It is an all too familiar modern morality tale: teenager goes too far and gets rushed to hospital suffering from an overdose. But in the case of 17-year-old waitress Jasmine Willis, the hyper-ventilation, uncontrolled sobbing and rocketing temperature that she suffered behind the counter of her dad's sandwich shop had a more mundane cause. She'd guzzled too much espresso coffee.
Jasmine drank seven double-espressos during the course of her shift at the shop in Stanley, Co Durham. Customers noticed the difference. "My nerves were all over the place," she said yesterday. I was crying in front of the customers and had tears streaming down my face. I was drenched and burning up and hyperventilating. I was having palpitations, my heart was beating so fast and I think I was going into shock."
In the end, Jasmine had to be sent home. But after being despatched by her father, Gary, her condition worsened.
The teenager developed a fever and was unable to breathe properly and had to be admitted to the University Hospital of North Durham.
Jasmine made a full recovery, but last night her plight was being copied into countless office emails, with a warning about the dangers lurking, especially, within filter coffee, which has much higher caffeine levels than the instant variety.
According to the British Coffee Association, drinking a daily cup or three may reduce liver diseases and stave off Alzheimer's but caffeine stimulates the heart and central nervous system and may temporarily increase blood pressure and raise cholesterol levels.
Not since revelations of Robbie Williams' apparent 36-a-day double-espresso habit has coffee had such a bad press. His publicist acknowledged he had checked into rehab earlier this year to combat his craving for the eccentric combination of three-dozen espressos, 60 Silk Cut, and 20 cans of Red Bulls every day.
Looking on the bright side, French researchers have apparently found that women who drink more than three cups a day show less decline in memory tests than those who don't.
Unfortunately for Jasmine, the bad news is that she will have to wait another 48 years to discover whether that's true, since the tests were only carried out on women over the age of 65.
Jasmine's father Gary, who runs the Sandwich Bar in Stanley, said: "She did not realise she was drinking double measures. I have always stressed to my children the importance of moderation but Jasmine got caught out on this occasion."
Although she was only kept in hospital for a few hours, Jasmine suffered side-effects for several days.
Jasmine says she now cannot face the sight of coffee, which may limit her future career prospects in her dad's sandwich shop.
Instead, like one of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales, she is left offering dire warnings to others: " I did not realise this could happen to you and I only hope other people learn from my mistake," she said.
