Top Tricks to Get the Most Out of Your Caffeine Hit

This is true. I’ve had this communicated to me by more than one of the niche coffee houses here in Chattanooga; longer roasting = less caffeine.

Here’s a semi related tip, caffeine doubles the impact of certain pain meds. I have to take a few different meds during the day for chronic pain, and I can halve the dose by taking it with coffee. Less drug, more coffee, no downside!

There’s a number of prescription and OTC pain meds that have caffeine to boost their effects.

That’s great information — do you have a recommendation on where I can get caffeine citrate? I did a quick Amazon search and couldn’t find anything that didn’t come with sodium citrate or a very low amount of caffeine.

“The degree of roast also doesn’t really matter when it comes to amount of caffeine either.” Do you have a source for that statement? I worked in a well-known coffee chain for a few years, and they taught us that the darker roasts had less caffeine as it was leeched out by the roasting process, so that milder coffees actually gave you more of a jolt than espresso roasts, if prepared the same way.

Correct! But I’m sure the point was to explain what beans will give you the highest content.

Please see “Saved By The Bell” Season 2, Episode 9. It seems to allude to the fact that caffeine pills are a gateway to more serious drug usage. “I’m so excited, I’m so excited...I’m so scared”

Anecdotal evidence here, I made the mistake of taking a caffeine pill once, on top of several cups of coffee. Figured my tolerance was high and when the coffee wasn’t enough it’d be fine to try one. Bad idea. My skin went flush, I couldn’t see straight. I was dizzy, shaking, my heart was pounding, and then I started throwing up. Took like an hour for it to wear off.

I take caffeine pills (200mg) only when I am going to the gym. Normal days I only use coffee because the pills gives you a really good kick, thus the jitters. My three rules for caffeine pills: 1) Only take them on a gym/exercising day. 2) Don’t take it after 2pm. 3) Maximum 1 cup of coffee if I do take the caffeine pill.

For many people, the pure, uncut goodness leads to shakes and jitters. I’m one of those people. I took them occasionally in college or on long road trips, but I’ve stayed away for a few years now. The jolt of being awake wasn’t worth the general uneasy feeling that I associate with too much caffeine. I would recommend taking them with food or right after eating, and with plenty of water. Also couldn’t hurt to ask your physician (in case of underlying heart issues). Like anything, it shouldn’t give you any issues to try it out. But they are definitely not something you want to become reliant on.

Agreed. I tried taking caffeine pills to replace my morning mocha to reduce my calories, and it took me almost a week to realize that my morning queasiness was due to the pills.

There is a big difference in Anhydrous Caffeine and Caffeine Citrate in the way it affects your body. IF you want to take a pill/powder form. I recommend looking into the citrate form if you wish to do this, and as people have said be cautious in the amount you take as it is a stimulant.. The effects people speak of are just people taking too much at once and aren’t used to taking 200mg of anhydrous caffeine which is what most caffeine pills are formulated as .. or they take them with a Mt Dew having another 50ish mg of caffeine (mt dew really doesnt have more caffeine relatively than other types of soft drink — Pepsi Max has the most in readily available soda type drinks— but that is a side note.) 250mg~ when you are used to having 50mg~ your body is going to react quite a bit differently..

*Drink caffeine before your workout*: this advice, if followed on a large scale, is bound to kill a few people, age and hypertension being major risk factors.

I take Adderall for ADD and supplement it with coffee throughout the day. I ran out of Adderall once and my ass was seriously dragging, so I figured an OTC caffeine pill would be a good substitute. (And really, compared to prescription speed, I didn’t expect mere caffeine could keep up but it was better than nothing.) Um, no. It made me seriously jittery, gave me painful stomach cramps, I felt like hell. Learned my lesson.

Yeah, i ordered a Frappuccino with 10 extra shots once. It felt like that, minus the pukeing.

Nowhere does it mention just mainlining it into the veins of your eyeballs, then moving on to the spaces between your toes. Clearly nobody here is serious about upping their caffeine game.

“There you go: An excuse to make a whole pot of coffee for yourself” I’ll just stop there. “Challenge Accepted”.

I just about gasped when I read this. I don’t think you realize what a vast expanse of time one month without coffee feels like to a daily drinker.

Yea, that would be a shocker... Tea does not have more caffeine, the article you guys wrote about that has screwed up charts with different scales for coffee and tea, which just so happen to be adjusted to that it looks like black tea is on par with instant coffee, but the numbers on the charts say it has half as much.

Can someone Explain it Like I’m 5 any reasons to NOT take caffeine pills in replacement of coffee drinks and such?

Caffeine pills are pure and released quickly. Natural beverages contain other substance that may act like caffeine, but are typically more mild. For instance, coffee contains theobromine, and tea contains theanine. Both of these moderate the caffeine jolt. My experience with pills is that they are harsh, and give me the jitters.

The biggest danger with caffeine pills is overdose. It's almost impossible to OD on coffee or tea (because they're mostly water) but with pills that's a real danger.