Coffee—No Longer Just a Beverage; Ski-Through Coffee--Now on the Slopes

Inhalable Coffee

Suppose you’re in a rush in the morning and have no time to down a whole cup of coffee to get that wake-up jolt you need.  Consider switching to coffee you can sniff. A product called AeroShot is a new, instant way to get a coffee kick.

 One canister of this inhalable coffee product contains 100 mg. of caffeine powder—about as much caffeine as a large cup of coffee. Each container has up to 6 puffs.

For the past few months, AeroShot has been on the market as a dietary supplement in both New York and Massachusetts.  (Those urban Easterners are always the trend-setters, aren’t they?)  Will it travel further or be taken off the market?  Time will tell. The FDA is considering these questions:  Is this a safe product, or another dangerous item that teen-agers overdose on?  Is it proper to classify AeroShot as a dietary supplement?

According to Fox News, U.S. regulators warned the maker of AeroShot Pure Energy about false or misleading labeling and contradictory statements about using the product with alcohol. Also, the Food and Drug Administration said Breathable Foods Inc. labeled AeroShot as both inhaled and ingestible, which could be unsafe.

About the size of a tube of lipstick, Aeroshot has a recommended sale price of $2.99. It is sold in convenience and liquor stores as well as online. It’s also available in France.

Its inventor, biomedical engineering professor David Edwards, says the product is safe and contains no taurine or other additives commonly used to enhance the caffeine effect, as did the much-maligned energy drinks that proved to be a danger to college kids.

New York’s senator Charles Schumer has publicly raised questions about AeroShot’s safety because he fears that young people will use it to keep going until they drop.

AeroShot is produced by Breathable Foods, a Cambridge, Massachusetts company.

If you dig breathable products, you might want to try Le Whif (breathable chocolate) or a product now in development called Le Whaf (which puts food and drinks in glass bowls and turns them into low-calorie clouds of flavor).

Ski-Through Starbucks

Reported in the Chicago Tribune: in February, Starbucks opened its first ski-through facility at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California.  Here, customers can ski up to the order window and ski away with their drink in hand, clinging to both poles with the other hand, we assume. 

Starbucks makes the following claim: “Nowhere else in the world can skiers and riders enjoy a delicious Starbucks coffee without missing a beat on the slopes.”  But just imagine all those coffee stains on the slopes. 

Source(s):

Time Nation section “And Now a Caffeine Inhaler?”  March 5, 2012.

Fox News “FDA to review inhalable caffeine”

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/20/fda-to-review-inhalable-caffeine/

Foxnews.com “FDA warns breathable caffeine maker over label”

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/07/fda-warns-breathable-caffeine-maker-over-label/

Chicago Tribune, February 28, 2012.