Only a few days after returning home from university, I found myself in a shouting match with my Mum upon finding out she had started using the regular coffee tin to store her decaf. As I stormed out of the house, desperate to acquire myself a double espresso, in horror that my coffees of the past few days had, in fact, been decaffeinated, it began to dawn on me that Cambridge may have left me perhaps a bit too reliant on caffeine. Energy is a valuable currency in Cambridge, not just to meet the packed work deadlines of Cambridge terms but also to fit busy social or society calendars around these. I couldn’t help but assume that the average Cambridge student must have an unhealthy reliance on the drug. After quizzing multiple friends and conducting a survey with roughly 40 responses to each question, I set out to untangle the reality of Cambridge’s caffeine culture.

“The haunting of a late-night overdue essay or the pressures of exam season were typical motivators”

The caffeine buzz undeniably plays an essential role in the daily routine of many students. Half of the respondents reported drinking caffeine in some form between two to four times a day, with three drinking it five or more times and eight not at all. Emily, a committed coffee-drinker, has at least five cups of the drink a day. Whether from her kitchen coffee machine or bought at a café, it’s become part of her routine: “If I’m at Sidge, I just feel like I have to get one.” She notes it’s “partly a procrastination thing” – we’re all familiar with the welcome ‘coffee break’ mid-study. Almost everyone agreed they turn to caffeine when a quick energy fix is needed. The haunting of a late-night overdue essay or the pressures of exam season were typical motivators. Olga has green tea “just to help me do a late night work shift.” Other than the occasional tea, her “only encounters with caffeine” were taking caffeine pills before her coursework deadline. The allures of caffeine also aren’t just work-related, multiple people shared that they rely on energy drinks to get them through a night out. Ayako, Saskia, and Emily all told me they don’t normally have energy drinks in the day, but make sure to grab “maybe a cheeky Red Bull” or some sort of energy drink before a late night out.

“Whether for the taste or the social associations, coffee seems to have cemented itself in the Cambridge culture not so much for the caffeine.”

But caffeine addictions were less common than I had initially assumed may be the case. Instead, among the students I spoke to, most made active efforts to limit their consumption, seeming very aware of the risks of becoming too reliant. Aoife noted that she now makes “a pretty conscious effort to limit how much I have,” especially as she sees how reliant some people can get. Biba shared that she’s very wary of the toss-up between the short-term burst of energy a coffee can provide or feeling energised in the longer term, as a cup of coffee she knows is likely to leave her struggling to get a good night’s sleep. I was surprised to find multiple people actively avoiding caffeine altogether. Olga doesn’t drink caffeine, apart from a very rare tea here and there. For her, “it’s almost like a self-protection thing.” When work often gets left to the last minute, she feels “adding a crippling caffeine addiction to that would just be a really bad recipe for a healthy work-life balance.” Astrid actively avoids coffee as she feels its negative impact on her, telling me that it “doesn’t really have an impact on me apart from making me anxious.”

Whether for the taste or the social associations, coffee seems to have cemented itself in the Cambridge culture, not so much for the caffeine. The warm yellow lighting and snug seating options of a café, or the frothy comforts of a spiced autumnal drunk, seemed to entice people to drink it more than want of an energy boost. When I asked about whether people felt there was a culture of caffeine reliance, most people seemed doubtful, suggesting it was everything associated with the coffee itself that has more of an established culture. “‘Let’s go out for coffee’ is a big thing socially,” noted Emily. Astrid shared that she tends to only have coffee socially, and Amelia, despite preferring tea, buys a coffee more if she’s meeting a friend “because it feels like a waste of money to buy tea.”

This coffee culture comes with the increasing popularity of more artisanal or gourmet hot drinks: think Chai latte, matcha, notwithstanding syrups galore (think Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread). These leave caffeine a less prominent feature of the hot drink. In fact, 59% of the people I surveyed voted they drink it for the taste rather than the caffeine - with four people commenting to say both the flavour and the hit of caffeine are its appeal. When Aoife tried to cut down on her caffeine, she turned to less caffeinated drinks; now, she more routinely goes for a chai latte. This applies to other caffeinated drinks too: if any was consumed on an especially enormous scale, it was tea, but not for the caffeine. Astrid drinks “lots and lots of tea” for the taste. In a similar way, it’s the chilliness of her accommodation that gets Freya reaching for a warm mug of the drink.

It’s clear coming to university leaves people bigger caffeine consumers than before - 84% voted that they consume more caffeine at university than at home. Some students undeniably function off dangerous caffeine reliances, and most rely on one or two caffeinated drinks a day. But the appeal of a warm mug of coffee or tea seems to also be for what it represents: a break from work, a catch-up with a friend, or a tasty drink.