What Is the Most Popular Drink in the USA?
If you ask people what the most popular drink in the USA is, many will guess soda or coffee. But when you look at the data by sheer volume, the answer is much simpler: water – especially bottled water – is America’s most-consumed drink.
Industry analyses show that bottled water has been the top packaged beverage in the United States for several years in a row, with Americans drinking billions of gallons annually. When you add tap water on top of that, it’s clear that water easily outruns any other drink category.
In this article, we’ll unpack what “most popular drink” really means, how beverage habits are measured, which drinks come after water, and what all of this reveals about American lifestyle, health priorities, and daily rituals.
The Short Answer: What Is the Most Popular Drink in the USA Today?
By volume consumed, the most popular drink in the USA is water.
More specifically:
- Water (bottled + tap) is the clear number one by total volume.
- Bottled water is the most popular packaged beverage category, having overtaken carbonated soft drinks several years ago and continuing to grow.
- Carbonated soft drinks (soda) remain a close second among packaged drinks, followed by other beverages such as coffee, tea, and beer.
So if the question is, “What do Americans literally drink the most of?” the evidence points squarely to water.
If the question is more about daily rituals and habits, coffee and soda play huge roles too – especially in the morning (coffee) and with meals or snacks (soda and other flavored drinks).
How Do We Decide What Counts as “Most Popular”?
“Most popular drink” can sound straightforward, but researchers and brands actually look at popularity in a few different ways:
- By total volume
- How many gallons or liters of a beverage category are consumed in a year? This view typically puts water at the top, followed by soft drinks and other major categories.
- By frequency of use
- How often do people drink it? For example, many adults drink coffee every single day, even if they drink less total volume than water.
- By spending
- Which drinks do people spend the most money on? Specialty coffees, alcoholic beverages, and branded functional drinks can rank high when you look at dollars instead of ounces.
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By setting
- At home: water, coffee, tea, juice, and milk dominate.
- On the go: bottled water, ready-to-drink coffee, soda, and energy drinks are common.
- Out of home (restaurants, bars, cafés): soft drinks, coffee beverages, and alcoholic drinks matter more.
For this article, we’ll focus mainly on volume and everyday habits, which are the clearest ways to answer what Americans actually drink most.
The Big Picture: What Do Americans Drink Most Often?
| Beverage | Why Its Popular | Typical Occasions | Common Serving Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water (bottled + tap) | Essential, calorie-free, widely available, aligned with health goals | All day long: at home, work, school, gym, travel | Glasses, bottles, reusable bottles; sometimes infused with fruit |
| Coffee | Energy boost, daily ritual, flavor and aroma, social moments | Morning routines, work breaks, after meals | Mugs at home or office, takeaway cups from cafés |
| Soft drinks (soda) | Sweet, fizzy, strongly marketed, long-established habit | With fast food, snacks, parties, movies, casual dining | Cans, bottles, fountain drinks with ice |
| Tea (hot and iced) | Comforting, customizable, can be sweet or unsweet, perceived as lighter | Afternoons, evenings, regional traditions (e.g., sweet tea in the South) | Mugs for hot tea, large glasses for iced tea |
| Beer and other alcoholic drinks | Social occasions, tradition, bar and restaurant culture | Weekends, sports events, dinners, celebrations | Bottles, cans, pints, cocktails in various glassware |
| Milk and dairy/non-dairy alternatives | Used in cereal and cooking; base for lattes and other coffee drinks | Breakfasts, baking, coffee drinks, smoothies | Glasses, mugs, blended beverages |
Here’s a simplified look at the major beverage categories that shape American drinking habits and where they typically show up in daily life.
Across all of these, water remains the everyday default, while coffee and soda are the other two that anchor many Americans’ routines.
Why Bottled Water Now Beats Soda as the Top Packaged Drink
For decades, soda symbolized American beverage culture. Today, bottled water has overtaken soda as the leading packaged drink by volume.
Several trends explain this shift:
- Health consciousness
- Concerns about sugar, obesity, diabetes, and heart health have pushed many people to cut back on sugary soft drinks. Water feels like the simplest, safest alternative.
- Calorie awareness
- More consumers read labels and track calories. Water offers hydration with zero calories, which fits diet and fitness goals.
- Convenience and portability
- Bottled water is easy to grab, carry, and store – at work, in the car, at school, or at the gym.
- Flavor options without sugar
- Flavored and sparkling waters give people variety without going back to full-sugar sodas.
- Lifestyle branding
- Many bottled water brands position themselves around purity, wellness, or active living, which resonates with current lifestyle trends.
At the same time, carbonated soft drinks haven’t disappeared. They remain hugely popular, but growth is slower, and many consumers now reserve soda for specific occasions rather than drinking it all day.
Coffee: The Daily Ritual That Shapes Mornings
If you measure popularity by how central a drink is to daily routines, coffee is hard to beat.
- Millions of Americans start the day with at least one cup of coffee, often at home in a favorite mug.
- Specialty coffee culture – from lattes and cold brew to espresso-based drinks – has expanded the options well beyond a simple drip brew.
- Coffee breaks are embedded into workplace culture, remote work rituals, and social meetups.
Why does coffee remain so enduringly popular?
- Caffeine and alertness – It’s a practical way to feel more awake and focused.
- Habit and comfort – The smell, warmth, and ritual of preparing or buying coffee can be psychologically soothing.
- Customization – People can adjust strength, roast, milk, and flavors to match their preferences.
Coffee also connects directly to drinking vessels: mugs are part of the experience, from simple ceramic cups at home to branded mugs at the office. That physical ritual reinforces the emotional bond people have with their morning coffee.
Soda and Sugary Drinks: Still Big, but Under Pressure
Even though soda is no longer the top packaged drink by volume, it is still deeply woven into American food culture.
Key patterns around soft drinks include:
- High visibility in fast food and casual dining
- Combo meals, refills, and fountain drinks keep soda front and center.
- Occasion-based consumption
- Many people now treat soda as a treat with certain meals, rather than something to sip constantly all day.
- Shift toward diet and zero-sugar options
- To keep soda in people’s routines, brands have expanded reduced-sugar and sugar-free versions.
- Competition from flavored waters and energy drinks
- Instead of a single dominant “sweet fizzy drink,” consumers now have many carbonated and caffeinated alternatives.
The result: soda is still one of the most popular drinks by habit and brand recognition, but water and coffee better match long-term health and lifestyle goals for many consumers.
Tea, Energy Drinks, and Other Growing Niches
Beyond the big three (water, coffee, soda), several other drinks play important roles in American beverage habits:
-
Tea
- Hot tea is often associated with relaxation, comfort, and evening routines.
- Iced tea – especially sweet tea – is deeply rooted in regional traditions, particularly in the South.
- Energy drinks
- Popular with younger demographics and people seeking a quick performance boost, these drinks have grown into a significant category, though they are still smaller by volume than water or soda.
- Sports drinks and functional beverages
- Marketed around hydration, electrolytes, or specific health benefits, they often target athletes or fitness-conscious consumers.
- Ready-to-drink coffees and teas
- Canned or bottled cold brew, milk-based coffee drinks, and pre-brewed teas make it easier to take traditional “mug drinks” on the go.
These categories show how “popular” no longer means just one drink winning everything, but rather a landscape where different beverages dominate different moments of the day.
How and Where Americans Drink: Home vs. On the Go
Another way to understand popularity is to look at where people are drinking these beverages.
| Setting | Most Common Drinks | What This Tells Us |
|---|---|---|
| At home | Tap water, bottled water, coffee, tea, milk, juice | Home is where daily rituals happen: morning coffee in mugs, family meals with water or juice, and constant access to tap water. |
| On the go | Bottled water, soft drinks, energy drinks, ready-to-drink coffee | Convenience and portability matter most; resealable bottles and cans win. |
| Cafés and restaurants | Coffee drinks, soft drinks, iced tea, alcoholic beverages | People are willing to spend more per serving for taste, experience, and social connection. |
| Workplaces and schools | Water, coffee, tea, occasional soft drinks or energy drinks | Hydration and alertness drive choices; practical mugs, tumblers, and bottles are everywhere. |
Putting this together, you can see why water dominates overall volume (it fits every setting), while coffee and soda remain powerful in specific contexts.
Health, Sustainability, and the Future of America’s Favorite Drinks
Looking ahead, several forces will shape not only what Americans drink, but how they experience those drinks in daily life.
Health and wellness
As the focus on sugar reduction, weight management, and long term health continues, people are choosing simpler beverages like water, unsweetened tea, and lighter coffee options. At the same time, there is growing attention on how drinks are consumed. Comfort, temperature retention, and ease of use are becoming part of the wellness conversation, especially for daily rituals like morning coffee or afternoon tea. This shift is closely tied to the rise of functional coffee drinks that support focus, energy, and mental clarity as part of everyday routines.
Sustainability and mindful consumption
Concerns around plastic waste and packaging are pushing more people toward reusable bottles and mugs. This shift is not only about sustainability, but about building a more intentional drinking routine. Choosing a reusable mug that feels good to hold and fits naturally into everyday life makes sustainable habits easier to maintain and more enjoyable.
Premiumization through experience
Even as people simplify their drink choices, they increasingly invest in better experiences. Higher quality coffee beans, specialty teas, and thoughtfully designed drinkware turn ordinary moments into small daily rewards. When daily drinks become rituals, the role of functional drinkware becomes more important, especially mugs designed to support comfort, balance, and long lasting use across different beverages.
Customization and personal rituals
From flavored water to build your own coffee drinks, beverages are becoming more tailored to individual taste, dietary needs, and routines. Drinkware plays a supporting role here. A mug that fits the hand well, feels balanced, and works across hot and cold drinks supports personal rituals rather than interrupting them.
Through all of this, a few things remain clear. These patterns reflect broader shifts explored in our 2026 drinks trend prediction, where health, sustainability, and personalization are shaping the future of everyday beverages.
- Water will continue to be America’s most consumed drink by volume, often paired with reusable drinkware.
- Coffee will remain the core morning ritual, where comfort and usability matter as much as flavor.
- Soda will persist as an occasional choice, while everyday drinking shifts toward more mindful and experience driven alternatives.
FAQ
What is the single most popular drink in the USA?
By total volume, the single most popular drink in the USA is water, including both bottled and tap water. Among packaged beverages specifically, bottled water has overtaken carbonated soft drinks as the leading category by gallons consumed.
Is coffee more popular than soda in the United States?
It depends on how you measure popularity. Coffee is more central to daily routines for many adults, especially in the morning, and is consumed very frequently. Soda, on the other hand, remains a major meal-time and snack-time drink and is still one of the largest beverage categories by volume, though it no longer leads bottled water.
What is the most popular alcoholic drink in the USA?
In the alcoholic category, beer typically leads by volume, followed by wine and spirits. That said, popularity can vary by age group and region, and many consumers are also experimenting with low- or no-alcohol options alongside traditional drinks.
Which drinks are growing fastest in popularity?
In recent years, bottled water has shown steady growth, reflecting health and wellness priorities. Flavored and sparkling waters, ready-to-drink coffees, and some energy drinks have also grown as people look for convenient, on-the-go options that match their taste and energy needs.
Are Americans really drinking less soda now?
On average, yes. Long-term trends show declining per-capita soda consumption compared with its peak decades ago, even if recent years have seen small fluctuations. Many people have shifted toward water, flavored water, or reduced-sugar options, though soda remains a staple for certain meals and occasions.
What drink do Americans usually have with breakfast?
Common breakfast drinks in the USA include coffee, water, milk, juice, and tea. Coffee dominates adult breakfast routines, while milk and juice are more common among children. Many people pair a hot drink like coffee or tea with a simple at-home breakfast in a mug or glass they use every day.
