The Case Against the Energy Drink

The energy drink is one of the great pieces of product design of the last forty years, and one of the least honest.

The formula is not complicated: a large amount of caffeine, a large amount of sugar, and a can that suggests extreme sports. You get a spike, because caffeine and sugar reliably produce one. Ninety minutes later the sugar has gone and the caffeine has not, so you are jittery and hungry at the same time. The obvious solution is another can, which is not a coincidence, it is the business model.

What is actually going on

Caffeine does not create energy. It blocks adenosine, the molecule that accumulates through the day and tells you that you are tired. The tiredness carries on accumulating; you simply stop receiving the message. When the caffeine clears, the backlog arrives all at once.

Caffeine also has a half-life of around five to six hours in most adults. A 4pm can is still a quarter present at ten at night. This is the mechanism behind the loop we see constantly: poor sleep, heavier caffeine, poorer sleep.

Sugar makes it worse, not better. A big glucose load gives a genuine short lift followed by a genuine dip, and the dip is deeper than the baseline you started from.

What a functional drink is trying to do instead

The premise of our cans is not that caffeine is evil. It is that a drink can do more than one job, and that the amount of caffeine should be a decision rather than an arms race.

Liquid FOCUS contains no added caffeine at all. It is 1,000mg of Lion's Mane with Korean Ginseng and Vitamin B12, in elderflower and Sicilian lemon. Vitamin B12 contributes to normal psychological function and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, that is the approved claim, and it is the only one we make. It is designed for the afternoon precisely because it will not still be in your system at bedtime.

Liquid POWER does contain added natural caffeine, because sometimes an immediate lift is the point. It pairs it with 1,000mg of Shiitake and Holy Basil, plus vitamins B6, B12 and C, which contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism. The Independent voted it Best Energy Drink of 2025. It is a coffee replacement, not a fourth coffee.

Liquid RELAX is the one that confuses people, because it is a drink designed to do the opposite of what drinks in cans usually do. Reishi, Ashwagandha and Chamomile, with Magnesium and Vitamin B6, which contribute to normal nervous system and psychological function. It exists for the six o'clock moment where the alternative is wine.

The sugar question

All three are low sugar, lightly sparkling, vegan and free of artificial additives. That is not a health halo; it is what you need if a drink is going to be part of a routine rather than an occasional rescue. Something you have most days has to be something your body can have most days.

How to actually swap

Do not try to quit caffeine and change your routine in the same week. Keep the first coffee, it is one of the good things. Replace the afternoon one, which is the one doing the damage to your sleep and which is usually about wanting to leave your desk rather than wanting stimulation.

That is the whole intervention. One drink, one time of day, and the evening gets quieter.

Contains caffeine. Not recommended for children or pregnant women. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.