It’s exam time, and that means several things: time to stop procrastinating, start looking at grades and get ready to become dependent upon caffeine and sugar-laced beverages instead of sleep.
To help readers in their studious endeavors, I volunteered to try multiple kinds of drinks and report on the taste, effectiveness and side effects.
However, I’m no expert in this, so I used Twitter to ask the Mississippi State community: “What kind of coffee concoctions, caffeinated sodas and energy drinks do you recommend?”
I received simple and complex responses, everything from “gas station black coffee” to “Well, you can’t find this in Starkville anymore, but.”
I had every intention of trying all the beverages people suggested I try. I was fine until I started the energy drinks – I was willing to drink them, but apparently my stomach didn’t like them.
So, here’s my warning: If you haven’t consumed energy drinks on a regular basis, please don’t start during exam week. Your stomach may hate you, and being sick is the last thing you want to happen during exams.
Having said that, here’s the list of drinks I tried, in order of least to most potent. This is how I thought the drinks affected me; it’s not a scientifically-based list. See the graphic for those numbers:
1. Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino (bottled): Don’t have time to wait for a drink or can’t make up your mind? Grab a bottled frappuccino and go. It’s really not any source for energy, but it tastes good and hey, drinking something cold helps keep you awake.
2. Diet Coke: Carbonation can help you wake up. For those of you who drink a cup of coffee or a coke a day, the minute amount of caffeine or sugar won’t affect you – you might as well skip on down to No. 4 or 5.
3. Cap’n Crunch Latte from Strange Brew Coffeehouse: This wins the award for best coffee drink. There’s a good balance of sweetness while maintaining a distinct coffee flavor. It didn’t have much caffeine in it (I finished it off around 11 p.m. and was still able to sleep) and kept me in a much better mood as I studied for a test. Plus, Strange Brew gives you a freebie with your drink – a chocolate-covered espresso bean.
4. McDonald’s Caramel Iced Coffee: If you like drinking syrup, this is your drink. I could hardly taste any coffee; in fact, it’s kind of like melting a bunch of your grandmother’s Werther’s candy and pouring it over ice. If that’s your thing, go for it. I had no sugar crash after drinking it; however, The Reflector assistant news editor April Windham reacted differently. In her words: “I got really hyper, then I got really tired, then I got hyper again! Then I jumped around and stood on top of a chair at the office, and then I got really tired and went to sleep.” Yeah. Just know how you react to sugar before drinking this.
5. Mountain Dew Code Red: It’s my favorite soft drink: gimme that high fructose corn syrup and that fake cherry flavor. Carbonation always wakes me up and for some reason, my body seems to think the drink’s got a lot of caffeine in it. (It doesn’t: a 12-ounce can contains 54 milligrams.)
6. Monster Energy Lo-Carb: I’ll be honest: I couldn’t even finish this one. I think I drank a third of it. I hated the taste and the aftertaste. Maybe the regular Monster is better, but I can’t stomach that blue stuff again. I felt like it had the potential to give me lots of energy, but I couldn’t drink it all to find out for sure. More power to all my friends who can drink several a day and function normally – more than one would kill me.
7. Starbucks Doubleshot Regular: What makes this tiny beverage so tasty? Espresso and cream. It’s definitely strong, tastes like coffee and is slightly sweet. Don’t shoot it, though; enjoy sipping on it (or chug half, wait a few minutes and chug the rest). There’s also a light version of this drink with half the calories and a third of the total carbohydrates. Both have the same amount of caffeine (130 mg).
8. Chaser 5-hour Energy Shot: This is the only energy drink my mother and nursing student friends have recommended. Why? It doesn’t have any sugar in it, is only 4 calories and contains B-vitamins, amino acids, nutrients and 138 milligrams of caffeine. Its Web site says the caffeine amount is equivalent to a normal cup of coffee, but in my opinion, these 5-hour shots work way better than coffee. Who knows, maybe Mom was right by making you take vitamins? Anyway, this is a drink you shoot and it comes in four flavors. There’s also a caffeine-free version. Warning: Vitamin-laced shots like these have been known to cause upset stomachs, especially if you’re not used to the ingredients. And don’t drink more than two in 24 hours.
9. NOS Energy Drink: Good gracious. This was the biggest mistake I’ve made all semester. Kids, DON’T DRINK THIS. A 16-ounce can contains 54 grams of sugar and 260 milligrams of caffeine. It tasted great and smelled good. It didn’t even seem to affect me right after I finished it; however, several hours later, I got a massive headache, my fingers started trembling and my stomach wanted to kill me. I did sleep that night, but I felt worse the next morning. My hands and legs shook the whole time I was in class and I felt nauseous. The massive headache came back and wouldn’t go away. The label on the back of the can reads, “CAUTION: POWERFUL.” If this is how NOS affects everyone, then that’s the understatement of a lifetime.
Again, don’t try energy drinks for the first time on exam week. Study hard, don’t procrastinate, get some sleep and remember, please drink responsibly.
Aubra Whitten is the managing editor of The Reflector. She can be contacted at [email protected].