Sprayable Energy is a patent-pending invention that allows people to get all the energy benefits of caffeine without the dreaded coffee aftertaste. The spray is absorbed through the skin and distributed through the body over a period of several hours, giving the user a long-lasting caffeine buzz.
21-year-old Ben Yu and his partner Deven Soni have recently launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo for an innovative product called Sprayable Energy. The small plastic can contains an unscented, colorless formula that gives users that much needed boost of energy without the jitters and sudden caffeine crash. “Coffee didn’t work for me,” Yu told Inc.com. “When I ingest it, it’s like roller coaster ride of energy.” He decided to work on an alternative to the popular beverage in October 2012, while trying to get a degree in biochemistry. He started researching how nicotine patches worked, and like any young inventor, used himself as a test-subject for his experiments. His father, who holds a PhD in chemistry, also helped out, and after a lot of hard work, Ben came up with a special formula containing water, a derivative of the amino acid tyrosine, and caffeine that could be sprayed on the skin and offer the same energy buzz of coffee without the nasty taste and side-effects. Now all they needed was an extra $15,000 to develop the product line.
Sprayable Energy is meant to be applied on the neck, wrists or wherever else someone might spray a fragrance. Each dose contains less caffeine than a normal cup of coffee, but packs the same amount of energy because, as Ben and Deven explain, “the product, not being ingested, isn’t almost entirely metabolized by the liver before entering your system and becoming available to your body. Thus, a smaller amount of caffeine can have just the same effect as a very large amount of caffeine ingested through an energy drink or cup of coffee.” Two sprays on each side of the neck equal one cup of coffee, and the maximum number of sprays recommended is five within five hours, or 20 sprays per day. If you’re wondering about the product’s safety, Yu says there is no cause for concern. First of all, a spray can easily be wiped off before it is absorbed into the skin, and even if you were to spray yourself a thousand times, the saturation effect would prevent an overdose.
The funding campaign for Sprayable Energy has already crossed the required $15,000 mark, and Ben told Businessweek they hope to make it available by the end of October. Each bottle will contain 40 doses and is expected to retail at $15. But don’t throw away your coffee supplies just yet. Sprayable Energy has yet to be approved by the FDA, and they have a history of rejecting caffeine-based products.
But does Sprayable Energy really work? I have yet to try it myself, but Fast Company’s Anya Kamenetz tried throughout her workday and reported that every dose took between two and seven minutes to take effect, making her feel “like I drank my coffee very, very quickly”.