I see in the paper today that a high school in the small town of Hawarden, Iowa (Pop. 2,600) is providing a coffee shop on the school grounds called the Falcon Joe Coffee Shop. It is a kid's version of a Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks and serves coffee lattes, espressos, and other coffee drinks to the high school kids. "It's a very popular thing" says one 18 year old girl who has been drinking coffee drinks since she was 12.

The idea for Falcon Joe came from the principal of the school who recognized the culture of coffee drinking youths. Times have changed; I can imagine the reaction to such a place in my high school especially endorsed by my principal, Mr. Mathias. I'm sure he would roll over in his grave if he knew of such a thing happening in the USA..

I doubt that if you walked into Falcon Joe you would find a bunch of kids sitting around drinking black coffee. Their drinks of choice are the lattes and junk like that because of all the cream, sugar, and other fatty stuff that goes into them. It is kind of like kids from years ago drinking ice cream sodas except now they are loaded with caffeine.

Somehow, I don't think a kid of 12 has any business drinking coffee. I would feel sorry for the kid of a few years ago who was caught doing that. For one thing, before the latte and Starbucks craze, no kid would want to drink that hot, black, bitter stuff. Most people who sample straight coffee say they wish it tasted as good as it smells. In the current era, coffee is masked so much by other flavors, you can barely taste it.

How about the caffeine the kids are ingesting? I see young kids drinking Red Bull and it probably has more caffeine than coffee. Cola drinks are loaded with it too. One expert from Johns Hopkins University says that caffeine is a mood altering substance that produces dependence and withdrawal and needs to be identified as a drug.

I look at caffeine and coffee as an "upper" which is probably the last thing young kids need. But, just try to stop them from going to Starbucks. I see young kids all the time in Scottsdale drinking from a Starbucks' cup. Either their parents don't care or have given up trying to stop them. Kids are a lot more cocky these days. Probably the last thing parents need is one of them full of caffeine.