The Greek consumer is looking for ways to spend less. They are cutting back on eating out and hunting for offers at the supermarket. There is, however, one daily habit that is proving resilient despite the price increases of recent years. Coffee.To prove the point, in supermarkets and traditional retail alone sales reached 500 million euros last year, while by July 2026 they had exceeded 304.7 million euros. In organized retail, in fact, the category’s turnover is increasing, also due to price hikes, by 11%, based on data through July, when the total of fast-moving consumer goods is growing by 5.5%.
And as Sofia Kyriakoulea, Senior Executive, NielsenIQ Greece, said during a conference of the Hellenic Coffee Association, coffee is now the third largest of 171 FMCG categories in sales value, behind cheese and milk. And among more than 100,000 product codes in the Greek market, the top two in sales are coffee codes.
Based on data from 2018 to today, the value of the coffee market is increasing at an average annual rate of 6.5%. Part of the rise comes from volume and part from price increases linked, among other things, to raw materials and the excise tax. Even ready-to-drink coffee has developed into a 16.8 million euro market, with almost two out of every three euros in sales passing through mini markets, kiosks, and other convenience points.
The pressure on the wallet, although it does not touch the shelf, has also begun to carry over to the café. One in two says they intend to cut back on coffee outside the home. Nevertheless, 43% continue to visit coffee venues one to two times a week.
The café remains by far the dominant choice, at 90%, while chains and on-the-go points follow at 44.3%. Hot or cold coffee is the second most popular beverage choice outside the home, at 57.9%.
In recent years, however, the café experience has gradually been moving into the home. Based on the data presented 403,000 coffee machines were sold in Greece last year, at an average price of 83 euros. Capsule machines accounted for 43.2% of units. At the same time, espresso continues to gain ground in retail and capsules have reached 7.6% of coffee sales volume.
Greek coffee continues to be first in volume and instant coffee second. But here too prices have changed the equation. The average price of Greek coffee increased by 35.7% between 2018 and 2025, the largest increase among the individual types of coffee presented by NielsenIQ.