Different types of caffeine

Thursday, April 7th, 2022 A calamitous caffeine crazed culture

Flannery Warner

Opinion Editor

Iwoke up to my alarm blaring, launching my mind into a groggy state where falling back asleep would be the easier decision.

Where, next thing you know, you’ve slipped back into a dream state where half-unicorn-halfbears run wild and flex time doesn’t exist.

I know I'm not the only one guilty of turning off their alarm, forcing their mom to shake their high school child awake out of a unicorn-bear themed dream.

In this situation, as most of us would, I tend to rely on a cup of double-shot coffee to pull me out of that dazed state and into the real world reality of zero period orchestra.

As someone who has never tried an energy drink before, I thought it would be interesting to try different popular forms of caffeine for four days.

I ended up choosing a Monster Energy, Bang Energy, Yerba Mate, and a cup of coffee.

In a way that only Cindy Condit herself would be proud of, I devised a way to best try and eliminate any other variable factors within my caffeine experiment.

I decided to consume caffeine in the morning starting during zero period until around the middle of first period (when I would on a normal day have my cup of coffee).

Additionally, I tried to choose the zero sugar or lowest sugar versions of these drinks in order to try and eliminate the effects of sugar.

Finally, I evaluated each experience based on physical effect, mental clarity, energy levels and overall experience consuming.

Day 1: Monster Energy Zero Ultra (140 mg of caffeine)

When I cracked the top on the infamous ice white and blue can, senior Sam Aldag stopped midway from taking out his clarinet to state, “Flan, why the f-ck do you have an energy drink?”

I think this pretty much embodies how out of place I felt drinking an energy drink.

My first few sips were nice enough. It tasted like fruit punch with a slight orange-vanilla aftertaste.

My main complaint initially was how cold the drink was.

At 7:20 in the morning, all I was craving was the warm cup of coffee, not the cold, abrasive and not quite natural tasting fruit flavored drink.

Whilst drinking, I got intense flavor fatigue about half way through, and around 4:30 pm, I crashed with a slight headache.

I felt relatively energized throughout the day and didn’t notice feeling any more or less energized than normal. I did, however, get jittery.

Day 2: Guayaki Yerba Mate Tropical Uprising (150 mg of caffeine)

I was surprised to find out that a Yerba Mate in fact had more caffeine than the Monster.

I had a similar reaction to the coldness of the drink, however, the flavor was much more pleasant.

It was a blissful, not too sweet blend of tropical fruits that lacked the artificial flavor the others contained.

I didn’t get sick of the flavor whilst drinking it and throughout the day I felt more sustained with less crashes.

Throughout this experience, I realized what I had always heard was in fact true, tea caffeine energy feels a lot more sustainable.

I did have a couple bouts of anxiety jitters, but for the most part, it was pretty level energy wise.

Day 3: Cup of Coffee double shot espresso (about 100 mg of caffeine)

This day I had a high school swim meet and because of this I decided to do my baseline test.

I'm used to having a cup of coffee everyday, so this was nothing new for me.

I really enjoyed how warm the cup of coffee was (shout out to my mom for the honey latte) and it was, overall, a really enjoyable experience.

I didn’t feel too jittery and felt like I had sustained energy throughout the day.

In addition, I had plenty of energy throughout my swims at the meet.

My only complaint was that the coffee always leaves an intense after taste and coffee breath which is only amplified by the mask.

Day 4: Bang Sour Heads Energy Drink (300 mg of caffeine)

Oh boy, this one I was nervous about.

At 300 mg of caffeine, this drink was more than double what I normally would consume.

Before having this drink my older brother stated, “just don't do anything that will make you anxious.”

In response, I just laughed as school was unavoidable.

Throughout my experience, everyone I talked to gave me the same half worried half sympathetic look when they found out I would be drinking a whole Bang.

This drink was intense with every sip and was much too potent for playing classical Brahms on a Thursday morning.

When I was finished with the drink, I noticed that my mouth felt like it was coated in a weird chemical/slippery solution.

I definitely felt the side effects of this. Throughout the day, I felt extremely anxious and jittery.

I have to admit I did feel more energized, however, not in a good sustained way more in a ‘I feel like I have to constantly be moving or I'm gonna explode type of way.’

The day ended at around 4 pm when I went through a large caffeine crash that resulted with me laying on my bed staring at the ceiling for 20 minutes.

Overall, this experiment was very interesting because I felt like it truly showed me what my tolerance level is for caffeine and the amount that I run best on.

Based on my results, going forward, I will shift towards more tea based caffeine sources because I much preferred the type of energy they gave me.

Flannery Warner/PEPPERBOX A perfect supplement for afternoon AP Biology homework