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Monday, June 1, 1998

Caffeine high

TRENDS: Popularity of coffee has skyrocketed over the past few years, but coffee houses have been around for ages

By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Contributor

You know you're drinking too much coffee when you ski uphill, you ride a stationary bike to work or your teeth look like stalagmites, according to the book "You Know You're Drinking Too Much Coffee When ..."

As the mere existence of this book illustrates, many people still compulsively drink coffee for the extra kick it gives. However, coffee today has evolved into much more than a can in a supermarket. It has a culture and language of its own.

Coffee, second only to oil in the world commodities market, has permeated both American and international popular culture.

"It's the fuel of the 21st century," says David Browne, manager of Westwood's Starbuck's coffee.

The coffee invasion is apparent on many street corners: the coffee house. Starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s, coffee houses sprang up in huge numbers in California with the onslaught of chains like Deidrich's and Starbuck's.

Asked if he felt coffee houses were more than just a passing trend, Browne responded with a definite yes.

"The reason coffee houses are so successful is because they're places for people to stay and talk. They have the environment for conversation, for reading, for listening to music and for embracing culture."

According to Browne, more people are turning away from the bar scene in favor of coffee houses for meeting and interacting with other people.

The coffee house is not an American invention. Some of the first coffee houses were in the Near East. Coffee houses in Turkey became known as the "School of the Wise" because of the sharing of knowledge which took place in them. In 1645, Italy's first coffee house opened in Venice. Today, Italy has over 200,000 coffee houses and the origins of many of the popular coffee flavors - Amaretto, Cappuccino - have their roots in Italy.

Neither is the American coffee house a recent invention. During the Revolutionary War, much of the planning stages for the new nation took place in coffee houses. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence took place in one.

UCLA currently has four coffee shops - the Kerckhoff Coffee House, Jimmy's, Northern Lights and the Viewpoint Cafe. Kerckhoff opened in 1975, Jimmy's in 1986, Northern Lights in the fall of 1996, and Viewpoint Cafe in the fall of 1997.

The opening of Northern Lights was part of a 1992 business plan based on market research, which indicated that coffee would be an extremely popular campus food product, according to Dave Nirenberg, Associate Director for ASUCLA Restaurants.

Many students spend time in these coffee houses, drinking coffee and studying, or carrying their cups to class. Michelle Banta, a third-year American literature student, got hooked on coffee at age 8 - "It was like chocolate milk" - and drinks it today for energy.

"I need to get my energy from somewhere, and caffeine helps," she says. However, Banta says she does not enjoy being that kind of coffee drinker.

"I used to like the taste, but now I feel like I'm just injecting it. It's hard to appreciate taste when you're just using it for its effect."

Banta does enjoy the coffee-house atmosphere, it's a good place to study. "I think it's psychological, but the aroma helps keep you awake."

Popular legend decrees that coffee beans were discovered in Ethiopia over a thousand years ago when Kaldi, a goat keeper, discovered his goats acted unusual and became more active after eating red berries from the coffee bush.

He told the abbot of a local monastery, who tested the power of the berries for himself. After drinking a concoction of the berries and water, he found it was easier to stay awake during prayers.

Thus coffee, which is now consumed at a rate of over 400 billion cups annually, had its humble beginning.

Coffee's history also has its share of controversy, such as when Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605) was asked to ban coffee as "the Devil's drink," but gave it his blessing instead.

During America's colonial days, coffee became America's new favorite beverage. It replaced tea as the beverage of choice in 1773, when a group of colonialists disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped several hundred pounds of tea into Boston Harbor in the infamous "Boston Tea Party" incident. Americans, after having turned from tea to coffee in protest, have been hooked ever since.

Coffee then became prominent in entertainment and recreation. Starbuck's, for example, got its namesake from a coffee-loving character in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." Many TV sitcoms, such as "Frasier" and "Friends," often take place in trendy coffee shops.

It has even managed to infiltrate the comics. Jim Davis often pokes fun at Garfield the cat's compulsive coffee drinking. "Jon!" Garfield shouts in one comic, shaking uncontrollably, "Let's, let's swim to Tahati, Jon! ... Let's swim right now!"

"I think I made your coffee too strong," Jon replies dryly.

Along with comics and history, coffee has long played roles in movies. In "Airplane 2," chaos and panic reigns on the aircraft when it is revealed that the coffee has run out.

Likewise, a cattle stampede is sparked by the noise of a coffee machine in "City Slickers." After the characters' entire supplies are destroyed, Daniel Stern's character looks up triumphantly and declares, "French Roast!"

Movies, both classic and modern, have created memorable lines about coffee. In "No Man of Her Own," Clark Gable says to future wife Carole Lombard, "I never laugh until I've had my coffee." And Cher, in her Oscar-winning role in "Moonstruck," says to Nicholas Cage, "You make good coffee. You're a slob, but you make good coffee."

As America moves into the 21st century, coffee suits itself to the latest technology and is prominent in another medium: the Internet. Coffee web sites are already widespread on the Internet, with some of the popular sites proclaiming, "Why Coffee is Better Than Men," and vice versa.

Viewers can also order coffee and learn about it on the Internet.

However, coffee and the Internet are connecting in an even newer trend: the cybercafe. There are currently over 60 cybercafes in California alone and several in London, Tokyo, Paris and the rest of the United States. These cafes offer top-of-the-line computers with World Wide Web and e-mail access for a fee, along with, of course, premium coffee.

Cyber Java in Venice opened in June 1995 to become the first cybercafe in the Los Angeles area. The owners received inspiration from cybercafes in Europe and from their own experiences, said manager Danni Garing.

They often went to cafes and brought their laptops, sometimes encountering difficulty when people asked them to move the laptops. Other times there was no place to plug them in.

Garing says Cyber Java has done well since its opening, so well they will expand and open another cybercafe this year in Hollywood.

"Demand is really increasing, The longer we've been open, the more customers learn and know. They're not just looking at pictures anymore," Garing said, referring to customer's Internet surfing activities.

Ultimately, however, throughout the times and changes, the most enjoyable thing about coffee will remain the same.

"The best coffee depends who you're drinking it with," Banta said.

"It's better with company."

So if coffee is present in the movies, on TV, on the Internet and on every street corner, is it possible Americans are drinking too much coffee?

Coffee does have some negative effects, according to Mary Cole, a dietetic technician at the UCLA Clinical Research Center. As a stimulant, caffeine can increase anxiety, cause irritability, nervousness, diarrhea and some dehydration. Too much coffee at one time can also cause headaches.

But there are easier ways people can figure out whether they're drinking too much. Like when they start sleeping with their eyes open, or listening to speed metal to relax ...Senior Tuong Ta studies outside the Viewpoint Cafe with his cup of coffee standing by.

Customers wait to be served at the Kerckhoff Coffee House.

Photos by DANIELA DECCA