According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, caffeine is the most widely used, mind-altering substance for people of varying age groups and backgrounds because it’s legal, easy to obtain, and present in many beverages. Recent studies by the National Council on Strength and Fitness have shown that caffeine intake among children and teens has increased by an astonishing 70% in the past three decades. So it’s not a surprise that caffeine on Choate’s campus, specifically, is easy to obtain and a fixture in the lives of many Choate students. A medium iced coffee at Lanphier Café is just a dollar fifty (quite the bang for your buck!), and hot water for tea and coffee is readily accessible in the Dining Hall. This raises the question: have Choate students become too reliant on caffeine to make up for their lack of sleep as a reliance on caffeine sweeps the nation, or is this problem under control? I interviewed a few members of the Choate community to get a better idea.
Sam Scott ’20 obtains her caffeine through coffee, but for her, it is more for the taste than the increase in energy. “I feel like caffeine doesn’t have an effect on me, so I just like it, ‘cause I like the way the coffee tastes,” she said. It’s also a matter of convenience, as she only drinks coffee when she has a class in Lanphier, which is three times a week.
Sydney Klakeg ’19, on the other hand, gets her coffee either from the dining hall or Lanphier, but doesn’t feel like she depends on caffeine to get through the day. With regards to how much caffeine she consumes daily, Klakeg responded, “It varies. Some days I’ll have no coffee, and there are other days where I’ll have one cup, and there are some days where I’ll have two.” Although she doesn’t have a strong reliance on coffee, Klakeg says, “If I’m having a rough day, sometimes a coffee can make my day better. It’s just warm, like a warm cup of love.”
Workers from the Lanphier Café shared that the number of caffeinated drinks ordered on a given Tuesday (one of the busier days for Lanphier Café, both before and after school meeting) can range from one hundred to two hundred drinks. On October 2, 137 caffeinated beverages were ordered, which included espresso drinks, lattes, hot and iced coffees, caffeinated frappes, and hot teas, among others. Based on the 137 caffeinated drinks ordered last Tuesday, if only one drink were ordered per person, then around 10% of the Choate community (including both students and faculty) consumed caffeine that day. Since the number of caffeinated drinks ordered every day varies, this percentage isn’t set in stone.
As a whole, caffeine consumption at Choate hasn’t quite reached disastrous standards, but regular caffeine consumers should monitor their intake so as not to risk addiction.
