Smoke lingers in the dappled sunlight near the maple tree on the back porch of Espresso Roma on 13th Avenue. For many of Eugene’s caffeine and nicotine
addicts, this local coffee shop is a home away from home. Some
people chat with friends, while
others sit absorbed in studies,
newspapers and crosswords. Many grasp their warm coffee mugs with one hand and hold a cigarette in the other.
These are the people of coffee shop culture. What was once an understated subculture
has become a mainstream cultural phenomenon driven by dependence on legal
stimulant drugs. The need for
stimulants helps define a
community that finds comfort in the broad network of fellow addicts.
The network is so wide that film
director Jim Jarmusch created an
entire movie about it, titled “Coffee and Cigarettes,” which celebrates the people around the world who take pleasure in these indulgences.
Last month, National Geographic magazine forfeited its typically exotic cover photos for a close-up of a
cappuccino. The related article was
titled “Caffeine: It’s the world’s most popular psychoactive drug” and
featured research regarding the effects caffeine has on a person’s body. In the article, neuroscientist and sleep expert Charles Czeisler discusses the drug’s “catch-22”: People use caffeine to make up for a sleep deficit created largely by using caffeine.
Although most coffee and cigarette junkies choose to ignore the warnings of the Surgeon General and
other health officials, there are
those health-conscious individuals who try to cut back or kick
the habits completely. In the
nature of addiction, breaking free
from either of the vices is a
difficult task.
Those trying to quit only one of the habits may discover how closely they are linked — for some, what is a cup of coffee without a cigarette?
University student Brendan Newell was an avid smoker and
coffee drinker for many years before he decided to stop smoking this fall. He said he didn’t anticipate quitting his caffeine habit as well.
During the first couple
months, he stopped smoking
and disappeared from his usual perch on Espresso Roma’s back porch. He had come to associate smoking with coffee and the
social atmosphere of the coffee shop. Recently, he has returned
to the shop and now enjoys his
coffee sans cigarette. Still, his fellow back-porchers exhale in between sips and remind Newell of his
forgone coffee-and-cigarette bliss.

Molly Cooney-Mesker is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald