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chasd00 • yesterday at 4:41 PM • 4 replies • view on HN

16 oz can of white monster (stereotypical energy drink) has about 150mg of caffeine. A grande (16 oz) black coffee from Starbucks has about 310mg of caffeine. You would need to drink 2 16 oz monsters to get the same amount of caffeine as a single grande cup of coffee from Starbucks.

If you're just looking at caffeine intake you'd be better off switching from coffee to energy drinks. You could drink about 3 per day and be close to the 400mg/day guidance.

edit: white monster has no sugar in case anyone was about to bring that up


Replies

ssl-3 • yesterday at 5:22 PM

Coffee varies. I've long understood that a normal (8 ounce, ish) cup of drip coffee averages around 100mg of caffeine[0].

Java Monster Triple Shot Mocha comes in a can, and has 300mg of caffeine per can[1][2].

This seems to suggest that getting the equivalent of 3 cups of coffee in one can is, in fact, a thing that people can accomplish.

[0]: https://www.aboutcoffee.org/beans/decaf-coffee/ https://ific.org/resources/toolkits/caffeine/ https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

[1]: https://www.monsterenergy.com/en-ca/energy-drinks/java-monst...

[2]: And they're delicious

zdragnar • yesterday at 4:49 PM

> If you're just looking at caffeine intake you'd be better off switching from coffee to energy drinks

This is less true now than it used to be. I'm somewhat sensitive to caffeine and always look on the can to see how much is in it, and 150 is on the low side of most of the options available now-. 200 to 300 seems to be a lot more common among the brands that are newer than when monster and Rockstar first came out.

DANmode • yesterday at 5:13 PM

Caffeine ≠ caffeine.

Forget the numbers you’re being given - what does caffeine crop that goes into a Coke or Pepsi product look like, compared to green tea caffeine?

What does the sugar look like, as a supply chain, vs sugars ingested from fruit?

Hint: it’s disgusting.

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