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Sarthak Sharma for XenoX

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What's the best source of caffeine for you? 🤔

Coffee and developers have a strong connection. I mean a very strong connection, not unlike what Gollum shares with The One Ring. While having my cup of Americano yesterday, I started thinking - what's the best way of Caffeine intake. So cheers, folks! That's what we have on the menu today. 😉

While ranking all the drink and ways to drink them, we will consider the amount of caffeine per serving and also the calories that go with it. So you will have your best source of caffeine at the end of this article.

Soft Drinks

Cola

Caffeine: 27.8mg
Calories: 130

Yup, your cola may contain some caffeine. One small cup may contain 27.8mg of caffeine and 31g of sugar. That's why it is not recommended to lean toward your cola for caffeine needs unless you don't have another option available. I know you will say "What if I take Diet Coke?". Well, there are many types of research that show Diet Coke is even more harmful. Check this link out.

Redbull

redbull

Caffeine: 80mg
Calories: 117

Well, I'm not a big fan of Redbull, to be honest. It may contain the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, but it has too much sugar in it. Although Redbull is quite popular among programmers, it's actually not a great source of caffeine. I have seen many people associating hackathons with energy drinks, maybe that's the reason Redbull is such a craze. And the mystical "taurine", which their marketing team pushes as some sort of magic pixie dust, is actually not that magical at all. Some people suggest it acts as more of a sedative than a stimulant, so it could actually slow your brain's activity rather than speed it up. Ironic, right? 😃

Lattes and Cappuccinos

lattes

Caffeine: 30-40mg
Calories: 120-30

I know how much you love your Lattes and Cappuccinos, but sadly, my favorite caffeinated beverage is also not the best source of caffeine for you. They contain a lot of sugar, and let's not even talk about all those flavors we love to add on top. More sugar! It may be the best treat for your taste buds, but not for your health. There's no harm in enjoying it occassionally though. Just don't kid yourself that you're drinking it for something other than the taste. 😆

Chai Tea (Indian👳🏻‍♂️)

Espresso

Caffeine: 67-78mg
Calories: 140
(Note: If you prefer small size, the numbers will be halved)
A typical Indian Chai, apparently the most consumed beverage in India, or Chai Latte for Westerns. This is the most preferred source of caffeine for most of the Indians. It has a fair amount of caffeine in it, but also suffers from the same downfalls as Cappuccinos and Lattes. It has a lot of sugar in it, so you shouldn't consume a lot of it.

Espresso

Espresso

Caffeine: 64 mg
Calories: 9
As we are going down, we are moving towards the healthier sources of caffeine. Espresso has an impressive amount of caffeine and that too in just 9 calories. The best part about this is that it's a shot. So no more savoury sips. One shot and you are done.

Brewed Coffee

Brewed Coffee

Caffeine: 100-120 mg
Calories: <5

Yes, brewed coffee is the best source of caffeine according to me. Freshly brewed coffee can have upto 120mg of caffeine, and that too by consuming less than 5 calories. It has many antioxidants that increase the brain power. There are many other health benefits also. Check this post.

Conclusion

So there you have it. All the popular sources of caffeine dissected and analyzed. But the purpose of this post isn't to tell you to stop drinking certain drinks. You should definitely enjoy them all occassionally. After all, variety is the spice of life. Just try to lean on the healtheir side if, like me, you depend on caffeine to dominate your day. 😉
Oh and while we're at it, don't take too much caffeine. Everything is good in moderation, and that's true for caffeine as well. If you want to cut your intake, try some other sources not listed here, like dark chocolate or green tea. I'm sure you can find plenty if you look.

And don't forget to comment your favorite caffeinated beverage below!

Top comments (91)

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utkarsh profile image
Utkarsh Talwar

What do you do when you're stuck in a traffic jam?
Write a blog post, of course!
Haha you sure didn't waste any time posting this. :P

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Damn, When did you clicked it?

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utkarsh profile image
Utkarsh Talwar

I'm a ninja! 🐱‍👤

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lukvonstrom profile image
Lukas Fruntke

You shouldn't forget Monster Energy Drinks with 240mg coffeine per 500ml.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

I don't think that's healthy bro.

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qm3ster profile image
Mihail Malo • Edited

It's super healthy.
Much better than burnt beans.
Full of electrolytes and well-preserved B vitamins to protect the brain.
Oh yes 😩👌
(I am only referring to the sugar free Ultra of course)
And you simply cannot ignore the aesthetic.
monster bbq
monster communion
Edit: Red and violet are good too. Orange is a bit weird, has the most accidental sugar, and too much caffeine.

I'm curious about this product (it is almost sugar-free, for a long time I thought it wasn't due to the black can) but they made the can hideous again, and I can't buy it locally:

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

😂😂😂😂

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buinauskas profile image
Evaldas Buinauskas

It's not healthy, indeed. Neither are soft drinks 😏🤔

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Yes

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eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

I don't need caffeine to program at all.

Wait... is there caffeine in tea, Mountain Dew, and Diet Coke?

Oh. There is. Hmmm. In that case, I need copious amounts of caffeine.

My body is a fine tuned machine turning caffeine into code.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

😂😂😂

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mikie profile image
Michael Smith • Edited

This is the healthiest option. It contains 300 mg of caffeine and also Creatine & BCAAs. No sugar. Mostly for people who exercise.

Bang

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bvn9ne profile image
bvn9ne

Bangs aren't that healthy. The amount of BCAAs and Creatine are negligble in comparison to other options. I would recommend getting an actual pre-workout, like Outlift (2fypiu8r1n32xjnga5p4z8wz-wpengine....).
If that is too much caffeine (or you prefer premade),then you can always go with something like Lit, less caffeine but less other stuff.

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mikie profile image
Michael Smith

I haven't tried Outlift before.

I guess I was commenting on the lack of any sugar in Bang which is present in most energy drinks.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

300mg is too much bro

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bag0niku profile image
Bag0niku

if 300mg is too much you are not considering how long you are taking to drink the drink. 3 cups of brewed coffee is 300+mg. The energy drinks I consume are deliberately spread out across an hour or 2 and not all in one sitting or I'll have 3 to 5 cups of coffee throughout the day. If the time to drink is 2 cans guzzled in 15 minutes like my brothers, then I'm inclined to agree with you.

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mikie profile image
Michael Smith

Not if you literally want to explode. Then it's awesome.

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matthewbdaly profile image
Matthew Daly

I went cold turkey on caffeine at work last year after I was getting migraines all the time. I stopped drinking coffee entirely, and switched from normal tea to rooibos. The withdrawal symptoms were pretty awful, but after a week I started to feel a lot better.

I have let my consumption creep up again though in the last few months.

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webreaper profile image
Mark Otway

Same. I found that after basically giving up coffee, my concentration was better, I felt wide awake in the morning, had no detox headaches at the weekend and generally feel much better. I have one or two a month, as a treat. The other advantage is that when I do feel tired and have a coffee, I have no tolerance so get a huge kick from the caffeine. Win!

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Tea also contains a small amount of caffeine.

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matthewbdaly profile image
Matthew Daly

That's why I stopped drinking it in favour of rooibos, which is naturally caffeine free but can be drunk in the same way. Decaf tea is usually vile, although Yorkshire Tea do a nice Bedtime Brew which is decaffeinated.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

But a moderate amount of caffeine won't harm you. It's actually good to have a moderate amount.

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matthewbdaly profile image
Matthew Daly

I still drink ordinary tea at home, and will have the odd coffee, but I generally stick to rooibos at work. I was drinking two coffees a day, as well as tea throughout the day, and I found that started to cause problems.

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martis347 profile image
Martynas Kan

Actually green tea contains a pretty fair amount of coffeine! 🍵

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Depends on the flavor.

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molly profile image
Molly Struve (she/her)

Can't forget the tried and true and incredibly cheap caffeine pill! I take half of pill in the morning which is 100mg and thats all I need to get me going! I like coffee, but I don't want to have to worry about finding coffee every day so I just pop a pill and I am good to go.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Is it healthy to take that? are those pills Natural?

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molly profile image
Molly Struve (she/her)

Yep, my doctor knows I take them and has zero concerns about it. In fact, he would rather I get caffeine from a pill than a sugary drink any day of the week.

There are all natural ones you can take but I prefer the generic version of No Doz.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

That's cool then 😊

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qm3ster profile image
Mihail Malo

Appeal to nature.
They're not natural, they're purpose made.
They provide what you are asking for, and not contaminants.
Also convenient, portable, and shelf-stable.

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likelocusts profile image
LikeLocusts

also it's well tolerated, which is definitely an upside for many people. Although you have to consider that is "kicks in" pretty fast, so if someone just likes to sip a hot beverage and is more comfortable with getting that effect over a longer period, coffee or tea is probably the way to go.

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anndd profile image
Anna Su**

I've been running on espresso since Tuesday when I got a new machine. Before that, for almost a year, I drank mostly Turkish coffee which gives an extra kick since I make it with some sugar. However, before that, I went from 3-4 espressos a day to 0 and had no caffeine at all for about 6 months. I didn't miss it at all, had no withdrawal symptoms, but I just love coffee too much to give it up forever.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Yeah, If you take it in a moderate amount, you won't experience withdrawal symptoms.

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mferrier profile image
Maxime FERRIER

Green tea (Tencha) :

  • 79mg or caffeine (theine) for 300mL
  • calories < 5 (well, 0 actually)
  • and an important data you didn't mention : 0 sugar.

-> No dependencies to caffeine and suggar, no side effects until you don't drink 2L per day; and no fat gain =)

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esparig profile image
esparig

Natural coffee made with an italian coffee maker!! With a cloud of vegetable milk (no sugar!) Just a big glass in the morning.

italian coffee maker

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maxwell_dev profile image
Max Antonucci

Someone bought our developers some boxes of caffeinated chocolates, with each on having about 3/4 the caffeine of a regular cup of coffee.

One developer had three at once. I repressed all other memories of that afternoon.

Lesson learned: if you need caffeine but don't like coffee, each some dark chocolate in the afternoon and you'll be fine.

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codingmindfully profile image
Daragh Byrne

Bulletproof coffee! I add a tablespoon of butter and some cinnamon to my early morning brew. The fat content levels out the caffeine spike for a number of hours. Great stuff, and I now love the taste too!

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Have to try this thing. 🤔

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betkowski profile image
Betkowski

Black coffee and green tea, million times a day, depending on my heart rate.
Used to be all about Monster, Rockstar and Red bull, but then I looked at the list of ingredients and switched back to coffee. Sip days r' over.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

😱😱😱

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DeChamp

I loved this! ha ha. It was a nice change up from the typical post on see on dev.to. I love coffee, but honestly what gets me woke up is a big glass of water and tea. Yet, I seem to rely on coffee constantly.

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sarthology profile image
Sarthak Sharma

Coffee is more like superhero serum, for the times when you are needed.

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_ferh97 profile image
Fernando Hernandez

Cool article. I will always prefer drinking coffee, but a real good coffee. Most of the time brewed coffee and sometimes lattes.

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st3v3oh profile image
Meh

I found that (despite the LOOK AT ME IM A GAMUR branding) GFUEL is a pretty great product. Almost sugar free (has maltodextrin in it) and instead of a caffeine boost that makes me constantly jerk my knee or simply jittery I feel like it just gives me proper focus for about (depending on how you drink it) 1-4h or something. When drinking this it's much easier for me to get sucked into my zone and flow of writing and developing.
I also use less than advised dose or stretch one serving to at least double the water so its pretty cheap comparable.

Plus the coffee machines in my office are not maintained very well soo yeah.
Tea is also great

gfuel.com/pages/faq