Campus Coffee Consumption: Necessity

      

      During stressful weeks like finals and midterms, the principal factor in college students' specialty coffee consumption shifts from convenience to the necessity for an energy boost, according to MSU marketing professor and expert in consumer behavior Ayalla Ruvio. 

      MSU junior Athena Smith, for example, said that she purchases coffee “just for exams or if I’m like super-tired."

      Ruvio referred to this as “the notion of caffeine to boost your performance – at least for the short-term.”

      It is this shared notion that causes coffee shops like Starbucks and Biggby, according to baristas Emily Kaip and Michelle Cusick, to see drastic spikes in their numbers of customers during exam weeks.

      “For the closing shift, it’s usually pretty dead,” said Cusick, a Biggby barista.  “But when midterms and finals and stuff come – that’s when you get a lot of people, ‘cause they’re here studying at the Union and are pulling late nights.”

      Ruvio added that coffee shops typically feature an environment that is conducive to the activities of students: there are tables where customers can use their computers, couches where groups can meet to discuss responsibilities for their projects, and usually soft background music playing that helps many concentrate.

Campus Coffee Consumption: Convenience

      One of the largest factors affecting the increased consumption of specialty coffee by students on college campuses is convenience, according to two baristas and an expert on consumer behavior.   

      At Michigan State, the location of a Biggby Coffee in the Student Union and a Starbucks in Wells Hall provides a major component of the convenience students depend on: considering both buildings are located at relatively central parts of campus, students do not have to stray far from their classes to acquire a latte of their choice.

      Starbucks supervisor and MSU junior Emily Kaip said that at the Wells Hall location, the busiest time on a regular day is "definitely in the morning starting around nine, and probably up until about three o'clock."

      "It's just when people are in class - when people are on campus," she said.

      Biggby barista and fifth-year MSU student Michelle Cusick elaborated on the same observation: "During the day - in the morning - it's in between classes, like right before classes.  And then once classes start, it slows down."

      Kaip added that the quick, made-to-order service increases convenience.

      “I don’t have a coffee machine at home,” she said.  “Coffee machines can be kind of expensive.”