In the eyes of the college student, coffee can be deemed a gift and a curse, a vice or a virtue. Coffee is both the bane of our existence and the light of our lives. Although the two thoughts are completely contradictory, coffee lovers can’t deny either side of this argument because it definitely is a little bit of both.
Why is coffee an absolute virtue? Well, where do I begin? First of all, it’s absolutely delicious. There are so many different ways of drinking it: iced, hot, black, light and sweet, vanilla, caramel, hazelnut, however your little heart desires. Coffee’s tastiness is most definitely the number one reason we are all obsessed. Not to mention the fact that it keeps you awake. What college student has time for sleep? We have assignments on top of assignments on top of assignments! If you want to finish those assignments before you go to bed, you're going to need an endless supply of caffeine first. On a college campus, it’s not like coffee is hard to find—it’s EVERYWHERE. I don’t think I’ve seen a college campus without some sort of coffee shop whether it’s Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or in a dining hall. So not only is it a substitute for sleep and delicious, but it’s also super convenient.
With every pro, there is a con and coffee sure has a lot of them. Although coffee is the reason I am able to function during the day, it is unfortunately the only reason I am able to function during the day. It’s insanely addictive. Headaches, irritability, sleepiness—it’s true madness. If you have too much of caffeine, it causes jitteriness, anxiety, and, if you’re anything like me, eye twitches. So if too little caffeine causes symptoms of dread, but too much causes us to be manic, where’s that happy medium?
Can I just say how expensive coffee can be? I’m sorry Starbucks, but $5.00 for a caramel macchiato? We are college students living on a college budget. If this is incentive to get us to stop drinking coffee, you are terribly mistaken because we will splurge on that caramel macchiato, but you best believe that we will complain about it in the process. Also, coffee is absolutely the reason our sleeping habits are messed up. Late night studying, midnight cup of coffee, when will that caffeine buzz end?
We love to hate it and hate to love it. Even though I just named a few cons to coffee’s addictiveness, the good always seems to outweigh the bad. Starbucks can continue to jack up their prices, our sleep schedules can be way off, and our eyes can keep on twitching, but we will always rely on coffee to pick us up when we're feeling down (but of course we will complain about it in the process). So as I write this with a cup of coffee placed next to me knowing it's time to brew some more, I bid you all adieu.
