Introducing the latest thing in coffee – Starbucks who?

Hands up who can’t function without their morning coffee?

Well, forget Starbucks… there’s a new way to get your caffeine fix. Caffeine vaping is officially a real thing. And we can’t say we’re not intrigued…

Picture the scene: It’s Monday morning, you’ve hit snooze for the third and final time and you’re rubbing the sleep out of your tired panda eyes. You stumble downstairs towards the kitchen – craving a steaming cup of life juice. But you don’t head for the cafetiere, oh no, instead you grab your mod box and take a swift, deep puff of caffeine filled vapour. No fuss, no messing about with coffee beans or running out of milk – just an instant hit of caffeine, straight into your sleepy (but not for long) body.

We’re pretty tempted by the easy-as element of the caffeine vape, plus if it’s high energy you’re looking for to boost your morning then look no further – the New York Times has described it as ‘Red Bull for the lungs’, for crying out loud.

Just for smokers?

Hell no, far from it. In fact, Dr. Donald Hensrud, the director of the Mayo Clinic’s Healthy Living Program describes them as ‘next in line on the spectrum’ after ‘your five-Hour Energy drinks’, indicating caffeine vaping is more of a substitute for energy drinks than it is for smoking.
The vaporisers do work exactly like an e-cigarette though; they use heat to convert the ingredients into vapour, which is then inhaled through the lungs. Caffeine vapers release 2 milligrams of caffeine per inhalation, which is less than your average cup of Americano, but all those inhalations add up to a considerable caffeine hit.

Is it safe?

Just like regular vaping devices, caffeine vapes don’t contain nicotine, however main ingredients are guarana, taurine and ginseng – and experts still aren't sure whether they're safe. There have been no reports of side effects to date, though, and many of these ingredients are found in energy drinks which have been certified safe and on the market for years.

What’s it actually like to inhale caffeine?

A reporter for the Times, Alex Williams, tried the ‘Eagle Energy’ caffeine vaper, and the results were a little bizarre. Williams claimed just five puffs of the stuff made his fingers tingle and at ten puffs he felt a serious caffeine buzz – ‘it felt as if one had been freebasing a Jolly Rancher Cherry Stix’.
Now can’t say we’ve ever tried these cherry things, but all other evidence sounds pretty conclusive – these caffeine vapes definitely pack an energy punch.

Beats the Starbucks morning rush, we suppose…