What I Wish I Knew About Caffeine Sooner

Not all caffeine is created equal.

Coffee time!

If I gave you 100 milligrams of caffeine from coffee, then the next day I gave you another 100 milligrams of caffeine, but this time from green tea, then from yerba mate, then from chocolate, then from an energy drink like a Red Bull or a Celsius, they'd all feel different. The question is, why? The phenomenon is known as the entourage effect. The idea is that the effect behind caffeine is shaped by the other molecules traveling alongside it. Like if caffeine were a lead singer, the final product depends entirely on the band behind it, the entourage. The entourage are molecules like theanine, theobromine, theophylline, and many more. So if I give you 100 milligrams of caffeine from different sources, you'll have completely different experiences. Same dose, different hits. And once you understand the underlying biology, You can start to match your caffeine vehicle to your goal.

Where's the coffee?

And today I'm going to show you how. Caffeine is one molecule, but it can be delivered through a multitude of vehicles. But here's the paradox. That feeling isn't just about dose. It's about the— this could prolong the adrenaline surge. About a 10 to 20 milligram per deciliter bump in your LDL cholesterol gives them a different quality of alertness. If you enjoy this video and you ever want to go deeper with me, please join us in the Stay Curious Metabolism community. You'll get 3 or more deep dives per week, averaging out to less than 67 cents per premium letter, and it's quickly become one of the top-selling science newsletters on Substack in the world. Readers consistently tell me it's the best investment they've made in their health and learning journey, or that it's part of their morning routine, like this physician who calls it Coffee with Nick. And I can honestly say I've learned more from your content than just about any other source of information.

Okay.

Self-plug over, might be blushing a little bit, but let's get into this. We're going to cover major common sources of caffeine: coffee, green tea, matcha, yerba mate, guarana, dark chocolate, and energy drinks. And throughout, I'll sprinkle in practical insights, maybe a trivia question or two, and we'll give you tools to make informed choices when it comes to your caffeine sources. So we'll start off with the most common: coffee. Coffee is the world's Why the hell are we making meth? A standard cup contains roughly 100 mg of caffeine, and we're gonna hit coffee like it hits your system— fast. In fact, as a historical fact, coffee was discovered around the 9th century by Ethiopian goat herders who noticed their goats became incredibly energetic and couldn't sleep shortly after eating red coffee cherries. The caffeine in coffee is largely free caffeine, meaning it's not bound to other molecules that slow its absorption. It hits peak blood concentrations around 30 to 45 minutes after ingestion. So for many people, that translates into the feeling you're familiar with: alertness, focus, sometimes anxiety. The point is, the classic jittery energy of coffee— that feeling isn't just about dose, it's about the speed of delivery. All right, we're going to pause for a Stay Curious quiz. Which coffee brewing method increases cholesterol the most? Is it A, espresso, B, filtered coffee, C, cold brew, or D, French press? Record your best guess. The answer is going to come later. But if that edge for you sometimes tips into anxiety or a crash, you might want to consider leaning a little bit more on our next caffeine option for your energy. Green tea and matcha. Honestly, I also like to make matcha ice cream with extra virgin olive oil. I'll drop the recipe below, but it's so good. Green tea contains caffeine, roughly 50 milligrams per cup for a standard brewed green tea, and about 70 milligrams for a matcha. But even if you match matcha or green tea, but I really wanted to say match matcha, Matcha, matcha, matcha, matcha, matcha. That's hard to say fast. Anyway, even if you match the caffeine amounts in green tea or matcha with coffee, people report green tea gives them a different quality of alertness— calmer, more sustained. And one reason for that is something called L-theanine. L-theanine is an amino acid found in specific tea plants that crosses the blood-brain barrier and modulates brain activity. L-theanine promotes something called Alpha wave brain activity. It's the electrical frequency associated with a state of relaxed alertness, sometimes called a zen state. So simply put, L-theanine nudges your brain towards a state that is alert but not agitated, hence the term relaxed alertness, which I quite like. I go over some of the randomized controlled trial data in more detail in the associated letter linked below, but to respect your viewing time, let me cut to the chase. Green tea and matcha provide wakefulness and focus from caffeine, but that jittery edge usually associated with coffee is blunted by L-theanine, leading to an overall smoother, calmer energy. So which coffee method actually increases cholesterol the most? The answer is French press. It's because coffee contains compounds called diterpenes, which can raise LDL cholesterol. Paper filters trap most of the diterpenes, but a French press uses a coarse metal mesh that allows the diterpenes through. The ultimate effect can be about a 10 to 20 milligram per deciliter bump in your LDL cholesterol. Now you know. Now let's talk about yerba mate, the traditional South American drink that has quietly amassed a passionate global following.

I'm a big proponent and consumer of yerba mate.

So yerba mate, let's get into it. Yerba mate. I'm talking about the yerba mate. I can't stop drinking these things. As another fun fact, the Argentinian soccer team traveled with tons and tons of yerba mate during the 2022 World Cup, and they won. Coincidence? I guess you can ask Messi.

One more Messi moment!

Anyway, a standard cup of mate contains approximately 70 to 85 mg of caffeine, comparable to a moderate cup of coffee. So why does it feel different? Answer: yerba mate doesn't just contain caffeine, it contains meaningful amounts of all 3 major— brace for jargon— methylxanthines. Let me explain. Caffeine belongs to a family of molecules called methylxanthines. There are 3 important ones: caffeine, which is 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine— it's the potent central nervous system stimulant that we know and love— theobromine, which is 3,7-dimethylxanthine, which is a milder, longer-acting stimulant— more on that in the chocolate section because it's well known for being in chocolate— and then there's theophylline, which is 1,3-dimethylxanthine. It's a bronchodilator— what that means is it opens the airways— with mild stimulant properties, and it's actually used as a pharmaceutical in asthma. Coffee contains almost exclusively caffeine, but yerba mate contains all 3 major methylxanthines, So you're getting a broader stimulant signal distributed across molecules with different onset times and durations, leading to, again, a smoother, more sustained energy profile as compared to coffee. Or if you want an analogy, coffee is like throwing a pile of dry kindling on a fire— poof, you get a big burst of flames quickly. Yerba mate is more like building a campfire with different-sized pieces of wood— some catch quickly, Others burn more slowly, creating a steadier source of heat. And one more thing worth mentioning is that yerba mate is traditionally consumed through what's known as a bombilla, which is a metal straw with a filter from a gourd. It's slowly sipped over extended periods of time, and this slows the consumption rate, so you're essentially dripping caffeine into your system gradually rather than slamming it all at once. And I just wanted to bring this up because I think it's a nice example of how Tradition and biology complement one another. Plus, bombilla is another fun word to say. Matcha matcha matcha matcha and bombilla. Alright, I'm a child sometimes, sorry. Getting on with this, guarana. Guarana is a plant native to the Amazon basin. Its seeds contain a lot of caffeine. Gram for gram, guarana seeds contain roughly twice the caffeine as coffee beans. Also, I have to observe this— at least to me, it looks like some weird eyeball monster, kind of like Paulie from Monsters, Inc.

Come on.

Tell me you don't see that. But here's the paradox— despite higher caffeine content, guarana is frequently described as producing a more gradual stimulant effect than coffee. Why? Well, I hope you know by now— the entourage effect, of course.

Entourage!

The caffeine in guarana is bound within a matrix of tannins that slows the release and absorption of caffeine in the gut. Think of it like the extended-release medication versus the immediate-release tablet. Same drug, different experience. Guarana also contains small amounts of theobromine and theophylline, which may further smooth out the stimulant curve. But that brings us now to dark chocolate. My favorite.

Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!

A single ounce of dark chocolate contains roughly 25 mg of caffeine, Now that doesn't sound like much, and isn't if you're one of those weirdos who only eats an ounce of dark chocolate. I could easily consume a cup of coffee's worth of caffeine from dark chocolate, actually many cups of coffee's worth. Yet even if I do so, and I do, it doesn't stimulate me in the same way as coffee, and that is because of theobromine. Dark chocolate contains roughly 3 times as much theobromine as caffeine, so 3 to 1 ratio, and that theobromine is a very different beast. While caffeine is a potent central nervous system stimulant, like to your brain, theobromine is a milder cardiovascular stimulant. It gently dilates blood vessels, mildly stimulates the heart, which is maybe why I love it, and has a subtle mood-elevating quality, but it doesn't produce the same sharp central nervous system spike as caffeine, So once again, we're seeing the entourage effect in action. The combination of these compounds creates something that doesn't make you feel stimulated like caffeine alone, especially if you're a dog, in which case you won't feel stimulated for very long because you'll feel dead. Sorry, dark question. Okay, theobromine Stay Curious quiz question: Theobromine is named after which of the following? A Greek god, a famous scientist, the cacao tree, Record your answer, no cheating, I'll give you the answer later. Finally, energy drinks. A standard can of Red Bull contains roughly 80 milligrams of caffeine, roughly the same as a cup of coffee, but it also contains sugars or artificial sweeteners, taurine, usually about 1,000 milligrams, some B vitamins, and more or less that's essentially it in most energy drinks. It's basically free caffeine with a slap of sugar. And that's why energy drinks feel the way they do. It's a hard spike and then a crash. And in my view, energy drinks represent a youthful thought experiment more than a youthful health choice. What happens when you deliver caffeine in its most stripped-down, isolated form? The answer appears to be that you end up with something a bit like Kopi Luwak. It's marketed brilliantly, but at the end of the day, it's still just shit. I think he's pooping.

Is he pooping?

Oh yes, there's a poopy! For those who don't know, Kopi Luwak is the world's most expensive coffee, up to $600 per pound. But it's made from beans that have been eaten and pooped out by civic cats. So go back, maybe that joke will make sense now. Oh, and if you've tried it, let me know if it's worth trying in the comments. I'm kind of curious.

This coffee smells like shit.

It is shit, Austin. And as an aside, I know people in the comments are going to get upset if I don't specifically mention Celsius, the trendiest energy drink on the market right now. It certainly has excellent marketing, but look at the ingredients. It contains guarana seeds and roughly 200 to 270 milligrams of caffeine. Of course that combination is going to provide a potent stimulant effect, and beyond that you have the usual suspects— B vitamins and taurine. And then there are things that I'm less enthusiastic about— artificial sweeteners like sucralose and Ace-K, and I know that's a controversial subject, but there are data that are at least compelling to me that these artificial sweeteners can screw up the gut microbiome and lead to insulin resistance. Now a nuance. To be clear, that doesn't mean a single drink containing artificial sweeteners will spike your glucose or your insulin. That's a common point of confusion. It's a more insidious effect. But as energy drinks go, it's certainly not the worst. I guess I at least have to try it, and I'm realizing now I've never had an energy drink. Not even Red Bull. Um, it tastes kind of like a melted Jolly Rancher, at least this kiwi guava does. It's not off-putting, although it's a little sweet for me. That said, there's at least one more detail about Celsius worth mentioning. Caffeine increases stimulating hormones like adrenaline. Normally these hormones are broken down by enzymes, including 2: COMT and MAO. But interestingly, Celsius contains green tea extract and ginger root extract. Why does that matter? Because compounds found in green tea, particularly the EGCG, inhibit COMT, and compounds found in ginger inhibit MAO. So theoretically, this could prolong the adrenaline surge, allowing the stimulant effects of adrenaline to build and persist longer than they otherwise would. And if you consume 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine with ingredients that slow the breakdown of stimulant hormones, It's not difficult to imagine why some people report particularly strong energy boosts, but it's worth noting that in people who are sensitive to stimulants or taking medications that act on these pathways, or who are prone to anxiety or panic attacks, they might find that combination less than pleasant.

I drank one five hours ago, and I still feel like I'm about to have a panic attack.

One energy drink is causing concern across social media.

That's why people across the nation drink. Celsius, but some are posting on social media claiming it's putting them in the hospital with organ damage.

Seriously, no hate if you enjoy Celsius, it's just food for thought. Okay, theobromine is named after which of the following? The answer was the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao. That said, theobroma itself roughly translates to food of a god, so if you chose a Greek god, I'll give you partial credit. But now let's wrap this up and put a nice little bow on it, or poof of foam as it were. Caffeine is one molecule, but it can be delivered through a multitude of vehicles, and those vehicles matter. That is the entourage effect, and it can profoundly shape the human experience. So you need deep work? Maybe matcha or green tea. You need immediate productivity? Maybe coffee. What about all-day stamina? How about yerba mate? Or you need a mild afternoon lift? Dark chocolate, provided you're not a dog. Need to maximize stimulation regardless of elegance? All right, have an energy drink. And on the topic of brain function and playing with your brainwaves, like we talked about earlier, if you want to learn more about how to sleep more efficiently using cutting-edge science and weird biohacks, check out this video next.

Thanks.