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Kinda dumb question but I figured it fits the sub lol
so these boxes are at my work and they're a syrupy hyper sweet mixture that when combined with carbonated water make soda and it got me thinking:
is it because of the costs, or kids accessing it, or some law?
That’s because monster overcharges, caffiene powder is cheap and you could add it to soda for cheap
If you can get ahold of it, yes, very cheap. The problem is that a little goes a very long way, so it's not so easy to get a hold of anymore, at least in the US.
It was probably 10 years ago that I discovered that I could buy a 500g bag of pure caffeine powder for about $20, plus a milligram scale for another $20. I was drinking quite a bit of sugar free Red Bull at the time, and had been ordering them by the case ($50ish?) to save a little money, so it was a no brainer for me to switch to caffeine powder. Break even point was maybe 2 weeks worth of caffeinated beverages.
The bad news is a few people OD'd on caffeine powder around that time (completely unrelated to me), so it was pretty much banned. The good news is that 500g is a fucking shit load of caffeine. I often get my caffeine from more traditional sources now (coffee, tea), so that bag may end up lasting me the rest of my life.
For some additional context, a 250mL (8.4 oz) can of Red Bull contains 80mg caffeine, while a 1/16 teaspoon (~0.3mL) scoop of pure caffeine powder is about 200mg. That works out to less than 0.5¢ ($0.005) of caffeine per Red Bull, and I'm not even getting wholesale pricing.
You can get it super easy in the U.S. for cheap
Here is lab grade caffeine
That if you wanted to make 150mg energy drinks it would cost less than 3 cents each.
If you want to just mainline caffeine I would recommend caffiene pills they are preportioned and are cheap here are the equivalent to 100g pre measured out for under $20
But my point still remains that the cost of caffeine is completely irrelevant to the cost of energy drinks
Definitely in agreement that the cost of caffeine is a non-factor in the cost of energy drinks vs. other soft drinks.
I don't believe Sigma Aldrich sells to the general public though, do they?
Personally, I prefer the loose powder vs. preportioned capsules or pills, since it allows me easier control over the dose. When I use caffeine powder, I usually mix it into a drink and just sip on it, rather than take it all at once. Sometimes I just want some herbal tea or a sparkling water with a little extra caffeine... I want the caffeine of coffee or energy drinks, but I don't want the flavor. Way back in the day, I'd add about 200mg caffeine to a 1L bottle of water and sip on that until it was about halfway gone, then top it off with more water to dilute the remaining caffeine.
Anyone can order on sigma as long as you make an account! Which is really cool but a lot of the times their prices aren’t competitive with random products you could find on amazon since the average person rarely needs hplc grade products.
I used to do that exact same thing with 200mg of caffiene in a Nalgene with a drop or two of lemon juice haha