The science

Getting caffeine into a gummy without bitterness is the hard part.

The bitterness problem

Caffeine is intensely bitter. That is why energy drinks carry so much sugar and so much flavor masking, and why most caffeinated chews taste like a crushed pill. Getting a usable dose into a small piece of fruit gummy without that bitterness coming through is the entire technical problem, and it is the reason this category stayed small for years.

How we solved it

Real fruit juice concentrates do the masking, not sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners. The formulation work was done with food scientists at Stanford, the National Food Laboratory, US Army researchers, and specialists at LSU. We patented the solution in 2018.

The patent

5 × 10mg = 50mg

US 10,154,999 B2: “Caffeinated gummies”

Filed March 2016, granted December 18, 2018. It covers gummy compositions carrying 5 to 30 mg of caffeine per piece with no artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols, using fruit-based bitterness masking.

In plain terms: the thing that makes dose control possible in a gummy is ours.

The label

Short list, real food.

What is in it

Fruit juice concentrates, organic brown rice syrup, organic cane sugar, purified water, gelatin, citric acid, natural fruit flavors, natural caffeine from coffee beans, fruit pectin and vitamin C. Four grams of sugar per serving, 33% of your daily vitamin C.

Gluten free, non-GMO, ultra low glycemic, made in the USA in an NSF GMP-certified facility. Made with kosher beef gelatin, so it is not vegan or vegetarian. It melts above 95°F, which is why we do not ship over summer weekends.

Read the labels

What's in it

Three published ingredient panels, quoted as their manufacturers print them.

Punch'd Energy

Fruit juice concentrates, organic brown rice syrup, organic cane sugar, purified water, gelatin, citric acid, natural fruit flavors, natural caffeine from coffee beans, fruit pectin and vitamin C.

Our own published list, /pages/the-science.

Celsius, Sparkling Orange

Carbonated Filtered Water, Citric Acid, Taurine, Guarana Seed Extract, Caffeine, Green Tea Extract, Sucralose, Calcium Carbonate, Ascorbic Acid, Glucuronolactone, Ginger Root Extract, Calcium Pantothenate, Niacinamide, Natural Flavor, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Chromium Chelate, Biotin, Beta-Carotene (color), Cyanocobalamin.

Celsius' own published supplement facts, captured 2026-07-30.

Diet Coke

CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, ASPARTAME, PHOSPHORIC ACID, POTASSIUM BENZOATE (TO PROTECT TASTE), NATURAL FLAVORS, CITRIC ACID, CAFFEINE.

Coca-Cola's own published nutrition page, captured 2026-07-30.

Made with kosher beef gelatin, so it is not vegan or vegetarian.

The arithmetic

Why dose control matters

Caffeine has a half-life of roughly five hours in most adults. Take 200 mg at 4 pm and you still have about 100 mg in you at 9 pm and 50 mg at 2 am. That is not a preference problem, it is arithmetic, and it is why the afternoon can decides how the night goes.

Ten milligrams at a time means you can take 40 mg now and decide later whether you need the other 40. The FDA cites 400 mg a day as generally safe for healthy adults, and with 10 mg pieces you can see where you are against that number instead of guessing.

The coffee you can't see

A cup of coffee can run 113 to 247 mg by the FDA's own numbers, and the shop is not required to tell you which one you got. Ours tells you to the milligram.

The coffee math

What's actually in the cup

Espresso, single shot"typical" (your shot didn't read the report)

~80

Latte, 16 ozusually two of those shots

~160

Brewed coffee, 12 ozthe FDA's own range

113 ? 247

Energy drink, 12 ozFDA range, brand to brand

41 ? 246

Energy drink, 16 ozFDA range, brand to brand

54 ? 328

2 Punch'd gummiesa light lift

20mg exact

A full Punch'd pouch10 gummies, cup-of-coffee scale

100mg exact

0100200300 mg

A cup of coffee can run 113 to 247 mg of caffeine, by the FDA's own numbers, and the shop isn't required to tell you which one you got. An espresso runs "about 80 mg," says Europe's food-safety authority, with the same footnote: it varies. Ours tells you to the milligram, every time.

Measure	2 Punch'd gummiesa light lift	A full Punch'd pouch10 gummies, cup-of-coffee scale⁴	Starbucks Caffè Latte, grande¹	Dunkin' caramel swirl iced latte, medium¹	Dutch Bros Caramelizer, iced medium¹
Caffeine	20 mg. Exact.	100 mg. Exact.	?²	?²	?²
Sugar	4 g³	20 g³	18 g	52 g	57 g
Calories	10³	50³	190	340	400
Who decides the dose	You. 10 mg at a time.	Still you.	The recipe.	The recipe.	The recipe.

¹ Their own published nutrition figures: Starbucks product page, Dunkin' Nutrition Guide, Dutch Bros Nutritional Guide, captured 2026-07-27 (receipts register).

² Caffeine varies cup to cup and shot to shot. See the board above. We don't quote other people's numbers.

³ Punch'd label facts (and the pouch figures derived from them) pending verification against the printed label.

⁴ Matching dose for dose: a 10-gummy pouch is 100 mg, a cup-of-coffee-scale dose, minus the question mark.

Not anti-coffee. Anti paying for sugar and guesswork you didn't ask for.