A coffee is perfect to get you going in the morning or to come back to life after a heavy meal. But on the long run, it doesn’t help much.
At least for me. Synthetic energy drinks tend to mess up my stomach more than they help and I don’t really like their taste too much. So if I need a serious yet natural power-up, I rely on Guarana.
Same same but different.
In fact, the stuff that gets you awake is the same as in coffee, tea, mate and around 50 more plants: Caffeine. Despite the myths that go round, Guarana doesn’t contain some magical stuff. The difference lies in the other ingredients. Different tannins slow down the absorption of Caffeine in your blood. Unlike the coffee-flash that comes fast and fades away after some 20 minutes, Guarana needs about the same amount of time to start working in your body and lasts much, much longer.
In addition, lots of health benefits have been studied, such as mitigation of headaches (here’s your hangover-cure!), a lesser risk for Thrombosis and slower cell aging.
What Caffeine actually does in your body.
Technically, Caffeine blocks the Adenosine receptors in your central nervous system. Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that is being released from nerve cells that are working and therefore using energy. The harder they work, the higher the concentration gets. As more receptors are blocked with adenosine, the pace of the nerve cells slows down and you start to feel tired. Caffeine is an Adenosine lookalike and is able to block those receptors without signaling the cells to slow down. You feel fit even though the Adenosine concentration is high.
In fact, Guarana is very, very untasty.
By its very nature, Guarana doesn’t seem to be meant for human consumption. The tannins give it a very bitter taste. To cope with, the powder – it’s primary form – needs to be mixed with stuff that camouflages the bitterness. It’s an easy guess that everything sweet helps.
A long history.
Guarana is a climbing plant that thrives in the rain forests of South America. The part of the Guarana plant that contains the Caffeine are the seeds and they have been used by the Indios of the Amazon for hundreds of years as medicine and elixir vitae. Today, Guarana is grown in Brazil, Venezuela and Paraguay. The dried seeds get grinded and then processed into beverages, chocolate and other products that contain Guarana.
The way I like it.
Besides the powder that I use for smoothies sometimes, SuddenRush Guarana shots is my choice. They are very handy and easy to carry with you. One dose in each shot, I can sip whenever I need a power-up. Be it during long drives at night, a surf-session in challenging waves or when I need to get my brain a little more crisp during a hard day of work. It really helps if I am in need for some performance upgrade.
They come in different tastes and concentrations, of which I like the caramel one most in terms of taste and the black, strong one for the impact.
It’s good for the atlantic rainforest.
In addition, the atlantic rainforest benefits as well from your consumption. With 93% deforested to date, this unique ecosystem is close to being extinct, including all the endemic plants and animals of which we don’t even know yet. Sudden Rush supports the “Atlantic Rainforest Foundation” which purpose is to protect the atlantic rainforest in Brazil by actually buying as much of it as they can. Sudden Rush donates a part of it’s profits to the foundation and you can support them, too.
The perfect Christmas gift.
With a few simple steps you can register and buy rainforest on your own online. I own 2 square meters and if you go through the list, you will find prominent names like Terje Hakoonsen and Nicolas Müller. How many times did you think something should be done for the environment? How often did you actually do something? With Christmas on the doorstep, why not buying a piece of earth’s lung as a gift for your loved ones? Without any doubt it’s a special gift and as a side effect, it helps preserve one of nature’s most unique ecosystems and thus gives you some peace of mind.
