The wired generations

We are a coffee culture, a phenomenon that stretches from generations who remember the Great Depression, when coffee was a nickel, to today's middle schoolers, who converge after school for frothy caramel-laced lattes.

We love coffee for its sociability -- and the caffeine jolt, of course. Caffeine is available not just in drinks where you would expect it, like coffee and Coke, but in sodas like Mountain Dew, energy drinks like Red Bull, and trendy white and green teas. Caffeine surges through our life, the stimulant that allows clubgoers to dance all night, office workers to put in 18-hour days, and students to study round the clock. To discover the scope of our caffeine obsession, just talk to its fans.

On a sunny, cold day at the Au Bon Pain next to Northeastern University School of Law, five friends meet for lunch, which includes soup and sandwiches. Caffeine fuels them after hours. ''I drink coffee all the time," says Aimee Owen, 29, a first-year law student, and the other four murmur assent. It helps after 10 p.m., Owen says, when she gets her best work in.

Arturo Menendez, 25, can't imagine life without coffee. Growing up in Miami, his Cuban-Venezuelan family began early in the day. ''We wake up and drink coffee," Menendez says, and then there's another midmorning brew. Following a nap after lunch, they drink more coffee to wake up again. The first cup of the day might have milk and sugar in it, but ''after that, it's espresso shots," Menendez says, adding, ''Mmmm, delicious."

Owen says her Midwestern parents ''warned me about becoming addicted to coffee." All the students found it alluring when they were young. ''I thought it was really cool," says Margo Lindauer, 23, who grew up in North Andover. ''When we went out to eat, my parents might put a little coffee in hot milk for me."

The five agree that as pleasurable as coffee might be, other sources of caffeine are more effective ''during those peak, critical moments" like exam week, says second-year student Stephanie Woldenberg, 26. ''Everybody was using something," says Owen. Mountain Dew is mentioned by several of the young women (see related story at right), especially the diet version. ''I drink Red Bull for the purpose of being alert," says Michelle Moor, 27.

But it can have a downside. Moor had a period of getting ''hyped up" on caffeine and then drinking wine to calm down, a pattern she quickly stopped. ''I was afraid of becoming an alcoholic," she says. When asked if she's ever taken caffeine pills, she looks aghast. ''I make a distinction between taking a pill and Red Bull," Moor says. ''Maybe that's silly." All say that while caffeinated drinks seem benign, a pill seems like a drug.

While the law students are facing a stack of thick volumes every night, clubgoers have other plans. At the members-only club Rise in the Park Plaza area, DJs start spinning well after midnight on the weekends, and the place closes up around dawn. Because of the club's licensing, no alcohol is served, so members buy Mountain Dew and Red Bull, Beaulieu says, to be able to dance all night. While the standard mix for these is vodka or another liquor, Rise customers are drinking the caffeine straight up.

Owners Tom Beaulieu and Darrin Morda have figured out how to keep up with their clientele. ''On the weekends, I wake up at 11 [p.m.]," says Beaulieu, ''and have coffee." A few hours later, ''when we're on," he'll have a Red Bull, and sometimes one more to get him through the early morning hours. ''I wouldn't have it close to dawn," he says. ''There are some people who drink three or four or five." Beaulieu estimates that in the course of a weekend, Rise sells eight to nine cases of Red Bull and a case of Mountain Dew.

But caffeine isn't just a stimulant for the wee hours. It also fuels office workers. Two partners in Nocturnal Mediagroup, an advertising and design studio based in Portsmouth, N.H., work 18-hour days at their startup and keep up with their young families. Joe Berwanger and Scott Buchanan, both 34, might drink two or three cups of coffee a day. Some days, the two can go through a couple of pots.

And then there are meetings with clients, which take place in one of several coffee shops in downtown Portsmouth equipped with Wi-Fi, wireless Internet access. ''You can just set up your laptop and show customers things on it," says Berwanger.

Many years before Starbucks and its offshoots became our all-purpose meeting places, coffee had a storied culture. In his historical novel ''The Coffee Trader," David Liss tells of the excitement a new commodity -- coffee -- caused in 17th-century Amsterdam. ''Beer and wine may make a man sleepy," says Geertruid, a businesswoman who suggests a partnership with the main character, Miguel. ''But coffee will make him awake and clearheaded." She pauses for another sip. ''Coffee is the drink of commerce."

The beverage, with its seductive jolt, became the modern drink for Europeans. Today it draws a younger and younger audience. Walk into any Starbucks located near a school around the time that it lets out and you'll see boys and girls barely out of grammar school sipping big, creamy coffee drinks.

Heidi McIndoo sees many young patients -- usually referred for weight loss issues -- who consume a lot of caffeine. The dietitian works for Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center. ''They don't drink coffee like their parents might, but they're going to get Frappuccinos or other coffee drinks, and drink Red Bull." Some beverages ''taste like a milkshake but have a double shot of espresso," says McIndoo, plus sugar and calories. ''There's a chance that the kids are getting more caffeine than their parents.

''There's nothing wrong with a cup of coffee," McIndoo says, but when sodas and energy drinks are added in, the daily dose can be significant -- and affect sleeping patterns.

And then there's the cost. Vodka with Red Bull can cost about $12, depending on the brand of liquor. Starbucks's coffee drinks top out at about $4.25. At 7-Eleven, a 32-ounce Big Gulp of Mountain Dew is $1.59. And for those who seek extra caffeine at a convenience store and pick up a DoubleShot (two shots of espresso plus cream in a can), that can set you back $2.29. DoubleShot is targeted to an 18-to-24-year-old market, says Nicole Bradley, public relations manager for Pepsi Cola North America, which sells the beverage in a partnership with Starbucks. The 6.5-ounce cans really took off after last year's television ad campaign in which a young man named Glen gets his day going with DoubleShot while catchy music plays.

Those ads are seen by kids of all ages. Lindauer, the Northeastern law student who loved a sip of coffee as a child, was shocked to learn that her 12-year-old brother walks with his friends from school to a Starbucks in town. ''The girls are wearing their pink UGGs and ordering $4 coffee drinks," she says.