From social media users posting latte art and frappuccinos to the drinks’ countless appearances within film and television, coffee serves great aesthetics. With a marketing history like this, it’s not surprising a majority of Americans pick coffee as their most consumed beverage — yes, even over water.
I don’t drink coffee. I think it tastes bad and makes my heart feel funny. But, as a Seattle local now living in Eugene, moving from America’s coffee capital to a college town has left me wondering: Am I missing something?
Coffee chains like Starbucks and Dutch Bros are hard for anyone to miss, with a combined total of more than 30 locations in the Eugene-Springfield area alone. The Oregon Tourism Commission said it best: “Coffee isn’t just a beverage in Oregon. It’s a culture.”
So what exactly is coffee culture? Coffee culture refers to mass-normalization of the beverage as both a focus of social gatherings and the basis of work productivity — going out for coffee is fun; drinking coffee helps you get things done.
Less often, people consider coffee culture in terms of its environmental and social impacts on the global population. The coffee industry has caused farmers “financial debt, poverty and sometimes starvation,” according to a Market Inspector report. Fluctuating coffee prices lead to economic instability in Honduras, Ethiopia and Burundi where between 54% and 79% of their total income relies on coffee exports. 
Environmentally, coffee crops are one of the most affected by climate change — as well as a prominent contributor.
Still, people love it.
Many view their daily coffee-drinking as a ritual. Some brew their morning cup at home while others take their dogs for drive-thru puppuccinos. On campus, students can be found at all hours in the Knight Library, surviving solely off the caffeine pumping through their veins like an IV drip. In 8 a.m. lectures, there are two types of students: those who had their morning coffee and those who are asleep.
As if the 15-minute minimum wait for EMU Starbucks isn’t enough evidence of caffeine’s reign of terror on college campuses, a 2017 study found that 92% of students consumed caffeine. That’s a lot of coffee.
While drinking more than four cups of coffee a day is discouraged by the Mayo Clinic, nearly a quarter of Americans drink more than this daily. Drinking large amounts of caffeinated coffee can cause headaches, anxiety, agitation and irregular heartbeats. And its effects on the colon? You might as well be mixing laxatives in an energy drink.
With finals week commencing, academic pressure is brewing. Students who feel overworked and overwhelmed need energy – and if not coffee, then what? Some students prefer caffeinated drinks like Red Bull and Yerba Mate. Others prefer drugs — nearly one in six students say they’ve used unprescribed stimulants like Adderall, Ritalin or other “study drugs” normally used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, according to a national survey by Ohio State University.
Many find support in developing personal study habits, and the University of Oregon sponsors events each term to help students de-stress and create plans for finals week. Maybe it’s just me, but if students are so stressed from classes that therapy dogs are called in to help, I think there’s a larger problem worthy of addressing.
Choosing between less-than-healthy addictive substances or literal therapy to manage stress should not be commonplace on college campuses. While the championing of coffee in American culture has pushed many to try it, the stress of piling workloads and packed schedules has ensured people keep drinking it.
At the end of the day, when my heart palpitations keep me up at night, at least I know it’ll be from anxiety — not a drink that consumer culture has convinced me I need to function.