Bean by bean. The INCAPTO Blog
Coffee confirms that Friday is no longer just another office day
The report “Remote work in Spain, measured in cups of coffee,” prepared by Incapto based on 7.7 million servings, shows that office coffee consumption drops by 30% on Fridays and reflects the consolidation of the hybrid week
Coffee offers a new way to observe remote work: the analysis of 7.7 million servings makes it possible to detect how in-person office activity changes according to the day, time, and sector.
Friday stands out from the rest of the week: the number of coffees consumed in offices drops by 30%.
The impact of remote work varies by sector: on Fridays, consumption falls by 43% in financial services and in advertising and marketing, while it drops only 11% in machinery manufacturing.
Flexibility changes days, not so much schedules: nearly half of daily coffee is still consumed between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
30% less coffee is consumed in Spanish offices on Fridays compared to Monday through Thursday. The pattern repeats with almost no changes in 2024 and 2025, pointing to the last working day as the moment of the week when in-person activity decreases the most.
The data comes from “Remote work in Spain, measured in cups of coffee,” the first barometer created by Incapto regarding in-person and remote work habits. The specialty bean coffee company analyzed 7.7 million servings registered anonymously and in aggregate by its connected coffee machines in 1,568 offices throughout Spain selected for the study.
While many companies are reviewing their in-office policies, a daily habit offers another way to observe what is really happening in offices: coffee. From Monday to Thursday, consumption remains relatively stable. On Friday, however, it drops from the early morning, especially in sectors like financial services, advertising, or IT.
Although the debate on in-person work remains open, in practice, many people have already changed their work routines. Coffee does not reveal exactly how many people work from home, but it does allow us to observe how office activity changes.
Friday, the clearest image of remote work in Spain
In a stable sample of 809 offices active during the two years analyzed, average consumption drops to 18 coffees per office on Fridays in 2024 and 19 in 2025. The drop is 30% in both years.
The result remains the same when expanding the analysis to the entire set of 1,568 offices selected for the study. Therefore, it does not appear to be a one-off phenomenon or exclusive to a single year.
The difference is also noticeable when comparing Friday with the weekend. On Saturdays and Sundays, consumption is approximately 60% lower than on a working day. Friday falls halfway between the usual rhythm of Monday to Thursday and that of a practically inactive office.
A different work week depending on the sector
The impact of the hybrid Friday varies according to activity. Financial services and advertising and marketing companies register a 43% drop in consumption. They are followed by retail with 41%, administrative services with 39%, and programming and IT with 38%.
In sectors linked to production or physical spaces, the change is smaller. Machinery manufacturing registers an 11% drop and construction, 13%.
Leisure and entertainment show the lowest decrease, at 4%, although this category includes businesses such as gyms, cinemas, and fairs, whose activity usually increases on Fridays and weekends and, therefore, is not directly comparable to a conventional office.
There is a 39-point difference between the sectors with the highest and lowest decrease. The data thus reflects two work rhythms: that of activities that can be organized remotely and that of those requiring more constant physical presence. In much of Spain, the hybrid Friday is the norm and not the exception.
At nine, the coffee machine is the center again
Although the work week has become more flexible, hourly habits remain the same.
The main peak in consumption occurs at 9:00 a.m. Between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., nearly half of all daily coffee is served. A second uptick appears around 2:00 p.m., coinciding with the end of lunch.
The hourly curve is practically identical in 2024 and 2025. The week has become more flexible, but the first-thing-in-the-morning coffee continues to mark the start of the workday.
August empties the office little by little. Christmas, all at once
The work calendar is also recorded in the coffee machines. August is the month with the lowest average consumption per office, with 18 coffees a day, between 20% and 25% below the annual average. February occupies the opposite end, with an average of 27 daily coffees.
During Christmas, the drop is faster and more concentrated. On December 24, consumption drops to 40% of that registered in a normal week; on December 26, to 42%; and on December 31, it reaches the annual minimum, at 33%. Around the Three Kings' Day long weekend, decreases are between 45% and 50%.
Large companies consume more coffee, but not in proportion to their staff
Company size influences the volume of consumption, although the relationship is not linear. Offices of companies with fewer than 10 employees serve an average of 10 coffees a day. In companies with more than 500 employees, the figure rises to 44.
A large company may have a hundred times more staff than a small one, but its machines do not register a hundred times more coffee. This is partly because in large organizations, a coffee machine usually serves a floor, a department, or a specific area, and not the entire headquarters.
On the map: Valencia leads and Catalonia surprises on the low side
The Valencian Community presents the highest average consumption in the sample, with 19 coffees per office per day. It is followed by the Basque Country and Madrid, with 18. Catalonia registers the lowest figure, with 12 coffees daily.
These differences should not be interpreted as a direct ranking of in-office presence. The composition of the sample varies between territories: in Catalonia, for example, there is a greater weight of SMEs and self-employed professionals, with 487 offices analyzed compared to 173 in Madrid.
Territorial data, therefore, reflects both consumption habits and the size and profile of the companies present in each region.
Connected coffee machines, an unexpected window into office life
Incapto is a specialty coffee brand that provides coffee services to companies throughout Spain. It installs and maintains coffee machines with automatic bean replenishment and billing based on actual consumption. Each cup is recorded anonymously and in aggregate to manage the service.
This system was not created to study remote work. However, the volume of accumulated information has allowed for the observation of how office activity changes according to the day, time, sector, company size, or time of year.
“Remote work in Spain had never been measured with objective behavioral data; we had always depended on surveys and perceptions. Our connected coffee machines gave us, unintentionally, a real and daily picture of when people are in the office. We thought that sharing that data could bring something new to a debate that has been going in circles for years.” - Comments Quim Mach, CEO and co-founder of Incapto.
How the study was conducted
The study "Remote work in Spain, measured in cups of coffee" analyzes 7.7 million valid servings registered in 1,568 offices during 2024 and 2025.
To prepare the report, they started with 19.5 million raw records. The data was filtered to eliminate duplicates, synchronization errors, and non-comparable records, and subsequently normalized by active office and active day.
Coffee consumption does not exactly equal the number of people present. A single machine can serve an entire small company or only one department within a large organization. For this reason, the report uses coffee as an indicator of in-person activity, not as a direct count of workers or remote work days.
The study in figures
7.7 million servings analyzed.
1,568 offices throughout Spain.
30% less coffee on Fridays than from Monday to Thursday.
43% drop in financial services and advertising and marketing.
Nearly half of daily consumption is concentrated between 8 and 10 a.m.
February is the month with the highest consumption and August, the month with the lowest activity.
December 31st registers the annual minimum, with 33% of normal consumption.
Downloadable reportRemote work in Spain, measured in cups of coffee