Newtown: Just Another Java Town In A Nation Of Coffee Drinkers

By Nancy K. Crevier

Since the Continental Congress deemed coffee the national drink of the colonized United States in protest of the British tea tax more than 200 years ago, coffee has been a quintessentially American beverage.

More than 50 percent of Americans down a cup or more of the rich, black beverage each day, and when other sources of caffeine are taken into consideration, nearly 80 percent of Americans are fired up by the legal stimulant every day, according to a CBS report. Coffee is second only to that other popular fuel, oil, on the commodities market.

Coffee is sold around the clock in the United States, somewhere, by someone. And there is someone there to buy it. Newtown is no exception to the rule.

People flock to trendy coffee shops for latte and to family diners for a cup of joe, order their rocket fuel at a bakery, grab a frappuccino at the gas station, sip on java while they grocery shop, or top off a fine dining experience with a demitasse of espresso. From a 99-cent cup to a $5 mug, local residents are willing to pay the price for their favorite brew.

Just how much coffee do Newtowners down? Dunkin’ Donuts owner Jeff Dymerski has the numbers on Newtown.

Up to seven pots of coffee are brewing at Dunkin’ Donuts at peak hours in the morning, supplying the demand of a typical weekday. “We sold 187 small cups, 503 medium, 246 large, and 63 of the extra-large, which are 24 ounces each. That was a medium to slow day,” he said. On the weekends, those numbers could easily double, said Mr Dymerski.

The local doughnut shop sees a regular clientele of Newtowners, and Mr Dymerski feels it is a good cross-section of the town. “We have the construction workers, the professionals, the moms and kids, and the teenagers,” he noted.

The staff is responsible for the reliable flavor and quality of the coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts and follows precise specs to ensure that what customers get one day, they will get the next. “The coffee is ground to order on premises, to a specified grind weight. We even have to check the coarseness of the grind to grind samples. The temperature of the water going in has to be to specs, and the volume has to be 58 to 62 fluid ounces per pot of coffee,” Mr Dymerski said.

It is not quite rocket science, Mr Dymerski admitted, but it results in a coffee that his Newtown customers find appealing — cup after cup after cup, 24 hours a day.

The focus at Newtown Deli is on the food, said owner Artie Praino, but nonetheless, at least 15 percent of his sales are for coffee. The busy South Main Street deli serves up at least 185 cups of coffee each day, he estimated, to people on their way to work, regular coffee drinkers who gather to visit and sip coffee, and even a few teens in the afternoon. As the breakfasts at Newtown Deli gain popularity, Mr Praino said, coffee sales go up.

“Most of our customers are just looking for a good cup of coffee, but we do sell some flavored [coffees] and the teens go for the caffeine drinks like Red Bull.”

The cafeteria business at Tier One on Peck’s Lane is owned by Charlotte and Wolfgang Hilse. They cater to a captive audience of only about 100 town workers and Tier One employees, said Mrs Hilse, but even so, at least 100 cups of coffee and decaffeinated coffee go out of the cafeteria every day. “We leave a pot going for the night workers, too, when we leave each day, and they probably make one or two more pots overnight. So I would say that we go through another 40 cups or so each night,” she said. It would seem that everyone in the building is drinking coffee, but some of the clients, said Mrs Hilse, are downing four or five cups of go-juice in a day. “Maybe they realize what a bargain it is. It is only 75 cents a cup here,” Mrs Hilse said.

Coach’s Deli in Sandy Hook Center, owned by Rob Frangione, serves breakfast, lunch, and take-out dinners, so Mr Frangione has plenty of opportunity to observe Newtown’s coffee habits. “We get contractors, landscapers, business people, all kinds in here. Most of them just want regular coffee and we probably turn out 150 to 250 cups a day,” said Mr Frangione. That does not include the flavored coffees, of which he estimates another 60 to 75 cups disappear down customers’ gullets each day, nor does it include the miniscule 20 cups of decaffeinated coffee sold at Coach’s day to day.

The fascination with coffee is a mystery to Mr Frangione, who has been making coffee since he was 10 years old, but has never touched a cup. “I’m a tea drinker, green tea or decaffeinated,” he shrugged.

A Tradition Of Coffee Castigation

Despite America’s passion for the brown bean, coffee has been vilified throughout the years, blamed for nervous conditions, stunted growth, stomach ills, and even accused of creating black holes of wasted time in men’s lives: “Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water,” asserted The Women’s Petition Against Coffee in 1674.

Those accusations may be a bit harsh, but coffee does have its down side. The active ingredient in coffee, caffeine, has been connected to caffeine allergies and caffeine psychosis when sensitive individuals consume more than their nervous system can handle. And everyone’s system is a little different, meaning that what’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. Caffeine stimulates the nervous system, providing the instant lift and energy most people feel after just one cup of coffee. It can increase the heart rate and raise the blood pressure. For the majority of coffee drinkers, these conditions are temporary and not debilitating; for others, they can be life-threatening.

A recent WebMD report notes that moderate and light coffee drinkers, but not coffee drinkers who down four or more cups a day, actually increase their risk of heart attack by drinking coffee. Just one cup of coffee and the short-term increase in blood pressure and sympathetic nervous activity can trigger an attack, although it is noted that often the victims have other coronary risk factors, as well.

Coffee is sometimes blamed for feelings of fatigue and low-energy, as tannins in caffeine bind to iron in the system, reducing the amount of iron absorbed by the body. For those who suffer from anemia, caffeinated items might not be the wise choice.

That is the bad news.

The good news, and what so many Newtown coffee drinkers prefer to hear, is that there are many health benefits to drinking coffee. Coffee is full of antioxidants, which are nutrients or chemicals that inhibit cancer-causing free radicals in the body, and contains components that improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, meaning that it can be a beneficial beverage for diabetics. It reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, asserts a 2004 report on WebMD, and gives a powerful performance boost to high-end athletes — and tired local residents.

Young Drinkers

Some of the tired Newtowners are the teens who rise and shine for early morning classes.

Maggie Hemingway, a senior this year at Newtown High School, started drinking coffee her junior year. The early start to the school day coupled with after-school sports and a heavy school load make staying alert a challenge without coffee, she said. “Mostly, I started drinking coffee to wake me up for school,” she said, “and I’ll go to Starbucks or Mocha’s almost every day now either before school or sometimes after if I have a lot of studying.” She is not alone, she said, observing that many NHS students can be spotted with a coffee cup in hand as the day begins.

“I hate to say it,” said resident Joan Velush, “but I think that Alex, who is a senior now in college, liked coffee from the time she was 8 years old.” Her daughters Alex and Zoe, a college freshman, she said, dote on a good cup of java, as does she.

Alex, who was home schooled until high school, confirmed her mother’s recollections. “I started drinking coffee as a kid, I think just as a break with my mom after studying. We’d just sit and catch up. I still like to drink coffee with my friends as a little break.” On average, Alex consumes a modest two or three cups of mocha a day, she said. “It does depend on what’s going on with my academic life, though. If I have a lot of studying, that could seriously affect the amount of coffee that I drink. It can get a little out of hand.”

Parents whose hair stands on end at the thought of their child ingesting a cup of coffee can relax. The United States Department of Agriculture Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine reports that moderate amounts of caffeine, the amount found in one or two cups of coffee, are not harmful to adults or children. It does not cause hyperactivity, or increase the risk of cancer, osteoporosis, or cardiovascular diseases. What parents need to watch for, though, is that growing children not replace beverages like skim milk, 100 percent juices, and water with caffeinated products.

Dr Diane Wenick of Danbury Medical Group, sees a fair number of adolescents in her practice. “I don’t view [coffee] as a big problem [for teenagers],” she said. “I’d rather they drink two cups of coffee than two cans of diet soda a day, to be honest. I think coffee is actually a healthier choice of the two.” It is the addition of artificial chemicals and artificial sweeteners in diet soda that concerns Dr Wenick far more than the caffeine in coffee. “There’s very little data to show caffeine would be a problem for adolescents,” she said.

On the other hand, if teens start using coffee as a stimulant to stay awake to study or play, in lieu of sleep, it is not a good thing, said Dr Wenick. “Developing any habit can be a problem for an adolescent. There’s always the potential it could be misused. In moderation, though, I don’t see coffee as a problem for teens.”

Even teens who turn their backs on a latte or an espresso can ingest plenty of caffeine, though. Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook lists a regular 16-ounce cup of coffee or brewed tea as containing on average 100 milligrams of caffeine. (Starbucks brand is rated anywhere from 200 to 500 milligrams per 16-ounce cup.) Most colas and diet colas listed have between 35 and 45 milligrams of caffeine in each serving, but surprisingly, there are other sodas that pack far more punch. Mountain Dew and Pepsi One come in at 55 milligrams in each 12-ounce can, but it is Jolt Cola that packs what they promise: a jolt. Each 12-ounce serving has 71.5 milligrams of caffeine and plenty of sugar.

For young people who like their chocolate, even cocoa is a source of caffeine, with 7 milligrams in a 6-ounce cup. Chocolate lovers will find 10 milligrams in a 1.5-ounce milk chocolate bar and a whopping 30 milligrams in a 1.5-ounce dark chocolate bar.

Energy drinks are the buzz around town for the youth and contribute to caffeine intake. A can of Red Bull has 80 milligrams of caffeine, while another popular energy drink, Sobe-Adrenaline Rush, contains 86 milligrams of the legal pick-me-up.

A Way To Relax

For coffee lovers, there is a balancing act of finding the optimum amount of the right brand to drink without getting the jitters, and not having enough caffeine, which can lead to irritability and pounding headaches. Why do coffee drinkers subject themselves to the teeter-totter existence? They do it to bond and, strangely enough, to relax.

Taking a break from the daily routine and chatting with co-workers or friends is a way to reconnect and adding a steaming cup of coffee to the break provides a mental and physical boost, as well. There is something innately comfortable about sitting down with friends or family over a hot cup of coffee to catch up on the latest news. It is a common companion to a break in routine.

Joan Velush has a cappuccino-espresso machine at home that makes really delicious coffee, she said, but more often than not, she opts to go out for coffee. It is more than the coffee itself that is important to her. “Drinking coffee is a whole experience for me. I like being waited on and being in that experience.”

The atmosphere and experience are what have led her to her very favorite coffee place, The Last Drop in Monroe. “I love that there are lots of young people around and it has a very ‘up’ feel. I think that their coffee is the best. It’s a clean taste, but has a lot of depth and flavor.”

The apple does not fall far from the tree, with Starbucks and The Last Drop rating as top coffee houses for Alex when she is home from Fordham University. The environment, said Alex, can make or break a coffee house.

There is hardly a retail outlet in town that does not sell caffeine in some form. Multiply the numbers of the above-named establishments by all of the other coffee purveyors and institutions in town, and it is clear that while Newtown may not have invented the trendy coffee habit, but it has certainly embraced the culture. Anyone for a cup of joe?