没错，Costa咖啡，作为世界最大的咖啡连锁品牌之一，现在声称自己不“鼓励”把咖啡卖给未满16岁的顾客，每家店可以自行决定是否向疑似太年轻的顾客售卖咖啡。

"We do not encourage the sale of caffeine to children under 16 and it is at store discretion¹ to question a customer’s age if they have any concerns,” a spokesperson confirmed to the Manchester Evening News.

一名发言人对《曼彻斯特晚间新闻》说：“我们并不鼓励向未满16岁的顾客售卖咖啡因，我们的店铺在产生顾虑时可以自行决定是否向顾客询问年龄。”

现在还不清楚Costa咖啡是不是允许自己的员工要顾客出示证件来证明年龄。这家连锁品牌的代表当时没有出来发表相关评论。

Costa咖啡本来已经在夏天推行过这个政策，但这个事件是这次才见诸报纸头条的，因为英国威尔士的一位父亲得知Costa拒绝向他12岁的女儿出售咖啡；他说女儿只是偶尔买来喝着玩。

“I had never heard of Costa doing this before,” he told the Daily Post.

他告诉《每日邮报》：“我还从没见过Costa做这种事。”

"If they are concerned about health then perhaps they should also stop selling cakes or high calorie drinks to overweight children because obesity² is a far more serious health issue in this country than caffeine consumption,” he added.

他还补充道：“如果他们是担心健康问题的话，那他们也该停止向超重的小孩出售蛋糕和高热量饮料，因为肥胖症的问题在这个国家要比咖啡因摄入问题严重得多。”

The dad also claimed that Costa Coffee’s advertising³ is partly “aimed at younger people,” though Costa denied this in a statement to Manchester Evening News.

这位父亲还说Costa咖啡的广告在一定程度上就是“面向年轻人群的”，不过Costa对《曼彻斯特晚间新闻》否认了这一点。

Barry Stein是一名纽约的儿科医生，他对《纽约邮报》说：偶尔饮用咖啡因并不会给青少年带来严重的副作用，只是可能影响睡眠质量而已。

他还引述了美国儿科学会的未成年人咖啡因摄入量建议：每日100毫克。

Costa咖啡在今年10月也曾经被推到风口浪尖，他们当时的一条广播广告声称买他们的早餐比买牛油果更划算。

“Oh, there's a great deal on ripen-at-home avocados. Sure, they'll be hard as rock for the first 18 days, three hours and 20 minutes, then they'll be ready to eat, for about 10 minutes, then they'll go off," the radio ad spot said. "For a better deal, head to Costa Coffee and grab⁴ a delicious, piping hot bacon roll or egg muffin for just ?2 ($2.60) when you buy any Medio or Massimo hot drink or flat white before 11 a.m."

那条广告是这样说的：“嗯，那些买回家才能熟的牛油果是挺不错的。没错，一开始的18天+3小时+20分钟里它们跟石头一样硬，这段时间过后你才能开始吃，而你只会花10分钟吃它，然后就没有然后了。想要买点更划算的东西吗？来Costa咖啡吧，每天上午11点前，如果你买一份中杯或大杯的热饮，或者买一杯馥芮白，就能只花2欧元再买一个美味、热乎的培根卷或者鸡蛋松糕。”