Caffeine Pills vs. Coffee: Which Is Better?

Drinking coffee is an experience. For many people, it’s an essential energy booster in the early morning. For others, it’s a great way to spend time with their loved ones, sharing different daily experiences. However, over the past years, caffeine pills have emerged and grown in popularity. You will agree that it may be a much more convenient way to insert caffeine into your bloodstream and make your days more energized.

But, which is better and more effective? Whether you aim for its practical value or experience, you will be more than interested to read our caffeine pills vs. coffee comparison.

One thing for sure, both are energy-stimulating and both are rich in caffeine. The optimal amount of caffeine per day is about 400mg. Depending on your caffeine tolerance, yours may be less or more.  However, caffeine can easily be abused so consuming between 1000 and 14,000mg can lead to tachycardia, arrhythmia, coma, and death.

One cup of coffee contains between 80 and 200mg of caffeine. That means that you may take between 3 and 5 cups of coffee per day to meet your 400mg caffeine threshold. Additionally, one pill can contain between 100 and 200mg of caffeine, leading to a 400mg threshold being met with 1 to 4 pills.

Everyone has their drinking preferences, but the fact is that caffeine intake shouldn’t be abused as it can lead to addiction and in rare cases, overdose. Drinking coffee doesn’t feel as convenient for everyone as drinking caffeine pills. That’s why we’ll highlight the pros and cons of both and see what works for you.

Coffee: What You Should Know

Let’s first talk about coffee. A lot of people love it and dream about it as soon as they wake up. They choose coffee over eating breakfast or taking a shower. What is so special about coffee? What is not so special about coffee? Let’s see!

Good Sides of Coffee

Coffee Is An Experience

Drinking coffee has been practiced for centuries. That’s exactly what makes it an experience, of relaxation, reprogramming, socializing, and much more. As mentioned earlier, a lot of people drink coffee after they wake up, during the lunch break, in the company, while sharing memories and recent events they attended.

Some people can drink coffee in one sip. On the other hand, some people like it cold and can spend as much as an hour drinking it. Coffee is an experience because a lot of people practice drinking it multiple times a day – mostly in the morning, noon, and early evening.

For a lot of people, it was a way to stay awake, alert, focused, and energized. For a lot of others, it remained as a way where people can catch up with one another and spend time together.

You Can Experiment With It

Making coffee has been an art for a long time. When you come to a café, there is a menu that offers a lot of different coffee variations. First, you’ll see hot brewed coffee, as well as cool frappes. Later on, you’ll see specialties such as Irish coffee, Mocha coffee, or Chocolate coffee.

A lot of people can spend many years until they find the taste that suits them. With that in mind, coffee isn’t just an experience, it’s also an art, where a lot of coffee artists get creative in innovating new tastes of coffee. Needless to say, coffee comes from different parts of the world. Some expensive coffee flavors are made out of animal poop.

Tasty

One of the main reasons for drinking coffee is an experience is because coffee is fairly tasty. When you experiment with different flavors, you are guaranteed to find the flavor that feels tasty and delicious no matter how much you like coffee. Some people who don’t like its bitter taste can easily mask it with chocolate or whipped cream.

Note: Nevertheless, coffee preferences aren’t the same. With that in mind, coffee may not be everyone’s preference. To stay alert and awake, a lot of people prefer drinking caffeine pills to avoid the taste they don’t like.

It Contains Antioxidants

Coffee is rich in antioxidants. That means that it can prevent emerging of potential chronic diseases. There are various studies that prove the antioxidant and antiradical benefits of coffee that shouldn’t be ignored. With that in mind, while thinking about how much you enjoy drinking coffee, remember that it is enriched with antioxidants that are good for your body.

Note: Keep in mind, however, that coffee itself is rich in caffeine, that is a drug. Every drug can deliver unwanted side-effects if abused. Some of them are chronic migraine, cardiovascular disease, and others.

It Boosts Brain Activity

Drinking coffee has a lot of great benefits. It is great for optimal athletic performance. If you’re not into athletic stuff, don’t worry, because coffee boosts brain activity, preventing cognitive decline and loss of memory linked to dementia, as well as Alzheimer’s disease.

A lot of studies discovered that moderate coffee consumption decreases the risk of developing dementia at an older age. A study from 2009 discovered that coffee is beneficial for this brain activity. What more, other forms of caffeine, such as cocoa, tea, and energy drinks don’t come with the same benefits.

Although there’s no evidence that caffeine pills come with the same benefits, it’s evident that caffeine pills can boost cognitive activity and lead to better memory in the long run, as long as not abused constantly.

 Coffee May Decrease Risk Of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

There is growing evidence that drinking coffee regularly, but in moderate amounts has an impact of lowering the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially in women. Other studies suggest that heavy coffee drinkers can lower the risk of up to 50%. Keep in mind that caffeine abuse isn’t good so you should never overdo with coffee.

Bad Sides of Coffee

 It’s Time-Consuming

When you compare drinking coffee to taking caffeine pills, the latter takes less time. As mentioned earlier, some people can drink coffee in a few minutes. Also, some can drink it for up to one hour.

On the other hand, when you work a tasking job, you can’t afford to drink coffee for a long time. Additionally, drinking caffeine pill can take you less than a minute, and save you a lot of time.

Coffee Is Bad For Teeth

Okay, the con above may not be as bad. People who can organize their time properly don’t have to worry about messing up their deadlines because they drank an extra cup of coffee. But, not only is excessive caffeine bad for bones, coffee in itself can be bad for teeth. How?

Drinking coffee, especially if it contains a lot of sugar can be bad for your teeth. It can stain them and cause plaque and tartar if there’s no proper teeth hygiene. One Korean study even found that in the long run, excessive coffee can lead to dental diseases and ultimately teeth loss.

Note: On the other hand, caffeine pills won’t stain your teeth.

Coffee Is Rich In Other Ingredients That Could Be Bad For You

Only pure black brewed coffee comes in risk-free, other coffee could be enriched with sugar and sugary syrups, milk, cinnamon, and other ingredients that could potentially be bad for your health. Coffee with milk has a higher caloric value than just coffee. For people who are on diet, that can be a problem.

Coffee Is Expensive

People can spend between $150-$250 on coffee on monthly basis. If they go out to cafes and restaurants to drink coffee or are avid visitors to Starbucks, they may spend even more on drinking coffee. It’s hard to keep track of expenses associated with coffee, especially if you drink too much of it, and not at home.

On the other hand, caffeine pills are much cheaper and can cost significantly less per pill. One takeaway coffee may cost you from $3-$5. Meanwhile, a pill can cost you only a few cents and it lasts longer.

Caffeine Pills: What You Should Know

We know that coffee is experience. However, let’s take a look at what caffeine pills can offer compared to coffee.

Good Sides of Caffeine Pills

You Know Exactly How Much You Are Taking

We mentioned earlier that with coffee it’s more difficult to determine how much coffee you’re drinking. The product label of the caffeine pills states how much caffeine is in each pill. With that in mind, you’ll know how much to take not to abuse or overdose caffeine pills.

L-theanine

Caffeine pills are rich in L-theanine. It’s an amino acid that promotes relaxation without stressful or drowsy side-effects. This amino acid can mostly be extracted from leafy teas. Still, you can commonly find it in most of the caffeine pills. A huge amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee may wear off quickly, leading to drowsiness. With caffeine pills, this won’t happen.

It’s Convenient

Drinking caffeine pills is more convenient than drinking coffee. That’s because it can take time for you to drink coffee. On the other hand, caffeine pills take less time to drink and don’t stain teeth the way coffee does. Caffeine pills are a perfect alternative for people who are in a hurry for work and don’t have time to drink coffee at work.

Higher Alertness

This is a property that both have in common. Both coffee and caffeine pills will stimulate focus, memory, wakefulness, and have better and more productive results on people with busy lifestyles.

Bad Sides of Caffeine Pills

It May Feel Dull

For people who love drinking coffee, drinking caffeine pills may feel a little dull. Moreover, it may take them some time before they get used to drinking pills. Until then, mixing coffee with pills can be easier as long as they don’t cross the optimal amount.

It’s Easier to Overdose

We said earlier that pills have a clear specification of how much caffeine each contains. However, some pill manufacturers don’t have that specification or sell pills that have a much higher amount of caffeine per pill. Additionally, a person would need to drink over 5 cups of coffee in a short time to abuse the prescribed amount by FDA, which is more difficult than with pills.

Unbalanced Pills Will Wear Off Quickly

L-theanine is used to balance out hormones and prevent drowsiness. However, some companies don’t include L-theanine, or at least not optimally. That leads to energy crashes after a short while of consumption. That’s why it’s important to be on the look for better energy pills that are more reliable and contain healthier compounds.

Caffeine Pills vs. Coffee: Which Is Better?