Central High School students have been casually walking around the school, coffee cups in hand, throughout the year. The Central Perk, founded by Central’s librarian, Ms. Melinda Martin, has officially been open for a year.

“The students enjoy having the coffee shop, they get pretty irate if we aren’t open,” said Martin with a smile.

The highest selling products include the French Vanilla Cappuccino, Pina Colada frozen drink, and finally, just plain and simple coffee. The Central Perk sells between five and thirty drinks a day to students and faculty.

“The coffee sales are steady, but not where I would like them to be,” stated Martin.

The business is headed by Martin, but is run by her student aids. She also teamed up with another teacher, Ms. Jennifer Haverlah, who helps Martin open in the mornings.

When the news got around that Central High School was getting a coffee shop, several students were ecstatic.

“I love it! The coffee shop is the best thing that’s happened since coffee,” exclaimed Shasta Faile, one of the regular Perk customers. Faile visits the library everyday to get a hot cup of coffee.

Central is one of only two schools in Hamilton County to have a coffee shop, but it is even more unique because it is located in the library. Also, all of the proceeds from the coffee sales go directly to the library.

“I love having the coffee shop in the library! It brings students into the library and so they check out books, which is really exciting to see,” exclaimed Marina Gudnyy, a Central senior and one of Martin’s student aids.

“Throughout this next year we are going to really start to push product. I  want to start selling at basketball games, baseball games, and football games. Hopefully I’ll have enough staff and volunteers that will want to hangout and make sales at our sporting events,” expressed Martin.