This Calculator Tells You How Much Coffee You Need (And When To Drink It)

Reshot/Lesha

Finding the ideal amount of caffeine for your body can be a challenging thing. Too little, and you nod off in your morning meeting. Too much, and you’re so jittery you think you’re going to have a panic attack at any moment. That’s why we got so excited when we first found out that researchers with the U.S. Army designed a calculator to help us find our perfect daily caffeine dose. And now that the calculator is officially live on its own website for us to use whenever we need it, we’re jumping for joy.

Meet the Coffee Kick Calculator, which is based on a full decade of research. First, it takes into account how long you’ve slept, what time you woke up and what you’re trying to achieve with your caffeine intake: alertness, reaction speed or response time. Then it calculates the optimal time at which you should drink your first caffeinated beverage of the day and, depending on your inputs, when you should have boost number two. You can even specify which caffeine source you prefer to get the most accurate reading on when you’ll arrive at your peak performance and how your energy will ebb and flow for the rest of the day.

Unsplash/Joshua Ness

When we used the calculator, we said we slept seven hours (not too shabby), we woke up at 6:30 a.m. (fitting in a morning sweat session before work) and were focused on the alertness benefits caffeine provides (because we expended all of our energy before going to work). We also selected filter coffee because we’ve been brewing at home to keep an eye on that latte budget. So by sipping that first cup at 8:30 a.m., which is when our alertness dips the lowest, our alertness peaks at 9:31 a.m., right as the workday begins. Who’s ready for the most productive morning ever? Clearly, we are!

And things get even more interesting if you’re someone who opts for that afternoon pick-me-up as well (AKA us when we’ve slept less than six hours in a given night). The graph that populates below all of your inputs reveals exactly what to expect of your energy levels and how caffeine will impact them from the moment you wake up until the point at which you decide to call it a night. Seriously, this tool is gold.

Curious about your ideal caffeine consumption (and how to time it perfectly during your day)? Check out the calculator for yourself and see how much it can help you optimize your daily flow.

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