CHICAGO – Coffee, tea and energy drinks, meet soft drinks, the "newest" morning caffeinated drink. These days, more people are popping the top off a soft drink for an early morning caffeine jolt, the Chicago Tribune reports.

According to consumer-research firm NPD Group, soft drink consumption at breakfast eaten outside the home has nearly doubled in the past 15 years, while coffee consumption with breakfast outside the home has fallen nearly 25 percent. These statistic refer to beverages with meals and not a solo drink purchase.

Breakfast eaters drink a soft drink with their food 15.1 percent of the time, compared with 7.9 percent of the time in 1990, Harry Balzer, NPD executive vice president, told the newspaper. During the same timer period, patrons ordered coffee 38 percent of the time, compared with 48.7 percent 15 years ago, he said.

This is not too surprising, given that nearly half of the U.S. population older than age 4 drinks a soft drink on any given day, one study found. Even at home, more people are drinking soft drinks at breakfast than in past years: Balzer said 2.4 percent of the people who ate breakfast at home in 2006 consumed a soft drink with breakfast, compared with 0.5 percent in 1985.

Most a.m. consumers gravitate toward regular soft drinks, but diet soft drink consumption continues to grow at breakfast time. In 2006, 5.3 percent of those eating breakfast away from home had a diet soft drink, while 9.8 percent had a regular soft drink. Diet accompanied 1.7 percent of breakfasts in 1990, according to NPD.