Cascade Crew

[Guest]

Dear Lama

I have had a hard time waking up in the morning. There are a lot of caffeinated products out their. Coffee, red bull, espresso, amp, and rockstar to name a few. Since you are a nerd and I have heard nerds are caffeine experts can you help me chose the right way to wake up in the morning.

Drowsy

[Guest]

Dear Drowsy,

While I like the stimulants as much as the next guy. I am also as you know, very health conscience. Most of the energy drinks you see contain ephedrine and guarana. I don't know about you, but I won't put anything in my body, that I can't pronouch (Like asparagus).

So, since we have ruled out the unhealthy alternatives, lets look at what we have left.

Coffee
Cola Soda's
Mt Dew
Espresso
Latte's, Cappuccino, and the like...

Since your problem seems to be with getting it (and by it, I mean you) up. Lets look at the Caffeine content of each of the above.

Normal drip coffee -- 18.3mg/oz
Cola -- 2.9mg/oz
Mt Dew -- 4.6mg/oz
Espresso -- 51.3mg/oz
Cafe Mocha (2 shot, 16oz drink) -- 6.4mg/oz

Now, if only it was that easy Beause there is sugar that is a good pick-you up too.

Drip Coffee -- 0g
Cola -- 40.5g
Mt Dew -- 47g
Espresso -- 0g
Cafe Mocha -- 33g

So, we know this, so lets look at the total you get from each drink.

1 16oz cup of Drip Coffee -- 292.8mg / 0g
1 16oz bottle of Cola -- 46.4mg / 54g
1 16oz bottle of Mt Dew -- 73.6mg / 63g
3 1oz shots of espresso -- 153.9mg /0g
1 16oz Cafe Mocha -- 102.4mg / 33g

And I'll toss in one extra wild car. The ever troublesome 4 shots (at s-bucks for their drinks, they use 1.5oz shots / 16oz Cafe Americano (one of my favorites). 307.9mg / 0g

This leaves us with a pretty conclusive list. For some reason, you just can't beat mother nature when it comes to the pick-me-ups. Stick with the good old drip. If you are going in a hurry, and hit up your local coffee shot, the big Americano is a sure winner, any other drink you order, you need to run with a min. of 4 shots of esspresso in it, to even come close to the ommphhh of the good old, time tested cup of brewed coffee.

Still twitching from testing,
The Lama