Letters to the Editor
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Think of the children...
... won't someone please think of the children!!!
I mean, fer fucksake.
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Jesus Christ....I drank coffee as a teen 20 years ago
...but of course Salon thinks it's a new nutrional crisis caused by the evil corporations.
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Coffee the new Crack
I started out with just one cup of coffee a day. I mean everyone was doing it ya know? Before you know it I was a crack whore. I blame Starbucks, in fact I think there should be a warning label on the cup. I mean, who knows I coulda been a CEO or on American Idol and instead I'm out here selling my coffee burned body to total strangers!
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I am underwhelmed
Well, sure it would be better if kids drank water and water and maybe some more water but I just can't get too upset about kids drinking some Starbucks products. For one thing, caffeine technically is "addictive" but unlike most substances that fit that description, almost all caffeine users can quit if they need to (and I'm saying almost, but I suspect it's more like all). Using "addicted", "hooked" and "gateway drug" (to what? Espresso?) is needlessly alarmist. Having just read a story on WaPo about a teenager gunned down for no reason, it seems to me that having a safe, clean, and no-pressure place for adolescents to hang out should not be discounted just because the product isn't super-healthy. And if kids are feeling adult and sophisticated drinking Frappucinos, maybe they'll put off alcohol for a while longer. While caffeine may make them jittery, no one ever wrecked a car after one too many Frappucinos.
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Comparing Cigarettes to Caffeine?....
...as far as I know, no one ever died from drinking coffee.
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Stop Fucking Complaining
This whole country is out of control. Let me explain something to you. The entire universe does not revolve around children.
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Many letter writers are missing the point
It's not the coffee that has nutritionists and parents-in-the-know worried, it's the high-fat milk, whipped cream and lots and lots of sugar that necessarily come with the coffee (and make it drinkable). The caffiene is what keeps them coming back for more high-fat milk, cream and sugar.
THOSE ingredients -- the milk, whipped creams, sugars, syrups, half-n-half, caramels, etc. -- are the real concern. They are making kids (and grown-ups) fat. And, as we all know by now, a fat kid is a fat grown-up and a fat grown-up is a heart attack victim/diabetic in waiting.
And for the posters who can't believe people in general and Salon in particular might once in a while (or frequently) be concerned about children, look at it from the prospective that you'll have to pay the price for these fat and sick adults. Or perhaps you are fat and sick adults as the result of zero regulation regarding nutrition growing up (ketchup as a vegetable, all you Reagan babies?).
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1 shot of espresso = 35mg caffeine.
Odd. The article seems to focus on the caffeine level of Starbuck's drip coffee, yet the drinks the teens are consuming are espresso-based drinks, usually containing a single or double shot. This adds up to maybe 60-70 mgs of caffeine. Yes twice as much in a coke, but not the hundreds of miligrams you find in drip coffee.
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Uh, whaaaa?
You have GOT to be kidding.
These young folks are hanging out in a clean, supervised location where mature behavior is rewarded. They learn to behave like adults in public, have access to newspapers and decent music, and get to indulge in one of the least destructive habit-forming activities humans have come up with - drinking caffeinated beverages in the company of friends.
What exactly is the problem here?
For the love of Pete, what else do you want these teenagers doing? Life is choices and these youngsters are making some darn good ones. They could be sitting in Burger King or Taco Bell, eating super high-fat foods and downing "bottomless" cups of soda pop. They could be smoking out in the parking lot of the 7-11. They could be scoring drugs, having unsafe sex, drinking booze, and/or driving around aimlessly in cars.
There are points at which the health-nuts and the anti-corporatists at Salon just don't see the forest for the trees and this is one of them. Coffee tastes good. Coffeee, sugar and cream tastes better. Starbucks is not ruining people's lives by providing these items at a premium price. Caffeine jitters is not comparable to lung cancer, emphysema or alcoholism. Please drop the neo-Puritanism and get a grip!
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Unimpressed
Wow. So kids are drinking frappucinos instead of slurpees and Big Gulps.
Damn you Corporate America and all you stand for!!!
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Go talk to the kids about their lives, not their lattes.
Ms. Mieszkowski interviewed teens in the Lakeshore Ave. Starbucks in Oakland, CA. The teens in question are actively pursuing civic responsibilities: working in a food bank, interning at City Hall. Within a few miles, maybe even blocks of that Starbucks, there are a million interesting stories about young people.
A recent series of articles by Brenda Peyton in the Oakland Tribune examined efforts in Oakland (many of them by young people) to fight the escalating crime and violence in that city. Deaths in 2006 are on track to nearly double the number of deaths in 2005.
Oakland is a study in extremes: a high murder rate, great kids, troubled kids, civic heroism, a serious drug problem, a hot baseball team, one of the nation's most innovative programs for foster children who pass 18. There's lots to talk about, in Oakland.
Sugary coffee drinks at the Lakeshore Starbucks are bad for you. That's not news. Oakland's got a lot more to offer -- and a lot more interesting things to interview kids about -- than lattes.
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Dave Schultz changed my life.
1967, State Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, a cafe that is not there anymore, upstairs next to the arcade:
Half a dozen mini-hippie high school sophomores ordered Coke and fries all around until the waitress got to Dave Schultz. Dave Schultz ordered a cup of coffee and a salad! James Bond among dirt farmers! So incredibly, mind-blowing cool! I switched to coffee the next day, and I've never looked back.
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Coffee vs. sugar+dairy
Coffee is one thing. Refined sugar and high fat dairy products are *different* things. A Frappucino happens to contain all of the above but stick with me here, the distinction is an important one....
I like coffee. No, I love it. I have a conical burr grinder, a french press coffeemaker, and I buy freshly roasted beans(Ethiopian yergecheffe being my favorite) from an independent coffeeshop right down the street. I grind the beans right before brewing, make it fairly strong, and drink it black. The result is sublime. I'm not religious, but the fact that coffee is on Earth could make a strong case for a higher power. Oh, and, imo, it should go without saying that sugar and dairy products have absolutely no role to play in good coffee. The flavor and complexity of good coffee is truly a unique and special taste. Why ruin it?
If these kids were only drinking *coffee* I don't think there would be a problem, per se. But they're not drinking coffee, they're drinking coffee flavored milkshakes(Frappucinos, etc) that are loaded with refined sugar and high fat dairy. Refined sugar is just about the worst thing you can consume. It has no nutritional value and it screws up your insulin sensitivity. The consumption of refined sugar is the main cause of obesity and diabetes.
The problem isn't kids drinking coffee. It's kids using coffee flavored drinks as a refined sugar delivery system. The average 15 year old probably can't handle one *sip* of a real cup of coffee.