There are a few tenets that I live by with one of the most profound being: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. This applies to so many things.
- Just because you can run naked down Main Street at 2am doesn’t mean you should.
- Just because you can max out your credit cards doesn’t mean you should.
- Just because we can create designer babies in a lab doesn’t mean we should
In the vein of today’s post, let me add one more: Just because you can increase the caffeine in coffee doesn’t mean you should.
Apparently, South African company Black Insomnia has made it’s excessively strong coffee available to consumers in the United States. In case you don’t want to click any links or read further, one cup of this is equal to drinking more than SIX cans of Redbull!
Black Insomnia is the coffee that has been labeled as dangerous by the Caffeine Informer website. By all accounts the increased caffeine is all-natural being derived from the type of coffee bean (robusta) and the method of roasting. Now, I love a good strong cup of coffee. I mean, a cup of Turkish coffee is one of life’s grand little pleasures but when a regular cup of coffee contains close to double the recommended caffeine limit, it gets a bit concerning. Not so much for the diehards (literally, in this case) who drink a pot o’ Joe a day.
I can see the headlines now (in my overly fertile imagination)
“University Students Dead From Drinking Too Much Coffee“
This fictitious story goes on to chronicle the over-achievers who wanted ‘to cram for finals just a little longer’ while another article interviews the fraternity pledges forced to drink a cup of this stuff chased by a Red Bull (DO NOT GET ANY IDEAS, Uni students!).
The promise of a hot cup helps me rise with the birds on some mornings but the idea of this much caffeine makes me jittery just thinking about it. While there are are health benefits to coffee the Mayo Clinic lists a variety of side effects from too much caffeine.
Strong coffee is great. The nutty aroma and rich taste make it a thing of joy! Nuclear coffee? That is a totally different story. All leading me to the question of why? The founder of Black Insomnia stated in the CNN story that it was a way to differentiate his product but just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
If you are game to try this coffee, be sure you keep it away from children and pets. If you are a novice coffee drinker, you may not want to start your coffee consumption with this high-octane brew. In case you are interested (at your own risk) here is a list of the 12 most dangerous coffee brands (according to Caffeine Informer):
- Black Insomnia
- Death Wish
- Biohazard
- Killer Coffee
- Banned Coffee
- Shock Coffee
- Bone’s Coffee High Voltage
- Atomic Coffee
- Bomb Coffee
- Perk Up Coffee
- Double Tap Coffee
- Red Goat
If your blood pressure is elevated, let’s bring it back to normal with a pretty photograph I took of la Conciergerie in Paris. This is where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before they sent her to Place de la Concorde for her beheading. I wonder if anyone offered her a cup of coffee?
©M McCown All rights reserved.
Incidentally, if you want to sip a great cup of coffee steps from the Place de la Concorde, be sure to visit Lescure on Rue Mondovi. It is a cozy authentic place full of more locals than tourists, making it the perfect place to linger over some great food and amazing desserts (seriously, they are all good).
What do you think? Are you brave enough to drink this supercharged coffee? Let me know in the comments!
Chronicles of Happy Living 