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> highly profitable substance Yes and no. I've been a fan of caffeine pills for years. They are very cheap, readily available (portable), and most importantly

> highly profitable substance Yes and no. I've been a fan of caffeine pills for years. They are very cheap, readily available (portable), and most importantly to me offer completely consistent dosing. With caffeine pills I'm able to ensure I stay below the FDA recommended maximum daily intake of 400 mg (worst case). Another fun bonus - when a physician asks you what your caffeine intake is and you respond in milligrams they look at you funny. Otherwise I completely agree with you. Every time I'm at an airport, etc I marvel at how many caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks for however long ready to drop $10 (or whatever it costs) for a beverage with a completely unknown and highly variable dose of what is fundamentally a drug. Doubly so for variations that have other negative things like adulterations and calories. Caffeine is a drug and should be treated as such. If you were taking any other drug (over the counter or RX) would anyone tolerate "today it's 100 mg, tomorrow it's 400 mg"?

snikeris 2y ago
You’re missing out on the phytochemicals that contribute to the positive effects of drinking tea or coffee. You’re getting all the bad (and good) of chronic caffeine stimulation, with none of the plant medicine benefits that tea and coffee drinkers receive.
silverpepsi 2y ago
>If you were taking any other drug (over the counter or RX) would anyone tolerate "today it's 100 mg, tomorrow it's 400 mg"? afaik melatonin. Not super happy about it but it is what it is, giving it up has a high cost too.
lostmsu 2y ago
> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks I believe Starbucks is selling sugar under the guise of caffeine.
NoPicklez 2y ago
If you buy caffeine pills as a stimulant, you are no better than those "addicts" at Starbucks at the airport. I like coffee because it's a warm beverage, it tastes nice and of course there is the added benefit of the caffeine in the morning. That's about it. There's no way I would be getting close to 400mg of caffeine and doing so by pills is something I marvel at. I would say the majority of people drinking a normal cup of coffee (standard latte) a couple of times a day aren't getting anywhere near 400mg of caffeine. One shot of espresso is lucky to have 80mg of caffeine in it.
rsync 2y ago
"... I marvel at how many caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks for however long ready to drop $10 (or whatever it costs) for a beverage with a completely unknown and highly variable dose of what is fundamentally a drug ..." You mean, sugar ? A vast majority of the "coffee" drinkers you witness are consuming something that is indistinguishable from an ice-cream sunday. Would that they were just consuming caffeine ... they would be much, much better off.
DontchaKnowit 2y ago
caffeine pills are awesome for the reasons you described, but I do find that coffee "feels" different as a result of the Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (probably). coffee feels more pushy and dirty - more peripheral nervous system stimulation
wildzzz 2y ago
My wife uses caffeine pills on occasion but I prefer energy drinks most mornings alongside something like toast. Obviously more expensive but the drink has a slower come-up (likely due to the extra water and food). Whenever I do take pills instead, I'm in a rush so I'm not drinking more water than necessary and definitely not eating anything. I like the Celsius drink mixes since I can put one in my water bottle and dose slowly over the course of the morning but they aren't that much cheaper than buying a case of cans. Coffee is definitely the cheapest energy drink available and I suppose instant coffee is probably the quickest and cheapest. I like coffee but I'm not a huge coffee drinker. I would love to be able to buy a jar of instant energy drink of a inoffensive flavor and be able to toss a couple scoops in my bottle. I've tried to do this with caffeine pills but the caffeine powder doesn't mix well with cold water.
- kkielhofner 2y ago
  I completely understand what you mean by intake over time. Caffeine pills are more like take a pill, wait X minutes, and then get the sensation of “oh, there it is” as it all “hits” at once. There are more expensive time release variants but I don’t have much experience with them.
  - Scoundreller 2y ago
    I just take the 200mg tabs, crack them into quarters and take the bits over time. A quarter tab with a glass of cold water should hit slower than the same amount of caffeine pre-dissolved in an espresso. Likely matches up with a quickly downed coffee. From time to time, I put a tab in a sodastream seltzer/sodawater (and wow does it make the bubbles release!)
- xyst 2y ago
  > I like the Celsius drink mixes since I can put one in my water bottle and dose slowly over the course of the morning but they aren't that much cheaper than buying a case of cans. In addition to your caffeine, you get a “healthy” dose of synthetic sugar (aka Sucralose) [1] and other crap added by the drink company to market it as “healthy” Personally, I can’t stand those drinks. Every “0 calorie, 0 sugar” drink is nearly identical in ingredients. Some use different forms of synthetic sugar. The taste is off putting. Sure, there _might_ not be a glycemic spike but at what cost that has not been studied? - what’s the impact to gut microbiome? - what’s the impact to other human physiology? (Increased cancer risk?) I’ll take my risk with real sugar and just limit the consumption to very sparingly. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37256996/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37256996/
xanderlewis 2y ago
> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks Have you considered that those people queuing outside Starbucks might be drinking coffee because they enjoy the whole experience? Caffeine pills are an absurdity to me because I only drink coffee for the taste. Why suffer the unwanted effects of a drug without the enjoyment that it’s supposed to come with?
- m463 2y ago
  I think true coffee lovers like decaf (lets them drink more coffee) hard to get good decaf though, it seems to me like trying to buy diet donuts.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    Decaf that tastes like caf would be great. Unfortunately it seems to be impossible. Or at least I haven’t found it yet. The standard processes used to remove the caffeine seem to also remove enough of the other compounds to make it noticeably more watery and thin.
    - Kirby64 2y ago
      It’s possible, but very difficult. The problem isn’t really the removal of compounds, as far as I can tell, but moreso the change to the bean composition itself. Because the porosity increases so much roasting the decaf beans is much more difficult. Additionally, beans grind differently due to their porosity and brittleness. Basically, this means both the roaster and the grinder of the beans (and preparer of the coffee) need to change their behaviors slightly. Then, at the end of it, the coffee stales much faster so it’ll go bad faster.
      - xanderlewis 2y ago
        Interesting. I do need to try some more decaf from roasters who know what they’re doing…
        2y ago
bmacho 2y ago
This is my opinion about caffeine pills too. Cheap, convenient, effective, and safer against overdose than coffee (in one hand, a box of pills is probably lethal amount, but in the other hand, at least for me, it is much easier to control the amount of caffeine using pills, than using coffee).
vkou 2y ago
At work, I drink coffee, decaf, black. If I'm going to a coffee shop to drop $7, it's not because I'm an addict, it's because I want to splurge on a sweet dessert. I also sometimes buy ice cream at the grocery, for the same reason. I'm assuming you eat nothing but bread and water, unadulterated by anything that makes food delicious.
alfiedotwtf 2y ago
Caffeine pills. Woah... so I guess I knew they existed but didn't actually know what their purpose was, but what you say about consistency is totally on the mark. I measure everything in my coffee process, and I'm lucky in Melbourne that so many cafes do too, but yes - I avoid most cafes that look like they have average and dark beans because of the wild inconsistencies and most certantly burned taste. So do you take them to maintain alertness as anyone else would with coffee, to boost nootropics, or none of the above? Sorry for being nosey but this is interesting to me, because if I'm away from my machine and going to an unknown place then I take my portable handheld espresso machine and already ground beans, but a simple tablet sounds WAY more convenient!!
ssijak 2y ago
most people at starbucks are addicted to sugar and not caffeine
jandrewrogers 2y ago
I, like many others, drink a considerable amount of coffee for the taste. I typically drink decaf so it is difficult to ascribe the habit to addiction.
c22 2y ago
I must be the real sucker. I've stood in line at the cafe just to get steamed milk!

snikeris 2y ago

You’re missing out on the phytochemicals that contribute to the positive effects of drinking tea or coffee. You’re getting all the bad (and good) of chronic caffeine stimulation, with none of the plant medicine benefits that tea and coffee drinkers receive.

silverpepsi 2y ago

>If you were taking any other drug (over the counter or RX) would anyone tolerate "today it's 100 mg, tomorrow it's 400 mg"? afaik melatonin. Not super happy about it but it is what it is, giving it up has a high cost too.

lostmsu 2y ago

> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks I believe Starbucks is selling sugar under the guise of caffeine.

NoPicklez 2y ago

If you buy caffeine pills as a stimulant, you are no better than those "addicts" at Starbucks at the airport. I like coffee because it's a warm beverage, it tastes nice and of course there is the added benefit of the caffeine in the morning. That's about it. There's no way I would be getting close to 400mg of caffeine and doing so by pills is something I marvel at. I would say the majority of people drinking a normal cup of coffee (standard latte) a couple of times a day aren't getting anywhere near 400mg of caffeine. One shot of espresso is lucky to have 80mg of caffeine in it.

rsync 2y ago

"... I marvel at how many caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks for however long ready to drop $10 (or whatever it costs) for a beverage with a completely unknown and highly variable dose of what is fundamentally a drug ..." You mean, sugar ? A vast majority of the "coffee" drinkers you witness are consuming something that is indistinguishable from an ice-cream sunday. Would that they were just consuming caffeine ... they would be much, much better off.

DontchaKnowit 2y ago

caffeine pills are awesome for the reasons you described, but I do find that coffee "feels" different as a result of the Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (probably). coffee feels more pushy and dirty - more peripheral nervous system stimulation

wildzzz 2y ago

My wife uses caffeine pills on occasion but I prefer energy drinks most mornings alongside something like toast. Obviously more expensive but the drink has a slower come-up (likely due to the extra water and food). Whenever I do take pills instead, I'm in a rush so I'm not drinking more water than necessary and definitely not eating anything. I like the Celsius drink mixes since I can put one in my water bottle and dose slowly over the course of the morning but they aren't that much cheaper than buying a case of cans. Coffee is definitely the cheapest energy drink available and I suppose instant coffee is probably the quickest and cheapest. I like coffee but I'm not a huge coffee drinker. I would love to be able to buy a jar of instant energy drink of a inoffensive flavor and be able to toss a couple scoops in my bottle. I've tried to do this with caffeine pills but the caffeine powder doesn't mix well with cold water.

kkielhofner 2y ago
I completely understand what you mean by intake over time. Caffeine pills are more like take a pill, wait X minutes, and then get the sensation of “oh, there it is” as it all “hits” at once. There are more expensive time release variants but I don’t have much experience with them.
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  I just take the 200mg tabs, crack them into quarters and take the bits over time. A quarter tab with a glass of cold water should hit slower than the same amount of caffeine pre-dissolved in an espresso. Likely matches up with a quickly downed coffee. From time to time, I put a tab in a sodastream seltzer/sodawater (and wow does it make the bubbles release!)
xyst 2y ago
> I like the Celsius drink mixes since I can put one in my water bottle and dose slowly over the course of the morning but they aren't that much cheaper than buying a case of cans. In addition to your caffeine, you get a “healthy” dose of synthetic sugar (aka Sucralose) [1] and other crap added by the drink company to market it as “healthy” Personally, I can’t stand those drinks. Every “0 calorie, 0 sugar” drink is nearly identical in ingredients. Some use different forms of synthetic sugar. The taste is off putting. Sure, there _might_ not be a glycemic spike but at what cost that has not been studied? - what’s the impact to gut microbiome? - what’s the impact to other human physiology? (Increased cancer risk?) I’ll take my risk with real sugar and just limit the consumption to very sparingly. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37256996/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37256996/

xanderlewis 2y ago

> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks Have you considered that those people queuing outside Starbucks might be drinking coffee because they enjoy the whole experience? Caffeine pills are an absurdity to me because I only drink coffee for the taste. Why suffer the unwanted effects of a drug without the enjoyment that it’s supposed to come with?

m463 2y ago
I think true coffee lovers like decaf (lets them drink more coffee) hard to get good decaf though, it seems to me like trying to buy diet donuts.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  Decaf that tastes like caf would be great. Unfortunately it seems to be impossible. Or at least I haven’t found it yet. The standard processes used to remove the caffeine seem to also remove enough of the other compounds to make it noticeably more watery and thin.
  - Kirby64 2y ago
    It’s possible, but very difficult. The problem isn’t really the removal of compounds, as far as I can tell, but moreso the change to the bean composition itself. Because the porosity increases so much roasting the decaf beans is much more difficult. Additionally, beans grind differently due to their porosity and brittleness. Basically, this means both the roaster and the grinder of the beans (and preparer of the coffee) need to change their behaviors slightly. Then, at the end of it, the coffee stales much faster so it’ll go bad faster.
    - xanderlewis 2y ago
      Interesting. I do need to try some more decaf from roasters who know what they’re doing…
      - 2y ago

bmacho 2y ago

This is my opinion about caffeine pills too. Cheap, convenient, effective, and safer against overdose than coffee (in one hand, a box of pills is probably lethal amount, but in the other hand, at least for me, it is much easier to control the amount of caffeine using pills, than using coffee).

vkou 2y ago

At work, I drink coffee, decaf, black. If I'm going to a coffee shop to drop $7, it's not because I'm an addict, it's because I want to splurge on a sweet dessert. I also sometimes buy ice cream at the grocery, for the same reason. I'm assuming you eat nothing but bread and water, unadulterated by anything that makes food delicious.

alfiedotwtf 2y ago

Caffeine pills. Woah... so I guess I knew they existed but didn't actually know what their purpose was, but what you say about consistency is totally on the mark. I measure everything in my coffee process, and I'm lucky in Melbourne that so many cafes do too, but yes - I avoid most cafes that look like they have average and dark beans because of the wild inconsistencies and most certantly burned taste. So do you take them to maintain alertness as anyone else would with coffee, to boost nootropics, or none of the above? Sorry for being nosey but this is interesting to me, because if I'm away from my machine and going to an unknown place then I take my portable handheld espresso machine and already ground beans, but a simple tablet sounds WAY more convenient!!

ssijak 2y ago

most people at starbucks are addicted to sugar and not caffeine

jandrewrogers 2y ago

I, like many others, drink a considerable amount of coffee for the taste. I typically drink decaf so it is difficult to ascribe the habit to addiction.

c22 2y ago

I must be the real sucker. I've stood in line at the cafe just to get steamed milk!