better living through chemistry

[rone]

From Bawls' page on guaraná:

The Guarana berry contains a naturally-occurring form of caffeine which is 2.5 times stronger than the caffeine found in coffee, tea, and soft drinks.

How is one form of caffeine 2.5 times stronger than another form of caffeine?

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

It is possible that in addition to caffeine, there is some other substance in guarana that also produces an effect, since it 'feels' different than coffee. Same goes for mate.

Boy, that sure nails it down for me...

[huaman.livejournal.com]

Mate de que, I wonder?

I'll ask my mother, the ethnobotanist specializing in usage and taxonomy of South American plants... but I do have a vague recollection that guarana' (grrr charset) did indeed contain non-caffeine stuff that was also categorized as a stimulant. Not that I have any recollection what, mind you.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yerba mate, i'm guessing. Kim brought some along on our Ecuador trip and it sure helped with the soroche (that's "altitude sickness" to you Anglos).

And you want á up there.