Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us

by Murray Carpenter

Overview

“You’ll never think the same way about your morning cup of coffee.”—Mark McClusky, editor in chief of Wired.com and author of Faster, Higher, Stronger
 
Journalist Murray Carpenter has been under the influence of a drug for nearly three decades. And he’s in good company, because chances are you’re hooked, too. Humans have used caffeine for thousands of years. A bitter white powder in its most essential form, a tablespoon of it would kill even the most habituated user. This addictive, largely unregulated substance is everywhere—in places you’d expect (like coffee and chocolate) and places you wouldn’t (like chewing gum and fruit juice), and Carpenter reveals its impact on soldiers, athletes, and even children. It can make you stronger, faster, and more alert, but it’s not perfect, and its role in health concerns like obesity and anxiety will surprise you.

Making stops at the coffee farms of central Guatemala, a synthetic caffeine factory in China, and an energy shot bottler in New Jersey, among numerous other locales around the globe, Caffeinated exposes the high-stakes but murky world of caffeine, drawing on cutting-edge science and larger-than-life characters to offer an unprecedented understanding of America’s favorite drug.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142181805
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/27/2015
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Murray Carpenter has reported caffeine-related stories for the New York Times, Wired, National Geographic, NPR, and PRI’s The World. He has also written for the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, and other media outlets. He holds a degree in psychology from the University of Colorado and a master of science in environmental studies from the University of Montana, and has worked as a medical lab assistant in Ohio, a cowboy in Colombia, a farmhand in Virginia, and an oil-exploring “juggie” in Wyoming. He lives in Belfast, Maine.

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "Caffeinated"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Murray Carpenter.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: A Bitter White Powder ix

Part I Traditional Caffeine

Chapter 1 The Cradle of Caffeine Culture 3

Chapter 2 All the Tea in China 15

Chapter 3 High on the Mountain 25

Chapter 4 Building a Better Cup of Coffee 47

Chapter 5 Pulling the Lever 57

Part II Modern Caffeine

Chapter 6 The First Red Bull Was a Coke 79

Chapter 7 Hot Caffeine 91

Chapter 8 China White 101

Chapter 9 From Stacker to Sunkist 113

Part III Caffeinated Body, Caffeinated Brain

Chapter 10 The Athletes' Favorite Drug 127

Chapter 11 Joe for GIs 147

Chapter 12 Insomnia, Anxiety, and Panic 161

Chapter 13 Therapeutic Doses 175

Part IV Corralling Caffeine

Chapter 14 Unleashing the Beasts 191

Chapter 15 Behind the Label 207

Chapter 16 Showdown 225

Acknowledgments 241

Notes 243

Index 263

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Caffeinated offers a fascinating, often disturbing look at America's favorite recreational drug.  The book is another reminder that some people will do just about anything to make money--at the expense of our health." —Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Command and Control
 
"In his quest to understand our unique relationship with caffeine, Murray Carpenter leads us on a romp through history and tours of Colombian coffee fields, Chinese tea lounges, and a factory that pumps out synthetic caffeine for soft drinks." --Mother Jones

"The book is anything but preachy, yet along with acknowledging caffeine's benefits, Carpenter bluntly addresses its dangers, which can include anxiety, panic attacks, disrupted sleep and, if taken in large doses, even death. Caffeinated highlights not just the physiological downsides of caffeine but the problems that regulators face in trying to curb what he calls 'an industry running wild." —Scientific American

"A tenaciously researched look into the physiology, psychology and commerce of caffeine." —The New York Post

“I don’t even drink coffee, but I found Caffeinated enlivening, with just the right overtones of sweet and bitter. Weaving together history, law and science, Carpenter makes a compelling case that most of us are addicted to a brilliantly marketed drug disguised as a mellow morning ritual. Fascinating, disturbing, to be savored.” —Florence Williams, author of Breasts 

"As Murray Carpenter makes clear in his methodical review, our society's metrics are no match for this substance's nuances, whether among athletes, teenagers, experimental subjects or the average dependent Joe." —The New York Times

“Riding a buzz clearly generated by its subject, Murray Carpenter's Caffeinated takes readers around the world on a journey that brings humanity's favorite drug to life, in all its glory and grime. You'll never think the same way about your morning cup of coffee again.” —Mark McClusky, author of Faster, Higher, Stronger and editor in chief, Wired.com
 
“Carpenter sheds new light on an old standby.” —Bangor Daily News
 
“Caffeinated is a surprising exposé of the “caffeine industrial complex,” the industry that markets this substance in every form it can.  This book compellingly argues that the health hazards of excessive caffeine intake need more attention and better regulation.  I’m convinced.  You will be too.” —Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health, New York University, and author of What to Eat
 
“A readable guide to this ubiquitous but misunderstood substance." —Concord Monitor

"Carpenter's entertaining narrative dissects caffeine's circuitous route into consumer culture and its tenacious hold on the human mind and body."
—Kirkus Reviews

"I'm not sure if Murray Carpenter's splendid book, Caffeinated, will lead you to drink more coffee, or less. But it will certainly make you think about your next cup of joe (or tea or Red Bull) in new and startling ways. Carpenter makes a mighty mountain out of a milligram, weaving together a story of history, science, lore and slick marketing in ways that offer surprising vistas at every turn."—Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum

“Carpenter…leaves no aspect of caffeine unexplored…[He] offers a glimpse of a world where the science behind the chemical fascinates as much as its history enlightens, its regulation (or lack thereof) startles, and its ubiquity in beverages, foods, and supplements disquiets…Eye-opening.”
—The Scientist
 
“The world's most popular stimulant now has a book to match. A double espresso shot of java journalism, Caffeinated brews up a masterly combination of page-turning narrative with deeply researched history and news. From professional athletes to industry insiders, from the coffee plantations of Colombia to the world's largest, most secretive caffeine manufacturing plant in the hinterlands of China, Carpenter spill the beans on America's drug of choice. More eye-opening than a case of Red Bull!” —Dan Hurley, author of Smarter
 
“Caffeinated might be more of a jolt than your morning cup.” —Examiner.com

Mark McClusky

Caffeinated is the entertaining, sweeping, well-researched saga of the world's most widely consumed psychoactive drug and its various delivery systems, from coffee and Coca-Cola to chocolate and energy drinks. Murray Carpenter, himself a happy addict, covers the caffeinated waterfront.—Mark Pendergrast, author of For God, Country & Coca-Cola and Uncommon Grounds
Riding a buzz clearly generated by its subject, Murray Carpenter's Caffeinated takes readers around the world on a journey that brings humanity's favorite drug to life, in all its glory and grime. You'll never think the same way about your morning cup of coffee again. --Mark McClusky, Editor, Wired.com

Editorial Reviews

"A fascinating, often disturbing look at America's favorite recreational drug.  The book is another reminder that some people will do just about anything to make money—at the expense of our health."—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Command and Control
 
"In his quest to understand our unique relationship with caffeine, Murray Carpenter leads us on a romp through history and tours of Colombian coffee fields, Chinese tea lounges, and a factory that pumps out synthetic caffeine for soft drinks."—Mother Jones

"The book is anything but preachy, yet along with acknowledging caffeine's benefits, Carpenter bluntly addresses its dangers, which can include anxiety, panic attacks, disrupted sleep and, if taken in large doses, even death. Caffeinated highlights not just the physiological downsides of caffeine but the problems that regulators face in trying to curb what he calls 'an industry running wild."—Scientific American

"A tenaciously researched look into the physiology, psychology and commerce of caffeine."—The New York Post

“I don’t even drink coffee, but I found Caffeinated enlivening, with just the right overtones of sweet and bitter. Weaving together history, law and science, Carpenter makes a compelling case that most of us are addicted to a brilliantly marketed drug disguised as a mellow morning ritual. Fascinating, disturbing, to be savored.”—Florence Williams, author of Breasts 

"As Murray Carpenter makes clear in his methodical review, our society's metrics are no match for this substance's nuances, whether among athletes, teenagers, experimental subjects or the average dependent Joe."—New York Times

“Riding a buzz clearly generated by its subject, Murray Carpenter's Caffeinated takes readers around the world on a journey that brings humanity's favorite drug to life, in all its glory and grime. You'll never think the same way about your morning cup of coffee again.”—Mark McClusky, author of Faster, Higher, Stronger and editor in chief, Wired.com
 
“Carpenter sheds new light on an old standby.”—Bangor Daily News
 
“A surprising exposé of the 'caffeine industrial complex,' the industry that markets this substance in every form it can. This book compellingly argues that the health hazards of excessive caffeine intake need more attention and better regulation. I’m convinced. You will be too.”—Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health, New York University, and author of What to Eat
 
“A readable guide to this ubiquitous but misunderstood substance."—Concord Monitor

"Carpenter's entertaining narrative dissects caffeine's circuitous route into consumer culture and its tenacious hold on the human mind and body."—Kirkus Reviews

"I'm not sure if Murray Carpenter's splendid book, Caffeinated, will lead you to drink more coffee, or less. But it will certainly make you think about your next cup of joe (or tea or Red Bull) in new and startling ways. Carpenter makes a mighty mountain out of a milligram, weaving together a story of history, science, lore and slick marketing in ways that offer surprising vistas at every turn."—Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum

“Carpenter…leaves no aspect of caffeine unexplored…[He] offers a glimpse of a world where the science behind the chemical fascinates as much as its history enlightens, its regulation (or lack thereof) startles, and its ubiquity in beverages, foods, and supplements disquiets…Eye-opening.”—The Scientist
 
“The world's most popular stimulant now has a book to match. A double espresso shot of java journalism, Caffeinated brews up a masterly combination of page-turning narrative with deeply researched history and news. From professional athletes to industry insiders, from the coffee plantations of Colombia to the world's largest, most secretive caffeine manufacturing plant in the hinterlands of China, Carpenter spill the beans on America's drug of choice. More eye-opening than a case of Red Bull!”—Dan Hurley, author of Smarter
 
“Caffeinated might be more of a jolt than your morning cup.”—Examiner.com

From the Publisher

2014-01-23
Having opined on caffeine for various publications, including the New York Times and Wired, Carpenter delivers a compelling compendium of facts and figures on this "largely unregulated drug." The author readily admits his addiction to the stimulant. While his favorite caffeine delivery system is coffee, others prefer sweet sodas, high-octane energy drinks, or caffeine-laced gum, pills or gels. "What few of us are willing to admit," he writes, "is that the essence of our longing is this bitter white powder." Carpenter blends intriguing historical episodes with interviews, accounts of treks to caffeine-related locations and a multitude of test results. The author's barrage of facts and statistics is initially intriguing but eventually leaves readers buried within the aggregation of data. More gripping are Carpenter's accounts of the long-running corporate marketing tactics designed to underplay caffeine's ability to cause panic attacks, insomnia or anxiety—not to mention addiction. The author details the military's ongoing search for products designed to keep soldiers "amped up" with caffeinated foods—e.g., a caffeinated apple pie in a package resembling a toothpaste tube. Carpenter uncovers other bizarre applications as well, such as caffeine-infused pantyhose that are marketed with the promise of weight loss. The author also recounts his visits to coffee farms in Guatemala, a coffee roasting plant in Vermont and the University of Maryland's School of Public Health. Refused access to the world's largest synthetic caffeine factory in China, Carpenter notes that the industry is far from transparent; inspections are rare, and conditions are not always sanitary. "Just three Chinese factories exported seven million pounds of synthetic caffeine to the United States in 2011," writes the author, "nearly half of our total imports." Carpenter's entertaining narrative dissects caffeine's circuitous route into consumer culture and its tenacious hold on the human mind and body.

Kirkus Reviews