The average person can experience caffeine intoxication and potential overdose when they exceed 750 milligrams a day — about the amount in three tall Starbucks coffees.
I started my day just before 9 a.m. by ordering up a tall coffee at the Starbucks booth in Albertson’s market on Wilshire Boulevard. Adding a couple packets of Sweet n’ Low, I hopped back into the car and chugged my new morning fix as I headed towards Montana.
Following an iced latte with sugar-free cinnamon syrup (Whoever invented that stuff is a sick person, the thought of it still makes me gag), I moved on to green tea, and then a cappuccino. The foam was a nice break from straight liquid, but my respite was short-lived: There are three Starbucks on one block of Montana Avenue alone!
PLACING ‘THIRD’ AROUND THE WORLD The company, named after a character in the 1851 novel “Moby Dick,” began in 1971 in Seattle, Wash., when two high school teachers and a writer opened a single store that sold coffee beans.
By the early 1980s, now-owner Howard Schultz had joined the team and suggested the store branch out by offering pre-made drinks, a venture he felt could rake in serious cash. His idea was rejected and Schultz moved on to found a new store, Il Giomale, that capitalized on the concept. Soon after, the original Starbucks owners bought Peet’s Coffee company and Schultz gained control of the ‘bucks.
In 1995, he completely redesigned the company’s atmosphere, and logo, and began operating under a “synergistic rollout” business strategy, which included opening one new store every day of the year. The incredibly fast-paced expansion continued throughout the decade, and Starbucks now has almost 10,000 stores in the United States and more than 13,000 worldwide.
Schultz’s goal was to have Starbucks become a “third place” — besides work and home — that people spend time; a comforting environment in which to relax, socialize and work.
SITTING STILL, IF ONLY FOR A MINUTE Indulging in a little “third place” mentality at the fourth Montana Starbucks, I nestled into a leather armchair and idly watching botoxed joggers and yogis pass in and out, seeking their nonfat chai lattes. This lifestyle didn’t last long. It took me about three minutes of frustrated key-tapping to figure out that Starbucks charges for wireless Internet.
My day continued with wired traveling and gulping. Even with a blueberry coffee cake and granola parfait soaking up the frap-puccinos, lattes, teas and brews in my stomach, I was still getting uncomfortable with the amount of liquids I was taking in.
By 1:25 p.m., I was terribly close to 1,000 milligrams of caffeine, and becoming increasingly unhappy. A pumpkin spice latte, which comes in an off-putting shade of orange-brown and tastes nothing like pumpkin (more like something a 4-year-old would concoct), was the thing that really did me in.
I stopped into work and spent an agitated couple hours (ask my editor) — with coffee breaks — trying to concentrate despite my throbbing headache, racing thoughts and serious nausea.
Throughout the ordeal, I became more and more convinced that I just shouldn’t take up coffee.
GIVING UP AIN’T EASY “Caffeine is the world’s most commonly used stimulant, and it’s cheap and readily available, so people can maintain their use quite easily,” said Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. “The latest research demonstrates, however, that when people don’t get their usual dose they can suffer a range of withdrawal symptoms, including headache, fatigue difficulty concentrating.
“They may even feel like they have the flu, with nausea and muscle pain.”
Griffiths led a study published in 2004 that underlined the consequences of caffeine addiction and classified the problem as a disorder. The 80 to 90 percent of Americans who drink caffeine daily might be doing so not to experience the positive side effects, Griffiths’ research showed, but rather to stave off withdrawal.
Starbucks employee Mary Ellen Reagan doesn’t worry too much about her customers’ health, however.
“Do I worry about breathing the air in from big SUVs?” she asked. “It’s not for me to judge my customers’ lifestyles.”
Reagan, who drinks at least two to three chai lattes with double shots of espresso each day, grew up in Seattle and is firmly rooted in Starbucks culture.
“This job definitely enables me to keep my caffeine fix going!” she laughed.
Not all locals are fans of the chain. “I think Starbucks is just ubiquitous,” said West Los Angeles resident Allan Marsh, after exiting Peet’s Coffee on Montana. “They want to cover the world, and I don’t know if the world is ready for that kind of marketing.”
Marsh said he prefers to support smaller businesses to combat this aggressive expansion and simply because they have better coffee.
WINDING DOWN... EVENTUALLY At dinnertime, I trudged to the Starbucks at the end of my block and sat down with a turkey sandwich. I was starting to crash a little, but yet still felt wired, a decidedly unpleasant combination. While I hadn’t been able to completely finish all of the beverages I ordered (that pumpkin spice latte just wouldn’t go down), I did have to admit their food wasn’t half bad... well, it wasn’t caffeine-laced liquid anyway.
I walked a couple more blocks for dessert — a vanilla latte — and went home to relax. This proved difficult.
Until about 2 a.m., I was pacing around my kitchen and waiting for the buzz to wear off. I was too high.
When I woke up the next morning, the smell of fresh brewing coffee wafted through my house. I ran outside, and tried not to retch as I walked past the green awning stamped with a globally recognized siren.
I thought back to the popular San Francisco bumper sticker Allan Marsh had described: “Friends don’t let friends drink at Starbucks.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 1, 2007. Read the original PDF.