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Caffeine is possibly the most consumed drug in the world. Throughout history, we have built society around it and it is regarded as normal or even desirable to drink the bean.

Coffee was around and active at the heart of our society long before Starbucks was even conceived of. The first great gentlemen’s club (the posh ones where men with white hair meet as opposed to a nightclub or strip bar) Whites, was named after a man named Blanco who ran coffee shops in Renaissance London. Coffee was expensive and a preserve of the rich. It therefore became a drink associated with money and even power.

Coffee, which was until recently one of the few forms of caffeine, has been revered as a commodity. An expensive and sought after drug.

That was until Starbucks came along. At the end of the last century the coffee chain sweep across the world, a success of capitalism. It put caffeine at the heart of society once more. Their earthen coloured walls and comfy sofas became a place meet and socialise once more. It all paints a beautiful and romantic picture.

That is until you come to energy drinks. Energy drinks aren’t quite the little perk that coffee is. It’s the crack of caffeine. Relentless, Rockstar and Red Bull all leave nothing to imagination with their titles. They are for people who cane it. But they definitely work.

It’s obvious why people have grown to consume and love caffeine. It keeps you awake and the more we do and the harder we push ourselves in life the more we feel like we need an energy boost. But it doesn’t actually work like that. The low after the high is worse for you and a dependence on caffeine will mean you feel tired on days that you don’t drink it.