This news story caught my eye. A teenage girl overdosed on espressos while working the morning shift at her parents sandwich shop. Seven double espressos in short order might do that to you.
Bad news for me because I like doing espresso tours on my Coker rides. The biggest tour for me has been a 5 doubleshot tour in Port Townsend. Course that was spread out all during the ride spaced over several hours. No bad caffeine aftereffects for me after that ride. No risk of overdosing.
A couple of years ago I saw a tv show about a coffee shop owner who drank approximately 40 cups of coffee every day while at his shop. He apparently suffers no ill effects.
If I go over three or four cups in a whole day I start feeling out of sorts, (meaning: I feel goofy but am unable to pin down just what it is I feel). Six or more and I begin to get muscle cramps and my insides start shaking. And that’s just regular coffee, I shudder to think what would happen if I had five double shots in a day. :o
Don’t worry about me. I can handle my espresso, beer, hot sauce, and hot wings.
When I saw that headline about the espresso overdose in the news feed I did a quick double take. You know how if you’re reading something and suddenly see your name in the story that your name just jumps right out at you? Well this headline did the same to me in the news feed.
I had a most wonderful espresso last weekend. I went to Portland Oregon for the Bridge Pedal ride. Stumptown Coffee was just a few blocks from the start of the ride. They do a most wonderful espresso. You know the kind that sticks to the cup and melts in your mouth? I had a double at the beginning of the ride and a double at the end. It was espresso nirvana.
A serving of regular coffee can (and most likely will) have more caffeine than a serving of espresso (single shot or double shot).
The caffeine content of coffee varies depending on many factors. An 8 oz drip coffee at one coffee shop may have quite a bit more or less caffeine than an 8 oz drip coffee at another coffee shop. Same with espressos.
A double espresso can have anywhere from 58 mg to 185 mg of caffeine. The USDA standard for espresso is 64 mg per fluid ounce (an espresso shot is one fluid ounce).
A Starbucks short coffee (8 fl oz) has 186 mg of caffeine
A Starbucks tall coffee (12 fl oz) has 279 mg of caffeine
A Starbucks double espressio (doppio) has 116 mg of caffeine
So going by serving, espresso has less caffeine than regular drip coffee.
Source: The Caffeine Database
15 cans of Red Bull?
There is 80mg of caffeine in each can. 15 cans of Red Bull is the equivalent of 10 doppio espressos (double espressos) at Starbucks. The girl in the news story only had 7 double espressos.
I’ve seen people at college (university) o.d. on caffeine when trying to pull an all-nighter. One kid in my fraternity barfed in the bushes on the way to a final after pulling an all-nighter fueled by caffeine pills and Jolt Cola. His brain wasn’t all-together after all that caffeine either and the final didn’t go well.
On some tee vee show, (if you see it in a documentary it must be true), the investigators did a survey and found that even in a single coffee shop the caffeine content of a cup can vary a fair amount, simply due to how well the machines and utensils are cleaned between uses. Some buyers of “decaf” coffees are getting more caffeine than they bargain for.
i usually limit myself to 2-3 shots a day. a double in the morning and mayby one after that.(mayby) but i can also sleep after coffee. if i only have a single shot i start feeling like crap around 2:00. coincidentally my maths classes are usually around then
Right? Yet pot is deemed as a felenous drug in most of the U.S. But caffine is a more addictive and dangerous substance and is seen as good alternative to stimulate your body.
I’m not saying pot is awesome and everyone should do it, it’s just stuff like this really makes you think about what your putting into your body and what the F.D.A regulates as “healthy” and “safe”. Like I said I’m not condoning everyone to smoke, I just find it a much healthier and easier way to relax at the end of a hard days work rather than destroying myself with alchohol. Sheesh I still can’t see why people think of alchohol as a great way to relax with friends, yet their blind to the obvious damage it does to them and the damage it can do and has done to many people’s lives.
Pot fatalities still remain at zero.
Hmmmm, one day it’ll sink in…
Uhhh, I just realized I totally went of subject…Threadjack niggas!<–J/k
As someone experienced in software QA, I understand edge cases well. I do regression tests on my daily build each morning. The coffee and caffeine features are well covered with comprehensive unit tests.
I was going to try an experiment where I get myself addicted to caffeine, like, drink at least four or five cups of black coffee a day for a few weeks, then quit cold turkey and see what happens…but for now I’ve decided not to. I still think it would be interesting though.
