By Chris Zepéda
About three dollars and fifty cents is the price students pay to stay awake throughout the day.
Many students are just getting out of their morning class and walking to Cafe Luvvelo, in the cafeteria, for a little pick-me-up.
“This is my third cup of coffee today," said James Tran, 19, physics major. “I have three more classes before I have to head out to work and work four hours.”
For many students who are taking multiple classes at De Anza, coffee seems to be the goto choice of beverage consumption throughout each busy day.
“I have to buy at least two cups of coffee a day to keep me going,” said Kristine Xi, 21, English major. “I have tried energy drinks but I feel like they make me even more tired by my last class, and they don’t taste that great!”
In a 2013 study, nutritionist, Monica Reinagel, found that while energy drinks do have more vitamins and mineral “there is no evidence that those huge doses have any impact on mental functioning energy.”
“Both coffee and 5-Hour Energy [a popular energy booster] produce the same brainwave energy perk despite the latter's signature cocktail of vitamins, minerals and amino acids,” according to a research done by the Association for Psychological Science.
Finals are just around the corner and this means many students will be staying up late to study.
Walking into the cafeteria, many students are sitting and eating with their textbooks open, a highlighter in one hand and a fork in another.
“I have to drink coffee constantly to stay awake through boring lectures,” said Natalie Chacón, 22, behavioral science major. “I want to make sure I write down everything a professor says so I can pass my finals soon.”
“I can always tell when I’m going to have a bad day after drinking a double shot of coffee,” said Myles Corvic, 19, undeclared major. “If I’m feeling a little depressed and exhausted when I get to work (at around 5 in the afternoon) then I might as well not even have gone.”
So depending on what it is being used for, coffee can be either a pick-me-up or a bring-me-down for many students.
So depending on what it is being used for, coffee can be either a pick-me-up or a bring-me-down for many students.
