coffee a while back, has started marketing the McDonalds Café concept, with lattes, cappuccinos and McDonalds Gourmet coffee as of January 2008.

• Burger King's BKJoe brand is roasted by Douwy Egberts, the second largest coffee roaster in the world, expressly for BK.

• Target, the national department store chain, packages and distributes its own brand of gourmet and single origin coffees.

• Store 24, a major East Coast convenience store chain, offers Green Mountain Roasters gourmet coffee in all of their stores.

• 7-11, national convenience store chain, has made the gourmet coffee bar a central part of their new store design, and offers a wide variety of ready-to-go coffee for consumers on the run.

Another factor in the increase of gourmet coffee drinking is the popularity of single serve coffee systems, which make it easier to have gourmet coffee at home every morning. The Senseo, Tassimo and Keurig systems have all increased sales and feature gourmet coffees in their coffee lines. Here are some more highlights form the report:

• Adults 25-59 led the upswing with 19% of daily gourmet coffee drinkers. This is an increase of six percentage points from 2007.

• In the young adult demographic, coffee drinking was down last year in that age group; with 44 percent reporting that they drink coffee as opposed to 47 percent the previous year.

• On the other hand, 18 to 24 year olds are becoming serious coffee drinkers. In 2005, only 26 percent of young adults in that age bracket considered themselves coffee drinkers. By 2007, that figure was up to 37%, making the 18-24 year old coffee market the fastest growing segment of the market. Older adults, in the 40 to 59 year old bracket, are also big coffee drinkers. This age group increased from 59 percent to 61 percent over the previous year, and those age 60 and over report the most coffee consumers - 74 percent of adults in that age bracket reported that they drink coffee every day.

• Consumption of cups per day by consumers age 18-24 continued to trend higher in 2008. Young adults who drank coffee consumed an average of 3.2 cups per day as compared with 3.1 in 2007, a significant increase over 2005's level of 2.5 cups per day.

Our generation grew up thinking of coffee as a morning pick-me-up and after dinner drink for adults only. The 18-24 year old group has a different view of coffee, thanks to the coffee shop culture. Where older generations gathered at the local soda shop, these kids made the local coffee shop their afternoon hangout. Starbucks and other local chains improved their coffees with flavors, sugar and many creams. This makes their coffee more appealing to the younger crowd. As those kids graduate from high school and move on to college, they're finding that their love of coffee moves along with them.

• Past year consumption of iced and frozen coffee is up significantly from 2007 levels.

Maybe it's the heavy marketing? Nothing tastes quite as good on a hot summer afternoon as a tall glass of iced coffee, but until the past few years, who knew? These days you can get your iced coffee fix at your local McDonalds, Burger King or Dunkin Donuts, or you can brew it yourself at home. The most popular frozen and iced coffee drinks include:

• Dunkin Donuts, who claim that they practically invented iced coffee, has been selling their coffee over ice for years. In the late 90s, they added the Coffee Coolata, which could be topped with whipped cream.

• Wawa, a popular convenience store located throughout portions of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia is a popular location for coffee enthusiasts in these east coast states. They have sold over 195 million cups of their freshly brewed coffee. Wawa uses their own blend of coffee beans and make quality coffee a top priority.

All of these coffee trends show that coffee is a popular drink among many age groups and is part of American culture. Over the years, these trends change while coffee is introduced to new demographics. Overall, Americans enjoy coffee daily and everybody has their favorite location to get their coffee fix.