Drinks

When I was in seminary -- no, that's okay, I never mention it myself -- one of my classmates was called on the carpet for excessive consumption of alcohol. There was plenty of drinking in the seminary and one did have to overdo it to get in trouble. In this particular case, he had gone out with another seminarian on Good Friday night, got drunk and then drove his car onto the tracks of a trolley car line.  A patrol car came by right then and got them off the tracks and brought them home. Of course, he went to wake up one of the staff to get someone to drive him back to get the car. The staff member, no fool, told him that he -- the seminarian -- was still too drunk to drive the car back to the seminary, and he had to go rouse the student master and confess all.

Despite this, he got through seminary and went on to become a quite reactionary priest in a most reactionary diocese. The reason he came to mind today is that when he was reprimanded about his habit of drinking every night at the seminary, he asked if they were going to start restricting the intake of coffee. The rector looked at him steadily and said, "When we start having to send men to rehab and bail them out of jail because of coffee, I imagine we will address the issue."

Today there is a sad story about a young man who died from a caffeine overdose -- not too much coffee, as such, but even so:

A caffeine overdose has been ruled the cause of an Ohio prom king's sudden death before graduation in May.

The Lorain County Coroner reports Logan Stiner of LaGrange, Ohio, had toxic levels of caffeine in his body, and died from an irregular heartbeat and seizures after ingesting caffeine powder.

Stiner was found by his brother near the white powder on May 27, having taken enough to cause the overdose while at home from school for lunch.

"I never thought it would hurt an 18-year-old child," resident Lora Balka told WKYC.

She says she hopes his death will encourage other youths to consume caffeine in a mindful manner.

While it's not sold in stores, caffeine powder is available on the Internet and is stronger than traditional forms of the supplement. One teaspoon of the powder contains up to 1,600 milligrams of caffeine — about 70 cans of Red Bull. Comparably, energy drinks contain about 280 milligrams, and a 12-ounce Starbucks coffee contains 260 milligrams.

A warning label on the caffeine powder suggests using a micro-scale to measure a safe amount, and companies claim that it improves focus, increases endurance and elevates mood.