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:

why don’t they sell ones for like Monster energy?

is it because of the costs, or kids accessing it, or some law?

  • @BussyCat
    1•5 hours ago

    That’s because monster overcharges, caffiene powder is cheap and you could add it to soda for cheap

    • @QualifiedKittenEnglish
      1•1 hour ago

      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.