Michele mentioned that she saw 'double caffeine' coffee at the local 7-Eleven. Of course, I had to give this a try.

Loyal Cruft Readers know my interest level in strange coffee flavors at 7-Eleven is longstanding. This is so important to 7-Eleven, there's a formal press release.

Sure enough, for those that can't get enough caffeine in regular coffee, the option to double up has arrived. 'Natural ingredients'? What exactly could that mean?

7 Eleven has added ginseng, guarana, and yerba maté. Wow, that's some stimulation.

A typical cup of coffee is around 125 milligrams of caffeine, so a cup of Fusion Energy Coffee is likely to be around 250 milligrams. To put that in caffeine perspective, a tablet of No-Dose is 200 mg, a can of Red Bull is 80 mg, and a can of Mountain Dew is 55 mg. If you drink Starbucks Coffee, this is nothing. A small 12 oz cup of Starbuck Coffee is 276 mg. All info from the handy Energy Fiend site.

Of course the guarana, ginseng and yerba maté all add in a bit of energy. Seems to me that these herbal stimulants affect everyone a bit differently. Some people get a big boost from them, others not much. My best guess is that heavy caffeine users have their nervous systems so amped up, that they don't notice much of the more subtle herbal stimulant effect.

Most importantly, how did it taste?

Fusion Energy Coffee tastes almost exactly like the regular 'Executive Blend' coffee. Just a hint of bitterness, similar to as if the pot had been cooking for a while before I got to it. Not bad at all. I'm a sucker for the American style drip coffee you find in diners and convenience stores.

Did I feel any extra burst of energy from the coffee? Nope. I drink about a half cup of coffee in the morning and sometimes a cup in the afternoons, so I'm not hardcore like some people I know. Running my Saturday errands sipping the coffee didn't seem to make much of a difference.

I await 7-Eleven's next coffee innovation.

Posted by michael at February 17, 2007 05:03 PM