A new café at Metro, 320 E. College Ave., offers students 50 percent more caffeine per cup of coffee, and, according to the owner, the new brand has doubled the café's business.
The café at Metro is now known as Shock Café. Before the change, the Metro Café sold Starbucks coffee since its opening six years ago.
Since the café changed Sept. 20, Shock Café owner Art Fine said he is selling much more coffee during Penn State home football weekends and students and non-students alike are enjoying the "hyper-caffeinated" coffee.
Fine said when the café first opened six years ago, Starbucks told the owner there would be no other Starbucks sold in State College for at least a year. He added circumstances changed six months later when a Starbucks opened on West College Avenue in downtown State College.
The Metro Café was different because it sold both clothing and Starbucks coffee.
"To the best of our knowledge Starbucks was never sold in a clothing store anywhere else in the world," Fine said.
Fine said he was eager to make the switch to Shock Coffee when a Shock Coffee telemarketer contacted him.
"The timing was impeccable," Fine said. "We've got a really cool café that is different from every other café in town with our hyper-caffeinated coffee. ... What could be better?"
When asked why he decided to buy Shock Coffee, Zachary Lieb, (senior-environmental resource management) said, "I love caffeine."
Lieb left the store with a large bag of ground coffee.
Meridith McTamany, (junior-English) a barista at the Shock Café, said the switch was a good move.
"People are really intrigued by it," she said about the new coffee. "People are asking a lot more questions about it. In general, the advertising is a lot more flashy."
The café's owner is enjoying success with the energy blend that holds 50 percent more caffeine than other gourmet coffees and has an advertising slogan, "Sleep is overrated," in a college town where students are constantly craving caffeine to stay awake.
But Simon Holowatz, a community health educator University Health Services, said a sudden increase in a person's consumption of caffeine can cause some negative effects.
"A sudden increase in caffeine intake can cause feelings of discomfort, jitters and can interfere with a person's ability to sleep well when they finally do get to sleep," Holowatz said. This could be detrimental to a person's ability to perform well the next day, he said.
If students need caffeine to help them stay awake, Holowatz advised the best thing to do is drink a normal amount of coffee and continue drinking a little bit more as needed.
