Do students drink too much coffee?

The answer is yes. I started drinking coffee during my sophomore year. Honors Chemistry WebAssigns made late nights a frequent occurrence, yet I still needed to function during school hours.

     Now can this seemingly impossible feat be accomplished? Easy, just drink a lot of coffee. Before that year, I thought coffee was disgusting. Previously, I had only ever tried small sips of the dark liquid, and suffice to say, I was not a fan. One particular coffee nightmare story still resonates with me. I recall running to the sink as a lower schooler flailing my arms to spit out my father’s coffee, which my older sister dared me to drink. Leaning over the sink, I wondered how millions of Americans could drink the vile liquid every single day—and enjoy it.

     I suppose I have become the very person my previous self could not understand. I began drinking coffee on days where I lacked sufficient sleep. On those mornings I would roll out of bed, get dressed in a haphazard fashion, lazily descend the stairs into the kitchen, and use our Nespresso machine to make an espresso. For someone who hated normal drip coffee, the concentrated black espresso was extra toxic, but it kept me awake, and that was enough motivation for me to force it down.

     Soon my criteria for coffee days and non-coffee days began to loosen. I previously decided that if I got less than five hours of sleep I would drink coffee. That number soon increased to six, and then seven. Drinking espresso became part of my daily routine, regardless of how much I slept.

     Before I knew it, one espresso was not enough. I could—and still can—drink an espresso and fall asleep within minutes. One thing led to another. Now I usually start my morning with a LaColombe triple shot, which, as the name suggests, contains three shots of espresso. My initial repulsion to coffee led to an addiction.

     So do Haverford School students drink too much coffee? Yes, of course. Do all students drink too much coffee? Also yes. The overconsumption of coffee is simply the direct result of Haverford’s above-average workload.

I attribute this addiction to the everyday stress omnipresent in the 21st century. If our society was not so packed with deadlines and commitments, there would be no need for coffee.

     I will not deny that late work nights accelerated my addiction, but I also attribute this addiction to the everyday stress omnipresent in the 21st century. Other factors are sport games, plays, SAT prep, college applications, and of course, jobs that get in the way of a good night’s rest. If our society was not so packed with deadlines and commitments, there would be no need for coffee.

     Coffee is the solution to the impossible circumstances of our lives.