All night long

We gave all of these energizing drinks a whirl, and lived to write about it.

[
        
          {
            "name": "Air - Inline Content - Upper",
            "component": "26908817",
            "insertPoint": "1/4",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "8"
          },{
            "name": "Air - Inline Content - Middle",
            "component": "26908818",
            "insertPoint": "1/2",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "8"
          },{
            "name": "Air - Inline Content - Lower",
            "component": "26908819",
            "insertPoint": "100",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
          }
        
        ]

Choose wisely, for while the true caffeinated beverage will bring you life, the false caffeinated beverage will...also bring you life. It just won't taste as good.

Coffee Caffeine: 95mg-120mg per 8oz cup
Focus: 3/5
Flavour: 5/5

Ol' faithful, but too many cups and you'll be lucky if you can keep your fingers still long enough to type anything at all between bathroom breaks.

Yerba Maté Tea Caffeine: 85mg
Focus: 5/5
Flavour: 5/5

Feel good about this choice, with plenty of flavour combos to choose from at Davids- Tea (5486 Spring Garden Road, 422-7617)---I'm especially fond of Main Squeeze citrus-iced or Honey Bee if you're going hot---there'll be something for everyone. Plus, it's got antioxidants for days and stimulants that target muscle tissue not the nervous system so you can wave goodbye to jitters like that deadline that just went flying past.

Red Bull: The Red Edition

Caffeine: 80mg
Focus: 3/5
Flavour: 5/5

The new cranberry flavour packs a big punch into a tiny package, at almost half the size of all the other energy drinks, it still boasts the second highest taurine (1,000mg) and sugar (27g) count and over 250 percent of your daily B6 and B12 vitamin intake. It also tastes pretty delicious, nice and tangy, which makes overconsumption super-easy, almost inevitable.

AMP Energy: Power (AKA Boost) Caffeine: 142mg
Focus: 2/5
Flavour: 5/5

PepsiCo's energy drink version of Mountain Dew (which has a high-caffeine level itself at 55mg) is loaded with guarana extract (296mg), ginseng (18.9mg) and taurine (14.2mg) along with a whole bunch of sugar (58g) to get you that wide-eyed bushy-tailed buzz that may or may not be conducive to productivity but sure tastes good.

Xenergy: Cran Razz

Caffeine: 184mg

Focus: 4/5
Flavour: 3/5

The official energy drink of the UFC fights fair with natural colours and flavours, no sugar, over 100 percent of your daily intake of B vitamins, guarana, ginseng and something called glucuronolactone which is supposed to give performance support and mental alertness while still protecting your liver. Plus, it's not too sweet, super refreshing and boasts a crash-free rep.

Rockstar Burner

AKA Zero Carb)
Caffeine: 210mg [160mg (coffee bean), 50mg (yerba maté)]
Focus: 4/5
Flavour: 2/5

This heavy hitter sort of tastes like melon-berry bubblegum water with an odd aftertaste, and what it lacks in sugar it makes up for in taurine (2,000mg!) B vitamins and green tea (200mg), which alludes to that "Burner" title, and makes it a favourite for fitness folk. I'd be wary of chugging down lots of this one though, scientists still don't know exactly how excessive amounts of taurine combined with caffeine might effect the nervous system long-term, but my racing heart might be a clue.