Coffee fans discuss their addiction

Eddie Glenn

This isn’t the first story about coffee to appear in the pages of the Tahlequah Daily Press. It probably won’t even be the last.

But for some reason, coffee is a topic people really seem to like talking about, especially after they’ve had a cup.

With the impending opening of Starbuck’s Coffee and the popularity of the already-present Iguana Cafée, as well as businesses that aren’t dedicated to selling just coffee but still have a permanent pot brewing (like the Daily Press), one has to wonder what it is about this particular beverage – besides the addictive nature of caffeine – that makes it so popular.

According to Jerry Black, addiction is about it.

“I’m addicted, and I admit it,” he said, with a little bit of shame – which didn’t sound in the least bit sincere – in his voice.

“Coffee doesn’t really taste great until you’re addicted, so it’s not the taste [that makes it so popular]. People say it’s not as bad as crank or heroin or cocaine. But that’s just because coffee is legal. Make it illegal for just one day and see what kind of social upheaval you cause.”

Worldwide, 120,000 tons of caffeine are consumed every year. That’s one caffeinated beverage per day for each of the world’s five billion plus residents, and most of that caffeine is ingested in the form of coffee. It is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world.

Iguana Cafée employee Sara Jones is – in the parlance of the illicit drug underworld – a “dealer.” But, as coffee isn’t illicit, she’s more of a “barrista” than a dealer.

“I am a dealer,” she said, with absolutely no hint of shame. “We do have a lot of addicts come in. But I’m also an addict, so I understand their pain.”

Sara’s husband, Bryan, is also a dealer, and he sees a little bit of disparity in how the consumption of various drugs are accepted (or not) socially.

“Coffee’s OK, because you drink it,” he said. “It seems to be OK if you drink your drug, but try to mainline coffee or grind up some espresso beans and snort them up. It’s just not as socially acceptable. Why is that?”

Good question, Bryan. Why is that?

“Needles hurt, and snorting stuff makes your nose run,” said Black, who coincidentally likes his coffee just like his name – black.

A cup of coffee is generally presumed to contain about 100 milligrams of caffeine, but can range from 40 to 176 mg, averaging around 85 mg.

Tea has a little less, with an average of 27 mg per cup, but ranging from 8 to 91 mg. Coffee and tea provide 97 percent of the caffeine ingested (54 percent from coffee, 43 percent from tea), with the other 3 percent coming from cocoa and chocolate products and soft drinks.

Once caffeine is swallowed (which, as Bryan Jones pointed out, is the common means of coffee intake), it’s absorbed into the bloodstream and reaches peak concentration in about an hour. It increases the metabolic rate by about 10 percent, although females tend to metabolize caffeine 20-30 percent more quickly (but women taking birth control will metabolize caffeine half as quickly as women who aren’t).

Caffeine increases the blood flow through the kidneys, which is what makes you want to urinate after drinking it, but it constricts the blood vessels in the brain. That’s why, if you’re a regular coffee-drinker, and then you quit, you’ll get a headache as those vessels dilate. It also increases the blood flow through the lungs and increases the supply of air in those organs by relaxing bronchiolar and alveolar smooth muscle.

One of the reasons it’s so popular (besides the fact that it’s addictive) is it delays the onset of sleep.

But unlike practically every other “upper,” caffeine doesn’t alter the normal stages of sleep. So, assuming you actually go to sleep after drinking lots of caffeine, at least you won’t be shorted any quality dream-time.

That makes it a great drug – better than methamphetamine and cocaine, at least – for college students.

“Oh, my gosh, throughout the day, I’ll probably drink four or five of these cups of coffee,” said NSU student Zak Smith, before he reconsidered his statement. “Actually, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at every class break, I’ll drink at least three of these. Then I’ll have a cold Frapaccino at home.”

Smith said caffeine’s effect on the metabolism can be kind of frustrating to him, considering he gets around in a powered wheelchair.

“People drinking coffee tend to hustle around a little faster than normal,” he said. “My wheelchair just can’t move as fast as I’d like it to when I’ve had coffee.”

Dan Agent had a lot of really fascinating information to share about coffee, including a story about how the best coffee beans are actually processed through the intestines of monkeys in Sumatra, and then collected by folks who have a most unenviable job.

But before he could really go into detail...

“Hang on a minute,” he said. “I’ve got to get my coffee.”



Learn more

For more fascinating facts about coffee and caffeine, visit www.faqs.org/nutrition/Ca-De/Caffeine.html. Those capital letters in “Ca-De” and “Caffeine.html” are necessary for the link to work.

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