How to use a caffeine pouch (first-timer guide)
Using one takes about four seconds. Using one well takes knowing three or four things nobody tells you. Here is the whole method.
The steps
- Open the tin and take one pouch. One is 100 mg, which is a strong coffee. Start there.
- Place it under your upper lip, off to one side, between your lip and your gum. Not under your tongue, not in your cheek.
- Leave it alone for 20 to 30 minutes. Do not chew it and do not move it around. It works while it sits still.
- Take it out and bin it. Most tins, FUEL included, have a compartment in the lid for used pouches so you are not hunting for a bin.
What you should feel, and when
0 to 2 minutes: a mild tingle where the pouch sits, and the flavour coming through. The tingle is the strongest sensation and it is not the caffeine. It settles.
10 to 15 minutes: the caffeine landing. Level, not a spike.
20 to 30 minutes: take it out. Most of what you are going to get has arrived.
For a few hours after: caffeine has a half-life of about five hours, so it stays with you well beyond the pouch itself.
The four first-timer mistakes
1. Chewing it
A pouch is not gum. Chewing makes it fall apart and pushes contents into your mouth. Place it and forget it.
2. Leaving it in for an hour
After about half an hour you are mostly just wearing it. Take it out.
3. Starting with two
Two pouches is 200 mg in one go, which is two strong coffees at once. If you are new to the format, one tells you everything you need to know.
4. Using one at 9pm
Half of a 9pm pouch is still in you at 2am. Treat the timing exactly as you would treat a coffee.
Where it fits in a day
- Pre-workout: one about 15 minutes before you start. No shaker, no powder.
- Deep work: one at the start of a block, so you are not getting up for coffee 20 minutes in.
- The 3pm dip: the classic. Faster than walking out for a coffee.
- Driving: nothing to hold and nothing to spill.
Practical notes
Drink water. A pouch is caffeine with no fluid attached. Easy to forget in the gym.
Rotate the spot. Left side one time, right the next.
Store it somewhere cool. A car dashboard in an Indian summer is not that.
Count your total. Pouches plus coffee plus tea. Around 400 mg a day is the usual ceiling for healthy adults.
Which flavour to start on
If you are coming off coffee, Café Mocha is the least jarring switch. If you want something cold and sharp that does not taste like a hot drink, Watermelon Ice. If you want the most intense of the three, Blizzard Mint.
Undecided is a good reason to take a mixed 3-tin bundle, which also drops the price per tin.