CAFFEINE

What This Book Covers

1. Prologue
2. Chapter One - The First High
3. Chapter Two - The Prophet’s Brew
4. Chapter Three - Tea, Empire, and the British Buzz
5. Chapter Four - America’s Switch to Coffee
6. Chapter Five - Caffeine and the Industrial Body
7. Chapter Six - Coca-Cola, Capitalism, and Addiction
8. Chapter Seven - The Rise of Energy Drinks
9. Chapter Eight - Supplements, Pre-Workout, and the Cult of Pump
10. Chapter Nine - Sleep Debt and the Circadian Scam
11. Chapter Ten - Withdrawal, Tolerance, and the Myth of Control
12. Chapter Eleven - Kids, Candy, and Microdosing the Next Generation
13. Chapter Twelve - Anxiety, Focus, and the Mental Health Tax
14. Chapter Thirteen - Coffee as Identity
15. Chapter Fourteen - The Decaf Lie
16. Chapter Fifteen - Global Trade and Blood Beans
17. Chapter Sixteen - The Future Without Sleep
18. Epilogue

Excerpt

PROLOGUE IT DOESN’T COME in a needle. It doesn’t come in a baggie. It comes in a mug. Steam curls up. You take a sip. You call it “morning.” But that right there? That’s your fix. Caffeine is a drug. Not metaphorically. Not loosely. Legally. Medically. Pharmacologically. It alters your brain chemistry. It has a half-life. It creates dependency. It hijacks your adenosine receptors like a lockpick. You get a little boost. Then a crash. Then another hit. Then another day. But nobody treats it like heroin. Nobody talks about it like meth. It’s not even in the same conversation. Because caffeine got the best PR team in history: moms, offices, cafés, grandmas, the Pope. It’s not a drug, it’s...