CHICAGO – The manufacturers of grocery-store coffee, facing sluggish sales, also are losing out on the market share of young coffee drinkers, who are more likely to drink coffee on the go than brew at home, BusinessWeek reports.

In addition, fewer young adults actually consume coffee these days: only 37 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 drink coffee, compared with 60 percent for adults between the ages of 40 and 59, and 74 percent for Americans older than age 60, according to the National Coffee Association.

However, overall coffee consumption increased by 9 percent annually between 2001 and 2006. But Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods have found that their blends of Folgers and Maxwell House, respectively, simply do not appeal to younger consumers who prefer the darker, richer brews from Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s and Starbucks.

“Retail coffee is unexciting,” Robert Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic, told the magazine.

In an effort to stop the slow drip of its coffee sales, both Kraft and P&G are considering selling their coffee brands. P&G recently began supermarket distribution of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, while Kraft places Starbucks beans in grocery stores.

Innovation has been slow for the companies’ core coffee brands, in part because Kraft and P&G didn’t consider the fact that more coffee was being consumed on the go, the magazine reports. Coffee sold in restaurants advanced at a compound annual growth rate of 15.2 percent between 2001 and 2006, according to the coffee association, with supermarket sales only increasing marginally.