The Laziest Daily Caffeine Fix

[Cork]

Decided to share my caffeine solution after seeing the "Tea>Coffee!" Post:

I'm lazy when it comes to caffeine acquisition.  I just need a hit of caffeine and not to have it take up my time preparing it.

Caffeinated Gum: Each piece contains 100mg of caffeine, which is the same amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. 28 bucks w/ free shipping divided by 120 pieces = 23.3 cents per piece of gum.  I'll take that over a $5.00 starbucks any day.

All I care about is the caffeine and that is what drove my solution.  I wouldn't recommend this to people with very discerning pallets, nor people who want their caffeine to be warm and comforting.  Also, there is a weird stigma about chewing gum with caffeine in it...  So be prepared to be judged as well.  Oh well, enjoy!

[DaveR]

More bang for the buck: Equate Stay Awake; at Walmart, 80ct is $3.94 (4.9 cents per). 200mg caffeine per tablet.

[Cork]

Yep, you're right, that's probably the most cost effective method.  I guess that's my comfort limit because I love chewing gum.

Just for fun: I wonder how deep the rabbit hole goes....  Could you buy a pallet of powdered caffeine and parse out 100mg increments? Haha

[DaveR]

Just for fun: I wonder how deep the rabbit hole goes....  Could you buy a pallet of powdered caffeine and parse out 100mg increments? Haha

Looks like it... how about a 25kg bag of green tea extract powder for $922? It's ~50% caffeine, so that 25kg could deliver 125,000 100mg doses at 0.7 cents per dose.

If you need 500mg a day, that bag will last you 68 years... $13 per year.

Or, if you look at it another way, your $5 Starbucks latte would be enough to buy 677 doses, or 67g of caffeine. Since caffeine overdose kicks in around 10g for an adult, you probably wouldn't make to day two on that plan.

Maybe gum chewing is a better way to go...

[Cork]

I buy the Great Value Energy drink mixes. ~$1.75 for a pack of 10 pouches (made to go in a 16.9oz water bottle, I put it in 32 oz) so 17.5 cents a dose. Each packet has 120mg of caffeine and the blueberry acai ones taste awesome. Downside, they do have aspartame. All you have to do is pour it in a water bottle and shake so very little prep

Nice I'll have to try that.  I admit, after 3 years of chewing the same flavor gum, I wouldn't mind mixing it up.  Gosh, I sound like the most boring person on Earth after re-reading that last sentence.

Looks like it... how about a 25kg bag of green tea extract powder for $922? It's ~50% caffeine, so that 25kg could deliver 125,000 100mg doses at 0.7 cents per dose.

If you need 500mg a day, that bag will last you 68 years... $13 per year.

"Why is there a pallet of green tea in our driveway?"
"Leave me alone, I just want to be mustachian.  You wouldn't understand."

[Yankuba]

Instant coffee is eight cents per cup

[enki]

I prefer the positive externality of that morning coffee keeping me ridiculously regular. You can keep the gum. I'm also partial to how the coffee from our french press tastes and my two cups is just enough for a day.

[YK-Phil]

Once you've invested in your home espresso equipment (mine is a Gaggia Classic bought for $250 15 years ago) my average for basic supply costs (coffee beans and milk) is still less than gum. I'd say about 0.18 cents for a shot of espresso, and about 0.30 cents for a great cappuccino. Taste-wise, I never tried gum or other caffeinated drinks, but I'm sure the daily ritual of grinding the beans and pulling the perfect shot of espresso, not to mention its taste, cannot be compared to a piece of gum.

[DnGRR]

Coffee doesn’t agree with my stomach, so I buy caffeine powder ($10 for 100g on Amazon) and mix with water. Measured out so I can take a 4oz shot of water = 80mg caffeine. If you use conversion of 100mg = 1 cup of coffee, powdered caffeine is 1 cent per cup/100 mg. You could mix with any type of liquid, and there's no fillers or sweeteners like you have with gum or caffeine pills.

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[Cork]

Once you've invested in your home espresso equipment (mine is a Gaggia Classic bought for $250 15 years ago) my average for basic supply costs (coffee beans and milk) is still less than gum. I'd say about 0.18 cents for a shot of espresso, and about 0.30 cents for a great cappuccino. Taste-wise, I never tried gum or other caffeinated drinks, but I'm sure the daily ritual of grinding the beans and pulling the perfect shot of espresso, not to mention its taste, cannot be compared to a piece of gum.

The Gaggia looks really nice.  I admit I don't know a lot about coffee machines, but the best cup I've had came from a Nescafe Dolce Gusto.  Did you shop around and choose the Gaggia for a specific reason?

[lifejoy]

I buy the Great Value Energy drink mixes. ~$1.75 for a pack of 10 pouches (made to go in a 16.9oz water bottle, I put it in 32 oz) so 17.5 cents a dose. Each packet has 120mg of caffeine and the blueberry acai ones taste awesome. Downside, they do have aspartame. All you have to do is pour it in a water bottle and shake so very little prep

Nice I'll have to try that.  I admit, after 3 years of chewing the same flavor gum, I wouldn't mind mixing it up.  Gosh, I sound like the most boring person on Earth after re-reading that last sentence.

Looks like it... how about a 25kg bag of green tea extract powder for $922? It's ~50% caffeine, so that 25kg could deliver 125,000 100mg doses at 0.7 cents per dose.

If you need 500mg a day, that bag will last you 68 years... $13 per year.

"Why is there a pallet of green tea in our driveway?"
"Leave me alone, I just want to be mustachian.  You wouldn't understand."

LOL

[HipGnosis]

Coffee doesn’t agree with my stomach, so I buy caffeine powder ($10 for 100g on Amazon) and mix with water. Measured out so I can take a 4oz shot of water = 80mg caffeine. If you use conversion of 100mg = 1 cup of coffee, powdered caffeine is 1 cent per cup/100 mg. You could mix with any type of liquid, and there's no fillers or sweeteners like you have with gum or caffeine pills.

Intriguing
Are you using a digital scale to measure it out?
Is there any taste to the caffeine water?

[YK-Phil]

Once you've invested in your home espresso equipment (mine is a Gaggia Classic bought for $250 15 years ago) my average for basic supply costs (coffee beans and milk) is still less than gum. I'd say about 0.18 cents for a shot of espresso, and about 0.30 cents for a great cappuccino. Taste-wise, I never tried gum or other caffeinated drinks, but I'm sure the daily ritual of grinding the beans and pulling the perfect shot of espresso, not to mention its taste, cannot be compared to a piece of gum.

The Gaggia looks really nice.  I admit I don't know a lot about coffee machines, but the best cup I've had came from a Nescafe Diolce Gusto.  Did you shop around and choose the Gaggia for a specific reason?

Mine is a Gaggia Classic, the plain-Jane version of the one on your picture. The Classic is simply the 1970s Volvo station-wagon of the coffee world. No frills or luxury, but a solidly-built, affordable, durable and reliable semi-automatic machine, that will give you a great shot of espresso day after day, year after year. And it looks good in the kitchen, with its shiny and stylish stainless-steel body that hasn't changed since it was first commercialized, back in the eighties. The Gaggia Classic consistently rates as the best pump-driven semi-automatic home espresso machine, as you will see from all the positive reviews. If your budget is a bit higher, the next best machine is the Silvia Rancilio, practically the same machine but with a larger boiler, but also almost twice as expensive. Using a semi-automatic machine involves a few more steps than a very predictable Nescafé Dolce Gusto (I have a similar Nespresso model at my office that gives a decent cup of espresso, but nothing more, and at about $1 a cup), but you will enjoy the results and the infinite possibilities that such machines give the coffee lover when you are ready to experiment with beans, roast, and grind. Whatever machine you chose, the next most important factor is the grinder: a high quality grinder will make all the difference in the world. My wife and I will soon be moving into our 400 sq.ft. cabin, and we will have to pare down our possessions, but my Gaggia machine and grinder are the only appliances that I am not getting rid of.

My wife's smile, after the first sip of the morning cappuccino I make for her every morning, is priceless.

[DnGRR]

Coffee doesn’t agree with my stomach, so I buy caffeine powder ($10 for 100g on Amazon) and mix with water. Measured out so I can take a 4oz shot of water = 80mg caffeine. If you use conversion of 100mg = 1 cup of coffee, powdered caffeine is 1 cent per cup/100 mg. You could mix with any type of liquid, and there's no fillers or sweeteners like you have with gum or caffeine pills.

Intriguing
Are you using a digital scale to measure it out?
Is there any taste to the caffeine water?

The bottle says 1/20 tsp = 100mg. So I take a 1/4 tsp (500mg) and mix it with 24 oz water (dissolves better in hot water, so I do a little of that to dissolve it, then ice to cool it down, in total filling to 24oz mark on a protein blender bottle). That gives me (6) 4oz, 83mg energy shots. The water is slightly bitter, but I don't care since I'm just doing a shot.

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[GuitarStv]

You know that caffeine isn't required for human life right?  As a matter of fact, after a week you don't even get the high from using it any more . . . you need to keep taking it just to avoid withdrawal.

[Nannooskeeska]

I love reading through this thread. I've been buying Natrol High caffeine pills on amazon, $5 for 100 tablets 200mg of caffeine each. They're fantastic.

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[DnGRR]

You know that caffeine isn't required for human life right?  As a matter of fact, after a week you don't even get the high from using it any more . . . you need to keep taking it just to avoid withdrawal.

Yeah, I try to avoid it as much as possible. 80ish mg at the most on days when I do use it, with lots of days of zero caffeine.

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[HipGnosis]

You know that caffeine isn't required for human life right?  As a matter of fact, after a week you don't even get the high from using it any more . . . you need to keep taking it just to avoid withdrawal.

It is needed for me to be human at the begining of my work day.
Diet coke is my only vice (yea, it use to be coke).  I am not a morning person.  I know for a fact that I am not as productive in the morning w/o caffeine.   
I never (ever) drank coffee.
I do not need it to avoid withdrawal.   I did at one time.  I weaned myself down and now mentally monitor / limit my intake.  I can sit in front of the TV on Sunday morning for hours w/o caffeine and w/o withdrawal.

[kpd905]

We make a pot of coffee every morning, it probably costs a quarter.  There are many options cheaper than Starbucks.

[RetiredAt63]

Isn't it amazing how much we all (I include myself here) love a naturally occurring insecticide/repellent?

And isn't it amazing how much Western culture has changed in a few centuries?  It used to be the chemicals we used were depressants (alcohol being the obvious one) and now we use so many stimulants.

[Cork]

Isn't it amazing how much we all (I include myself here) love a naturally occurring insecticide/repellent?

And isn't it amazing how much Western culture has changed in a few centuries?  It used to be the chemicals we used were depressants (alcohol being the obvious one) and now we use so many stimulants.

I, for one, thought it was pretty neat when I learned the coffee bean producing plant created caffeine to kill insects that wanted to eat it. 

All that plant's hard work in evolving natural insecticide just to make me peppy and regular.  Fantastic :D

[mustachemayhem]

I bought 250Grams of raw caffeine powder for 19 dollars a couple of years ago. That is 1250, 200mg servings at a cost of 1.5cents each.

[RetiredAt63]

Caffeine - the other addictive white crystal (after sugar and before coke). 

Factoid - when we isolated caffeine in Organic Chemistry, we used strong black tea - not coffee or a cola.