Kiwi coffee fans are mad on daily grind

Coffee drinker Michael Holmes enjoys his late-afternoon caffeine hit at Vulcan Lane in Auckland city. Picture / Jason Oxenham

Survey shows beverage beats breakfast for some.

For at least one in four Kiwi coffee lovers, breakfast consists of a cuppa and no food, a new online survey shows.

Released today by consumer research company Canstar Blue, the survey - which involved responses from 1566 people - showed 25 per cent of participants swapped coffee for food at the start of their day.

Just over half also admitted being fussy enough to go out of their way to get a good cup of coffee.

Derek Bonnar, Canstar New Zealand general manager, said a breakdown of results also showed men were just as likely as women to skip breakfast for the drink.

Auckland optometrist Michael Holmes, 47, said he started his day with filter coffee, and often had a second cup of barista-made coffee in the afternoon.

"I have breakfast still. I take coffee as well as food," the Mt Albert resident said.

Mr Holmes, originally from the UK, said he'd been drinking coffee for a number of years.

And unlike the 15 per cent of Auckland survey participants who said they were unable to sleep after drinking too much coffee, Mr Holmes did not suffer from coffee-related insomnia.

"I have coffee every day. I need it to wake up in the morning [and in the afternoon] if it's been a long day. I don't have trouble sleeping at night," he said.

Other results from the coffee survey showed participants spent an average of $13.67 on coffee a week - just over $710 a year.

Twenty-nine per cent of people also believed they over-indulged their love for coffee, saying they drank too much of the brew.

A breakdown by age showed nearly one in three participants aged 30 to 44 were coffee drinkers, compared to 28 per cent of those over 45 and aged between 18 and 29, respectively.

Regional and city results showed Aucklanders were the most likely of any New Zealand residents to say coffee made them feel sophisticated (24 per cent). Coffee fans from the city were also more likely to regularly hold business meetings in a local cafe, with one in five Auckland participants admitting to the practice.

"A small portion of Aucklanders (12 per cent) even judge others based on the type of coffee they drink," Mr Bonnar said.

However, those in Wellington - often considered the cafe capital of New Zealand - topped the coffee-drinking stakes in other areas. Participants from the windy city were most likely to skip breakfast for coffee, with 28 per cent of Wellington respondents admitting to swapping food for coffee. "A large portion of Wellingtonians, 42 per cent, can't start their day without coffee," Mr Bonnar said. "However, residents of Otago have the same need for an early energy kick, most likely due to the caffeine-fuelled university students."

The Colmar Brunton Australia survey has a margin of error of 2.5 per cent.