A Times Herald-Record reporter in Middletown, New York, gives an account of drinking Shock Coffee for the first time
I didn't discover coffee till I was in my late 20s, when I met my husband. My parents were never big coffee drinkers, although a pot was always perking each morning.
And when I went off to college, well, coffee was something that I couldn't afford. Besides, isn't it something to be savored in the morning? If I'm rolling out of bed late for 8:30 a.m. chem lab, I'm not thinking steaming hot cup of brew. I'm thinking, can I make it across campus in my pajamas and not freeze?
All that changed when I met my husband, a coffee drinker from way back. Coffee, to him, was a necessity. An integral part of the morning experience.
He got me hooked.
To the point where today I support a three-cup-a-morning habit with a Dunkin' Donuts refresher around 2. And that's besides the four drip coffeemakers scattered around the newsroom. Gevalia, anyone? So, when I got a news release from Shock coffee, "a unique, hypercaffeinated coffee containing more than 50 percent more caffeine than traditional coffees," I was intrigued.
Sure, I'd try it out, I told spokesman Adam Mazur.
So, he sent me a lot: ground coffee, cans of iced Shock Latte and Shock Mocha drinks, coffee bean candy Shock-a-Lots.
I figured I'd get my husband and a coffeephile co-worker in the office to try it out. See if it lived up to its catch phrase of "Sleep is overrated."
And the verdict is in: It's pretty good stuff.
Now, it didn't send me or my co-worker into waves of hyperactivity – and she's a constant drinker of steaming hot black coffee. We both liked the fact that it has a distinct taste, a bit bitter. None of that froufrou sugar sweetness. You know you're drinking coffee.
My husband, on the other hand, did call me the morning of our first pot to stay that he was definitely zipping. I can only imagine his commute to Jersey.
The company says Shock is made of selected beans "carefully blended over a long testing period with their roast specifications a tightly guarded secret."
Take that, Starbucks.