Sick of energy drinks? Here is what actually changes if you switch
If you are on a can a day, or three, and you have started to resent it, this page is the honest version of what a caffeine pouch does and does not change. It is written by the people who make PAX, so it says plainly where a sugar-free can does the same job for less fuss.
PAX is caffeine. There is no nicotine in it and there never will be. What you are after in a can is the caffeine; most of what you are paying for is everything around it.
What are you actually getting from an energy drink?
Caffeine, sugar and volume. The caffeine is the part you are there for. A 250ml can carries up to 80mg of caffeine. A 500ml can carries up to 160mg. That is the New Zealand cap for energy drinks, 32mg per 100ml. Red Bull prints 80mg on its 250ml can, right at the cap. V and Monster do not publish the figure on the retailer pages we read, so we give the cap, not a guess.
Around the caffeine comes the sugar, 27g in a 250ml Red Bull and 57g in a 500ml Monster, and the liquid itself: a can is something to carry, open, drink, and get rid of. The taurine and the vitamins are on the label. We have not seen evidence on what they add at the doses used, so we are not going to tell you either way. Our caffeine pouches vs energy drinks vs coffee page puts the numbers side by side and says where each one came from.
What changes if you switch to a caffeine pouch?
The sugar goes, the liquid goes, and the price drops. The caffeine changes a little, and which way depends on the can.
A PAX pouch is 100mg of caffeine, 0 sugar and 0 calories, so there is no sugar crash. That is the only crash claim we make, because a pouch is still caffeine. It weighs under half a gram, sits between your lip and gum, and a tin of 20 goes in a pocket. Do not chew it and do not swallow it. Per serve, a pouch is 75c from a single tin and 46c on the six-tin subscription, against $2.29 for a single 250ml Red Bull at PAK'nSAVE.
What a pouch will not do is give you a drink. If the cold can in your hand was half the point, a pouch will not replace that, and we would rather you knew before you bought a tin.
What does not change?
Caffeine is caffeine. The daily ceiling, the sleep problem and the dependence are all the same in a pouch as in a can.
The ceiling is 400mg a day from everything, whichever form it takes. Caffeine's half life runs somewhere between roughly three and ten hours, so a pouch at 4pm is the same problem for sleep as a can at 4pm. And regular daily caffeine at doses as low as 100mg can cause dependence. Stopping brings a headache in about half of cases, and it can run for several days. None of that is a reason not to switch. It is a reason not to expect a pouch to be something caffeine is not.
How do you switch without doubling your caffeine?
Count the caffeine, not the cans. A 250ml can is up to 80mg and a pouch is 100mg, so that swap puts your caffeine up. A 500ml can is up to 160mg, more than a pouch and a half, so that swap brings it down.
If you were on one 250ml can a day, one pouch is a little more caffeine than you were getting, 100mg against up to 80mg. If you were on a 500ml can, one pouch is less. If you were on three 500ml cans a day, that is up to 480mg, over the ceiling before anything else you drink, and the switch is a good moment to step down rather than match it. Three 250ml cans is up to 240mg, and a flat white on top can put you over.
One pouch per serving, never two at once, no more than four a day, and only if you are not getting caffeine from anywhere else. How to use one, and when, is on our how to use a caffeine pouch page.
What about a sugar-free can?
On sugar, yes, and we will say so: Red Bull, V and Monster all sell a sugar-free can with 0g. If sugar was your only problem with energy drinks, a sugar-free can fixes it and you can stop reading.
What a sugar-free can does not fix is the rest of it: the 250ml or 500ml of liquid, the can to carry and bin, the price per serve, and the fact that you cannot use one with your hands full or your mouth busy. Those are the reasons people switch to a pouch. Sugar is the reason people think they switch.
Who should not switch?
Anyone under 18, anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone sensitive to caffeine, and anyone with a medical condition who has not asked their doctor. The same people who should not be on the cans either. PAX contains caffeine, and too much caffeine can cause an accelerated heart rate, nervousness, irritability and trouble sleeping. The full list, and why, is on our are caffeine pouches safe? page.
Questions?
Email hello@paxenergy.co.nz or call 027 777 2899. If something on this page is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
