Plenty of us love knocking back a good ol’ cuppa joe every once in awhile. It’s even better if the coffee we’re guzzling down is strong. But what happens when the caffeine level is so insanely high that it might just kill you (literally).
Well, nobody has been crazy enough to develop a beverage like that yet. But an Adelaide barista comes pretty close; at least in terms of coming up with something that’s dangerous enough to warrant a health warning from officials.
Introducing the Ass Kicker – an iced coffee that contains half the lethal dosage of caffeine, and a drink that could potentially keep you awake for 18 hours.
Steve Benington, owner and barista of Viscous Coffee in Christies Beach, Australia, is the brains behind this super strong brew, and he says that the drink was developed for an emergency room nurse who had trouble staying awake on night shifts. Apparently, she consumed the drink over two days, but stayed awake for three.
The Ass Kicker is made from a medley of robust coffee ingredients. There’s a quad shot of espresso, four 48-hour cold drip ice cubes, and 120 millilitres of extra-aged cold brew. The drink is finally completed with an additional four 48-hour cold brew ice cubes.
“Each cold drip ice cube is approximately equivalent of a bit more than two shots of espresso in caffeine,” Benington told The Advertiser.
So you can just imagine how crazily intense this drink is. If you look at the stats, a single espresso shot contains 60mg of caffeine, while the Ass Kicker is made up of five grams. That means the caffeine levels in this drink is a whopping 80 times stronger than a single shot of espresso!
To his credit, Benington did seek the advice of medical professionals at the Marion Domain Medical Centre in Oaklands Park. However, they told him that people with heart or blood pressure issues should stay far away from the beverage. Professional dietitian’s are also far from convinced about its safety.
“There have been a number of documented cases of hospital admissions and also death with caffeine intakes less than half of what is contained in this beverage,” dietitian Tanya Lewis told The Advertiser.
If that doesn’t bother you though, the Ass Kicker will cost you $16 Australian bucks. That’s pretty worth it if you consider the fact that you probably don’t have to drink coffee for the rest of the week!
All images taken from Viscous Coffee.
