Demands for premium tastes as well as for competitively priced products helped contribute to growth in the coffee category. The category experienced a 9.1 percent increase in sales for more than $4 billion, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, for the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart.

 Approximately 79 percent of adults in the United States drank coffee in the last two years, according to Chicago-based Mintel’s October 2011 Coffee report.