Kids’ caffeine culture

PHILADELPHIA – The customer marched up to the counter of the Treehouse and placed her order for a one-shot espresso.

She was 8, an elementary schooler waiting with her parents while her sibling practiced an instrument at a nearby shop.

“The sister was getting music lessons, and she was getting coffee lessons,” said Treehouse owner Randy Van Osten, who waited on the java-loving youth. “Some parents let their kids drink caffeine at a really young age. I have kids that come in that are probably 10 or 11.”

Three years ago, when Van Osten bought the cozy coffeeshop in the center of Philadelphia, he wasn’t expecting the younger set to guzzle his coffee, flavored lattes and espressos. But he got schooled quickly, and now pours hot and cold drinks, depending on the season, for before- and after-school crowds.

The days when coffee was served as an adults-only beverage, a taste acquired in dorm cafeterias and all-night study sessions, are long gone. As coffeehouses, both national and local, pop up on every corner, their new java flavors and products lure younger and younger customers.

Chalk up the spike to the easy availability of the beverage and all its variants. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the number of specialty coffee retailers has tripled in the last decade. In 2005, all retail locations accounted for $11 billion in sales, up more than 14 percent over the last year’s figure.

Although no specific statistics are available on how many young people drink coffee and at what age they pick up the habit, the number is large and growing, said Suzanne Brown, owner of Atlanta-based Brown Marketing Communications and an expert in the international coffee business.

Mostly, it’s been driven by the hangout that the coffeehouse offers. In the 1980s, many Gen-Xers hung out in arcades; today, the Echo Boom (ages 11 and up) looks to Starbucks and such as their gathering place.

“It’s such a hip place to go,” Brown said. “And it’s something that’s condoned by parents – there’s no alcohol served there. It’s a safe environment.”

At the Gryphon Cafe in Wayne, N.J., on a recent Friday afternoon, a group of 14-year-olds were celebrating the weekend their favorite way – with conversation and coffee.

They sat on the comfy couches of Gryphon’s airy upstairs room, drinking caffeinated beverages that packed a powerful punch, with the air of no-big-deal.

“You’ll always see people walking down the hallways with big cups of coffee during the first couple periods,” said James Deslaurier.

“There were people wandering the halls drinking coffee in middle school,” Deslaurier said. “I was like, ‘We’re 12-year-old kids. I don’t think we need it.’ This one person had a big mug she carried around to every class.”

Cheryl Hausman, a physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, agrees with Deslaurier: 12-year-olds probably don’t need the extra caffeine and sugar present in coffee drinks.

“Coffee is a stimulant,” Hausman said. “It increases heart rate; it increases blood pressure. It has been shown to disrupt kids’ sleep patterns. In high quantities, it makes us irritable, and it’ll certainly do that to kids.”

Still, said Hausman, medical director of the Primary Care Center at University City, the old wives’ tale that coffee stunts children’s growth is just that.

“One cup of coffee is not going to harm a child, but in light of all the other caffeine consumption in most children’s diets, you might want to ask, ‘Why are you consuming that cup of coffee? Is it just to look cool?’ ” she said.

Don’t rule it out. Parked on a couch enjoying the Treehouse’s open-mike night recently, a group of young coffee drinkers said that for them, the coffee experience was more about community than taste.

Melissa Kendall, 19, is a coffee aficionado from way back, having acquired the habit at age 15.

“It was more like a social thing. My friends were drinking it,” said Kendall, who samples coffee a few times a week, but not at home.

Even the job of serving it has a certain mystique.

“Being a barista is a whole profession,” Brown said. “They’re hip, they’re entertaining. There’s a whole championship contest, and the winners get paid more. They entertain the audiences.”