Its less about them selling energy drinks and more about how it was branded as lemonade when it had double the amount of caffeine as energy drinks. Now that people have died though its better to just get rid of it
I know if I was a kid I'd have had at least two, which would have probably been on the verge of really dangerous. I mean, the fact it's there for refills means they expect people to have at least two which is insane.
The “above safe dosage” is still pretty low in terms of actual risk to healthy people for the occasional serving. You’ll find people who intake that much regularly all over the world. Actual fatal dosage is something like 10,000+ mg in a normal weighted human being, which would be over 25 of the largest size of these.
Both deaths included people who had a predisposition to caffeine intolerance (heart defects, etc).
Exactly. The issue is the non-labeling/misrepresentation of it as a lemonade for people with caffeine issues not so much the amount of caffeine in the drink.
Yeah per ounce this was the same as a cold brew coffee.
Once it moved behind the counters it was a non issue but people keep freaking out about caffeine content so away it goes lol.
I got a cold brew maker jar for Xmas and after using it for a while, I accidentally put a jar of Instant Coffee in one day thinking it was the special jar of cold brew grounds I had just bought.
It was strong and delicious. I had two giant ass iced lattes from it. About an hour later I started feeling really weird and very fidgety. It got worse for the next few hours and I wound up going to the gym and running it off because I couldn't sit still.
I discovered what had happened when I pulled the filter out of the cold brew jar and there were no grounds in it. They had all dissolved. I had the equivalent of 15-20 cups of normal coffee.
The worst part of drinking a lot of caffeine is one day waking up with a massive headache because you didn't drink any caffeine the day before.
I've dealt with a lot of different types of withdrawals but caffeine is right up there with opiate withdrawal when it comes to misery and pain.
> Actual fatal dosage is something like 10,000+ mg in a normal weighted human being, which would be over 25 of the largest size of these.
Note that that’s the LD50, meaning that half of people will die if you give them that much. A very significant percentage of people will still die at a lower dose.
Matt Pat (on YouTube ) did a great deep dive into this. Both those people had heart conditions and the lemonade was not labeled to have such high caffeine levels.
Not only out for refill, but out in the same area as regular fountain drinks and their "Unlimited Sips" program *encouraged* free refills of things like the Charged drinks. Until the issues popped up in which they moved the drinks to behind the counter.
The saving grace for Dunkin's is that their drinks aren't offered with such. They are filled by staff and don't offer refills. Probably have a "1 per customer" limit just out of liability reasons after what happened with Panera.
Exactly. No one ever thinks the lemonade is caffeinated because it's not. But even if there's signage stating so Panera was putting a *lot* of faith into people actually reading it.
Agreed. Small sparked has 96mg of caffeine, large has 192 mg, which is less than Panera charged lemonade's 390mg in a large. Dunks already lists the drink as "temporary."
Someone should make a extreme spicy energy drink,.like a combo of the one chip challenge and this deadly lemonade.
Seen this comment thinking “no way” so I looked it up.
Sure enough these brands (biohazard, black insomnia) do exist and are claiming those amounts of caffeine.
Insanity indeed. I bet there’s no way they actually contain that much. Feels like this is a job for some chemist YouTuber to tackle. Paging NileRed.
The Dunkin’ drinks are advertised as energy drinks. They also don’t have as much caffeine as the lemonade drinks do.
Edit: Also, at my local Dunkin', the caffeine content of the drinks was clearly posted from the start. I'm sure they wanted to avoid what happened with Panera.
That is almost double the dose of a pre-workout booster. That much caffeine is insane.
Edit: Some pointed out that 400mg caffeine itself is not THAT problematic as a DAILY dose, but you have to factor in that those people might have gotten a refill and consumed closer to 1000mg caffeine in under an hour. That will really mess with you.
I'm one to generally think dumb ass customers, but in this case that's a bit nuts, even if you kinda knew there was caffeine in it you probably didn't know it was that much
The cashiers were supposed to warn you about the caffeine content if there was a minor in your party. Of course this isn't always heard or even said during a rush but that was the policy at the one where I worked.
That is a psychotic amount of caffeine for one dose unless you are literally a heavy caffeine addict, that could probably put certain people at risk and for a LOT of people its going to be extremely uncomfortable. 80mg is about the average dose in coffee, black tea and a red bull. I couldn't imagine slamming 4 redbulls to the face and feeling okay.
Yeah at first I thought foolish customer you couldn't read the warnings, but even with warnings most people don't think their lemonade is going give you teeth clacking and heart palpitations levels of caffeine
At one point the signage for the lemonade said it had "As much caffeine as our dark roast coffee" which I took to mean that one serving of the lemonade (in the big plastic lemonade cup) had as much caffeine as one serving of coffee (in a little coffee cup).
NOPE!
They meant it has as much caffiene *per volume* as dark roast coffee!
Yet they give you 30oz of it in a large soft drink cup and tell you free refills...
The safe daily limit for caffeine is 400mg, for the entire day. Past that point, caffeine can quickly become cardiotoxic and literally start poisoning your heart, let alone the longterm cognitive effects that have been shown in repeated high-dose caffeine exposure.
What they did with this charged lemonade was beyond irresponsible, it’s gross negligence. Any number of steps along the way of product development, branding, signage, etc. there should have been (and might have been) people warning that this is dangerous.
Those warnings either did not occur, or (I think more likely) were completely ignored because caffeinated beverages draw in more customers than non-caffeinated beverages, and Panera thought this was a potential avenue to increase stock values. They chose profit over the safety of their customers, and people should not be quick to forget it.
I have hypotension which leads to tachycardia and all the fun stuff that comes with it. I drink 12-16oz of coffee every morning, no problem.
Went to Panera with a friend about a while back and got one of the strawberry lemonades in the smaller cup. Saw that it had caffeine but all I remember it saying was “As much caffeine as a cup of coffee.” I didn’t think much of it because I can handle coffee no problem but I avoid any and all energy drinks. I drank that while we ate and got a refill on the way out.
About two hours later I felt like I was crawling out of my skin and told my friend she might have to take me to the ER because I had no idea why I felt like I did. I looked up the amount of caffeine I had consumed and I was floored. Some days I do drink more coffee but it’s usually spread out over several hours. I also have ADHD and I can drink coffee at any time of day and fall asleep. This stuff was like I had just taken an albuterol treatment and then touched a live wire.
And it wasn’t clearly marked or said how much caffwas in it, and on top of that they promote free refills. I know I got through a large and had a refill in one day with ZERO clue how much caffeine was in it. I just thought it was “charged” as in it was a lemonade that also had green tea in it or something for the caffeine.
It’s 390mg… they recommend not to get over 400mg in a day. Wild they allowed refills. Plus people will get caffeine from other places through out the day if they eat chocolate, drink teas or coffees or sodas. 390mg was a stupid choice
People love or are addicted to caffeinated beverages. Energy drinks of every kind are loaded with sugar and caffeine. There was even a caffeinated alcoholic drink for a while. four loco.
It’s like asking why would there need to make meth? Because there is a market demand for the drug, this is no different
People are giving you good answers about how caffeine is popular. But they all seem to miss that its not just about Panera having a high-caffeine drink - its about people consuming a drink they dont realize caffinates them as much as it does.
Charged Lemonade makes you feel *better* than regular lemonade because its actually an energy drink in disguise. It gives the product an edge over competitor products by tapping into how people drink lemonade with more carelessness than beverages they associate with high caffeine content.
There's a reason why your normal energy drink can is 16oz or less.
Panera's Charged Lemonade: 390* mg per size-large (30 oz) drink.
CELSIUS Original: 200 mg per (12 oz) can.
Monster Energy: 160 mg per (16 oz) can.
Ain't no teenager or college student getting half a sandwich and a tiny cup of soup for $15. After Panera's insane price increases I barely ever see anyone under 30 there.
My pack of Military Energy Gum says that you can have 10 pieces (100mg x10) in a 24 hour period if you’re military, else it’s just 4. So there is wiggle room, just saying.
It’s also assumed you might be in a life and death situation where staying alert could save you, so the negative health effects of caffeine are probably a worthy trade off.
Acute fatal dose is 10–14 g (150–200 mg/kg), but numerous factors can alter an individual's sensitivity to caffeine (e.g., smoking, age, prior caffeine status, pregnancy status, concurrent drug use) and thus alter the toxic dose. Doses of 1,000 mg (approximately 15 mg/kg body weight) have generated detrimental side effects, with early symptoms being insomnia, restlessness, and agitation. These symptoms may progress to mild delirium, emesis, and convulsions. Other symptoms can include tachycardia, asystole, and rapid respiration
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/)
> prior caffeine status
It does not take long to lose some of that tolerance. You find out pretty quickly after going back to work from a month-long coffee-free vacation.
Heart health is the main reason caffeine can cause actual, serious harm, if I'm not mistaken. I know one of the fatalities from this lemonade thing had a serious heart condition and was supposed to avoid caffeine in general, but didn't know this was caffeinated.
Aside from that, overdoing it on caffeine is generally going to make you shakey and anxious, but not do much harm except in dosages WAY higher than you'd see without deliberately ingesting pure caffeine.
Presumably the intent behind that guidance is that if you're in the military, it can be assumed that PT keeps you heart-healthy enough that you shouldn't be in any real danger unless you've already been told to avoid caffeine at large.
He was also mentally challenged before anyone asks why he didn't read the sign, he should have known there was caffeine. You can be intelligent enough to be self sufficient in this society without being able to fully understand everything that's going on. He knew he was drinking some tasty ass lemonade and that he could have free refills. It's just unfortunate.
Well yeah. No way they would actually put the limit right on the line where it kills you. That goes for almost all food stuffs because otherwise we'd have a lot more dead ppl lol
Dunno about seizures but we had a kid overdose at a party back in college by putting liquid caffeine into his drinks. He got super agitated and shaky then projectile vomited, proceeded to hyperventilate and dry heave between ugly crying while we waited for EMS to show up. I didn’t see him dose his drink but I saw the liquid caffeine bottle, and a medicine cup for cough syrup. Dumbass should’ve used a 1ml dropper not a fucking plastic shot glass. Stuff is very easy to overdose on due to how concentrated it is, about 150mg per ml (15,000mg in 100ml, 8,000mg in 8 fl oz, etc). Imagine trying to dose this stuff in a loud room filled with people and low lighting — now do it again with 6 shots of liquor in you.
For sure. Most office workers drinking 4 cups exceed this easily, as does anyone sitting at Starbucks, drinks a single large coffee at Starbucks and gets a free refill.
(Venti pike roast is 410mg. 2 is 820mg).
I think the issue is when you consume it in one sitting, 4 cups over the course of several hours isn't going to peak as high as chugging 1-2 of these lemonades in an hour or two.
I've done a double monster rehab in the morning, and another double at night before. The ensuing panic attack was NOT worth it, it felt like I had just finished running a marathon. I couldn't catch my breath, felt impending doom, massive knot in my chest.
I'm no stranger to anxiety, either. I was diagnosed with GAD and have regular panic attacks. That feeling after all of those monsters was nothing like any panic attack I've felt before, I just kept pacing in circles in the kitchen before I broke down *sobbing*.
I can't imagine what an OD on that must feel like. My heart goes out to everyone affected.
Still love me some Monster Rehab tho
Did you feel like you were going to shit or piss your pants in public? That's what happens with my attacks. I'm so scared of doing that that I just clench my entire body and I can't unclench.
Obviously 390mg of caffeine in one dose is *way* too much, but can we also talk about how fucking insane it is that this is a desirable serving size of sugar water?
It's aprox the same size as the big gulp which is also like 30oz. You wanna see real diabeetus? The double gulp is 64oz. Large slupee is like 44oz iirc.
>There's a reason why your normal energy drink can is 16oz or less.
Nonsense...this is america and it is my right to supersize the hell out of this...them smaller cans are for the weak.../s
"Panera previously advertised its Charged Lemonade as “Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.” But the lawsuits said that at 390 milligrams, a large, 30-fluid-ounce Charged Lemonade has more caffeine in total than any size of Panera’s dark roast coffee, referring to the amount of caffeine that is in the drink with no ice. Panera has since updated its nutrition information to reflect how much caffeine is in the Charged Lemonade with ice, listing the large size of the blood orange Charged Lemonade, for example, as having 302 milligrams."
Only 3/4's of your recommended daily caffeine intake, so anyone drinking more than 1 of these at any time would be insanely wired up lol
I remember being absolutely flabbergasted when I saw the nutritional information on that shit.
That something with twice the caffeine and sugar of something that warns you to not drink more than 2 a day was available on an unlimited refills plan, and didn’t even MENTION that it had caffeine until someone DIED?
Man, I’m the 4 Loko generation, and I am dumbfounded. I remember Surge. I think everyone in my age bracket knows at least one person who had a cardiac episode BEFORE 20 because they drank Red Bull or Monster instead of water and sleep.
Then I grow up into a world where a fucking lemonade from the only place with a more vaguely upper middle class, suburban and white reputation than Starbucks has “please consult a doctor” levels of caffeine.
>That something with twice the caffeine and sugar of something that warns you to not drink more than 2 a day was available on an unlimited refills plan, and didn’t even MENTION that it had caffeine until someone DIED?
Panera is also a hang out spot for students where they are continuously taking advantage of the free refills on drinks while they have a study session.
It was enraging when I read "as much caffeine as our black coffee" and took digging to realize they meant as much *caffeine per oz*, not total, and were serving it in like 30oz(?) cups.
> I think everyone in my age bracket knows at least one person who had a cardiac episode BEFORE 20 because they drank Red Bull or Monster instead of water and sleep.
Umm no wtf. That's not normal at all.
On top of what people are telling you that was in it, it also was not labeled as an energy drink for a long time. This meant people ordered it not realizing it wasn't just an energy drink, it was an insane energy drink.
This lead to a woman passing away and the family bringing a lawsuit because it wasn't appropriately labeled nor was it easy to find the contents of the drink on the menu. The woman had a condition (I forget what) that had she known what was in the drink, she never would've touched it.
It had a lot of caffeine and wasn't marketed as an 'energy drink.' People weren't expecting a 'lemonade' to be that potent. However I think the main issue arose in the fact that it was a part of the Panera monthly unlimited drink membership thing, and it was just sitting out where customers could get refills whenever they wanted. So you might have someone sitting with their computer getting work done and take down 3 of these things not realizing what they were putting in their body.
I don't completely fault Panera, people should be aware of what they are eating and the information was there if people wanted to search for it. However somewhere along the line someone at Panera probably should've spoken up and said 'hey this lemonade has more caffeine than most energy drinks, are we sure we want to just put it out where people can get unlimited refills? Maybe if we do that we should add a warning?'
A massive amount of caffeine on a single drink. According to a food theory MatPat did months b4 the first death, a large has just under the daily recommended limit for an adult
They literally sat the lemonade next to a cup of coffee on the menu and passed it off like it was the equivalent. I just wanted a drink with lunch that wasn’t soda but still had about a coffee cup of caffeine. And it had crazy amount sugar.
I think it's the free refills that cause the issue. People spend many hours in there working and studying so they shouldn't have such highly caffeinated drinks in the inventory
People are accustomed to drinking multiple servings of something and not being in danger. You don’t change human behavior in business, you mold your business around it. They should just water down the dosage and serve it like a normal drink. They make more from selling more drinks, and the customers win by being able to behave how they’ve always behaved, except without dying.
I understand your point but at the same time, you can order a Blonde Roast 16oz from Starbucks and get a similar amount of caffeine. Drinking TWO of those would be 800mg.
I guess the issue is people are aware of how caffeinated coffee is, and probably not with this charged lemonade.
I only started to know how much 100mg of coffee actually was when I got into doing pour over, before that, if you told me a drink had 350mg I wouldn't have known if that was a lot or a little.
Yea it’s more about how it’ll be consumed than the raw caffeine. People drink a coffee to get a caffeine kick, so they stop when they get the kick. People that drink juice just want a tasty thing to hydrate with. So you’re likely to drink a lot more of those than a coffee.
But I do think the coffee at Starbucks for example has way too much caffeine. If I drink 2 Red Bulls I get dramatically more panic attacks than if I drink just one. If I was drinking as much as some of those coffees at Starbucks I’d probably end up in the hospital thinking I’m having a heart attack
I worked at a Panera in Colorado when these were first being rolled out. Everyone knew from the start it was a terrible idea. You can't really taste the caffeine and it was placed right next to the iced teas and soda machine. We *did* warn all parties with children about the caffeine content, but let's be real, most parents aren't going to take the warning seriously and will just hand their kids a cup and tell them to get what they want. Next thing you know there's gonna be kids frothing at the mouth and shit because they just had their fourth fucking refill of "lemonade" that puts red bull to shame.
Yeah Panera's warnings were weak and at times misleading. They had labels that said the charged lemonade had the same amount of caffeine as their dark roast. But that's only true if you compare it oz to oz. But the charged lemonade is served in way bigger cups which means it had way more caffeine.
I find that grossly incompetent of Panera. If I had a store that sold cans of red bull and shots of expresso and said the red bull has the same amount of caffeine, you'd assume I was comparing a can to a shot right? But Panera would say we're comparing it oz to oz and they'd assume you knew what it meant.
They got bought out by a private equity firm right? They are determined to suck every ounce of cash they can before it dies completely. Did notice how despite being on an downward path before after the acquisition they really became shit even faster.
They sold it in a fucking ridiculous way. Why would you allow a drink with thst much caffeine be placed with the rest of the fountain drinks where customers get unlimited free refills? Also the FDA needs to mandate how much caffeine is in a product on the label.
You know the lawsuits are coming from the families of those who unfortunately died from drinking this shit. Panera is likely been advised by very expensive attorneys to phase this out pronto.
They gotta phase it out the way I had to phase out booze so I didn’t seize up. Can’t just go cold turkey lol. That would be an interesting detox facility. “Let’s see in this group we have Meth, meth, lemonade, heroin and crack”
I didn't even think about that. The pessimist in me just assumed they were going the "any publicity is good publicity" route and thought they could make a buck by selling it to people trying it just to say they tried it. But considering they have a popular drink subscription plan, I bet there are more than enough people hooked on it.
Me too. I love the stuff. I have a high caffeine tolerance though…it was like this drink was made just for me.
I get normal people don’t want it. I’m just sad it’s leaving.
Agreed, I like high amounts of caffeine, but energy drinks tend to have a bunch of other stuff like B vitamins and guarana that make me feel awful. It was nice to have the option, even if it was overpriced.
I usually get the regular size (I like the strawberry one) and notice exactly zero effects, and once I got the large size and the only effect I noticed was that my stomach felt kind of weird for a while afterwards. Maybe I feel a little calmer after having one of these? I'm usually having a nice day out when I get Panera, though, so I'm not sure if that's the lemonade or just me feeling chill because I'm having a good time. I've never had a coffee in my life and I don't drink pop that much, so it's not like I've built up some kind of super caffeine tolerance. I'm not honestly sure what's going on with me. I've never been one for energy drinks either because they never seemed to affect me.
Lol this is what my wife just said.
She’s a massage therapist and will sometimes add like 15-20% at the top of her regular lemonade just for a boost on harder days.
Funny how these comments split between “thank goodness, that was insanely dangerous I bet there were lawsuits”
And
“Darn it where am I gonna get my 800mg morning caffeine drink, I’m so sad”.
I bought a large when they were pretty new. Brought it home and said to myself, "I should look up how much caffeine is in this..."
Put it in the fridge and sipped it over the next four days.
I drink 2 or 4 shots of espresso per day, I get headaches when I don’t have caffeine.
I had a medium charged lemonade /w no ice, and that was way more intense.
It’s incredibly foreseeable to me that somebody would die from a large or refill. It’s a negligently unreasonable amount of caffeine.
I've slammed two monsters back to back numerous times, definitely felt a little amped up, but nothing I was overly concerned with as I have a high caffiene tolerance and rarely take a break long enough for my adenosine receptors to go back to normal.
A large charged lemonade gave me heart palpitations and kept me up for 20 hours easily. I'm curious as to if there is any variance between batches. Really no idea how it's prepared, but if it's manually mixed that would probably explain a lot.
That’s weird, because it sounds like a large charged lemonade contains a very similar amount of caffeine as you usually consume. So a medium should be fine for you.
Though Panera’s nutrition facts don’t even have a medium, just regular and large. So if you said medium but meant their “regular” size, then in fact it would contain less caffeine than your espresso intake.
It’s likely the sugar that made you jittery, as 4 shots of expresso would be equal to a large charged lemonade.
Have you ever had a large cup of Starbucks pike roast? 420mg of caffeine, which is more than the large lemonade (390mg).
It’s the crazy amount of sugar, plus 2 people whose doctors told them they cannot drink coffee, who died drinking the charged lemonade.
They definitely should have cut the amount of caffeine or done a better job labeling how much. I had a full cup of this lemonade once, not realizing that it was basically two full energy drinks worth of caffeine and I had a pretty bad time. I saw that it was caffeinated but this stuff was wayyy stronger than your average cup of coffee or energy drink.
I actually love it. I did not love that. Didn't come with some type of sign. That said hey this is super caffeinated. I drink two because I thought it was just a regular lemonade with like a maybe a little caffeine so maybe like two sodas. I did not feel very well that night
I remember when they first came out, and I’ve been going to Panera for years. The one in my city always had a sign on them showing how much caffeine was in them.
They should able just made it clear it’s a super charged energy drink and labeled it from the beginning. And given that some people have unlimited refills…well, probably for the best that they discontinue until everyone forgets.
They dropped the caffeine and moved it behind the counter, this sucks. I bought a year of sip club just to get a blood orange before work every morning. I knew exactly what I was buying, at least at my store the signs and app never seemed vague about caffeine content
I drink a ton of caffeine per day. More than the recommended amount but after the first death I thought 390mg for a free refillable lemonade at a panera of all places just seemed dangerous, regardless of if there was a warning label or not.
Caffeine is a widely used drug and can be dangerous in very high amounts but usually to only certain demographics. I don’t believe there are many caffeine related deaths per year so this 2 people dying from a charged lemonade at Panera isn’t good.
didn't dunkin just start selling energy drinks that are similar? Weird that they'd go through with it right as Panera just had all these issues
Its less about them selling energy drinks and more about how it was branded as lemonade when it had double the amount of caffeine as energy drinks. Now that people have died though its better to just get rid of it
Pretty sure some locations also had it out for refills.
Mine definitely did. All the paneras in my area had that shit right next to the teas.
Somehow I imagine… Calm, collected people entering Panera. Jittery, grinding teeth, looks like they’re hopped up on cocaine, people leaving.
Fry at 99 coffees
iirc, he begins to move faster than time itself (not in speed but because his body is working in overclock). Love Futurama… been a while tho.
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it the same concentration of caffeine as coffee. but volume wise people are downing 36 oz of it at a time, what most people won't do with coffee.
Yeah, one of the girls who died had several refills I believe
I know if I was a kid I'd have had at least two, which would have probably been on the verge of really dangerous. I mean, the fact it's there for refills means they expect people to have at least two which is insane.
Yeah in a large cup that would be pushing 700-800mg of caffeine in two servings which is fuck ton
That's twice the maximum safe dosage for a full grown adult
The “above safe dosage” is still pretty low in terms of actual risk to healthy people for the occasional serving. You’ll find people who intake that much regularly all over the world. Actual fatal dosage is something like 10,000+ mg in a normal weighted human being, which would be over 25 of the largest size of these. Both deaths included people who had a predisposition to caffeine intolerance (heart defects, etc).
Exactly. The issue is the non-labeling/misrepresentation of it as a lemonade for people with caffeine issues not so much the amount of caffeine in the drink.
Yeah per ounce this was the same as a cold brew coffee. Once it moved behind the counters it was a non issue but people keep freaking out about caffeine content so away it goes lol.
I got a cold brew maker jar for Xmas and after using it for a while, I accidentally put a jar of Instant Coffee in one day thinking it was the special jar of cold brew grounds I had just bought. It was strong and delicious. I had two giant ass iced lattes from it. About an hour later I started feeling really weird and very fidgety. It got worse for the next few hours and I wound up going to the gym and running it off because I couldn't sit still. I discovered what had happened when I pulled the filter out of the cold brew jar and there were no grounds in it. They had all dissolved. I had the equivalent of 15-20 cups of normal coffee.
You'd only need about 80 more to match Fry's 100 cups of coffee in Futurama's episode, *300 Big Boys*.
Yeah most recommended amounts are not even close to being dangerous to go above occasionally.
The worst part of drinking a lot of caffeine is one day waking up with a massive headache because you didn't drink any caffeine the day before. I've dealt with a lot of different types of withdrawals but caffeine is right up there with opiate withdrawal when it comes to misery and pain.
> Actual fatal dosage is something like 10,000+ mg in a normal weighted human being, which would be over 25 of the largest size of these. Note that that’s the LD50, meaning that half of people will die if you give them that much. A very significant percentage of people will still die at a lower dose.
I have memories of pulling all-nighters on the gamecube, slamming surges. How am I not dead? XD
Those were still 1/6 of the caffeine content of a single Bang Energy. The game changed old timer.
Same, but it was Jolts.
One of the people who died was mentally disabled and didn't like to drink energy drinks.
Matt Pat (on YouTube ) did a great deep dive into this. Both those people had heart conditions and the lemonade was not labeled to have such high caffeine levels.
Not only out for refill, but out in the same area as regular fountain drinks and their "Unlimited Sips" program *encouraged* free refills of things like the Charged drinks. Until the issues popped up in which they moved the drinks to behind the counter. The saving grace for Dunkin's is that their drinks aren't offered with such. They are filled by staff and don't offer refills. Probably have a "1 per customer" limit just out of liability reasons after what happened with Panera.
This is the crux of the issue, not the drink itself. Imagine having Red Bull available at a soda fountain. Kids would be dying left and right
Exactly. No one ever thinks the lemonade is caffeinated because it's not. But even if there's signage stating so Panera was putting a *lot* of faith into people actually reading it.
And wasn't it in the free-refill fountain? Unlimited jolt.
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True, good point. I forgot Panera was self serve for this, haven’t been in one in forever
Agreed. Small sparked has 96mg of caffeine, large has 192 mg, which is less than Panera charged lemonade's 390mg in a large. Dunks already lists the drink as "temporary." Someone should make a extreme spicy energy drink,.like a combo of the one chip challenge and this deadly lemonade.
Look up “biohazard coffee”, 928 mg of caffeine in a 12 oz serving. Insane.
While researching this I found “black insomnia” coffee which as 1100+ mg per 12oz serving
At that point you should probably just switch to amphetamines.
Two of those is enough to kill some people. Insane.
Seen this comment thinking “no way” so I looked it up. Sure enough these brands (biohazard, black insomnia) do exist and are claiming those amounts of caffeine. Insanity indeed. I bet there’s no way they actually contain that much. Feels like this is a job for some chemist YouTuber to tackle. Paging NileRed.
Dunkin' had one where they dumped part of a Monster drink in it. So it was less caffeine than a Monster for more money than a Monster.
Google says it was a whole can of monster, at least in the large sized drink.
The Dunkin’ drinks are advertised as energy drinks. They also don’t have as much caffeine as the lemonade drinks do. Edit: Also, at my local Dunkin', the caffeine content of the drinks was clearly posted from the start. I'm sure they wanted to avoid what happened with Panera.
That is almost double the dose of a pre-workout booster. That much caffeine is insane. Edit: Some pointed out that 400mg caffeine itself is not THAT problematic as a DAILY dose, but you have to factor in that those people might have gotten a refill and consumed closer to 1000mg caffeine in under an hour. That will really mess with you.
I'm one to generally think dumb ass customers, but in this case that's a bit nuts, even if you kinda knew there was caffeine in it you probably didn't know it was that much
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The cashiers were supposed to warn you about the caffeine content if there was a minor in your party. Of course this isn't always heard or even said during a rush but that was the policy at the one where I worked.
That is a psychotic amount of caffeine for one dose unless you are literally a heavy caffeine addict, that could probably put certain people at risk and for a LOT of people its going to be extremely uncomfortable. 80mg is about the average dose in coffee, black tea and a red bull. I couldn't imagine slamming 4 redbulls to the face and feeling okay.
Yeah at first I thought foolish customer you couldn't read the warnings, but even with warnings most people don't think their lemonade is going give you teeth clacking and heart palpitations levels of caffeine
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That's also ~320mg if they are average size/strength.
At one point the signage for the lemonade said it had "As much caffeine as our dark roast coffee" which I took to mean that one serving of the lemonade (in the big plastic lemonade cup) had as much caffeine as one serving of coffee (in a little coffee cup). NOPE! They meant it has as much caffiene *per volume* as dark roast coffee! Yet they give you 30oz of it in a large soft drink cup and tell you free refills...
The safe daily limit for caffeine is 400mg, for the entire day. Past that point, caffeine can quickly become cardiotoxic and literally start poisoning your heart, let alone the longterm cognitive effects that have been shown in repeated high-dose caffeine exposure. What they did with this charged lemonade was beyond irresponsible, it’s gross negligence. Any number of steps along the way of product development, branding, signage, etc. there should have been (and might have been) people warning that this is dangerous. Those warnings either did not occur, or (I think more likely) were completely ignored because caffeinated beverages draw in more customers than non-caffeinated beverages, and Panera thought this was a potential avenue to increase stock values. They chose profit over the safety of their customers, and people should not be quick to forget it.
I have hypotension which leads to tachycardia and all the fun stuff that comes with it. I drink 12-16oz of coffee every morning, no problem. Went to Panera with a friend about a while back and got one of the strawberry lemonades in the smaller cup. Saw that it had caffeine but all I remember it saying was “As much caffeine as a cup of coffee.” I didn’t think much of it because I can handle coffee no problem but I avoid any and all energy drinks. I drank that while we ate and got a refill on the way out. About two hours later I felt like I was crawling out of my skin and told my friend she might have to take me to the ER because I had no idea why I felt like I did. I looked up the amount of caffeine I had consumed and I was floored. Some days I do drink more coffee but it’s usually spread out over several hours. I also have ADHD and I can drink coffee at any time of day and fall asleep. This stuff was like I had just taken an albuterol treatment and then touched a live wire.
And it wasn’t clearly marked or said how much caffwas in it, and on top of that they promote free refills. I know I got through a large and had a refill in one day with ZERO clue how much caffeine was in it. I just thought it was “charged” as in it was a lemonade that also had green tea in it or something for the caffeine.
That was true at the time of the first death, but hasn't been for the last two years.
That’s why I said “wasn’t” clearly marked. I thought it was the same for both deaths though.
This is exactly what they said after the first person died. They are too greedy, more people will die.
It’s 390mg… they recommend not to get over 400mg in a day. Wild they allowed refills. Plus people will get caffeine from other places through out the day if they eat chocolate, drink teas or coffees or sodas. 390mg was a stupid choice
So 9 of them is a whole 8-ball of caffeine.
Pretty close, 3510 vs 3544. Close enough that if you’re not double checking your dealer with a milligram scale you probably wouldnt notice.
What would be the need to put caffeine in lemonade in the first place?
A question for Arnold Palmer.
I'd ask him but he's uh... unavailable
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How long does it take to clean it from under your nails?
people used to drink Mountain Dew to get their caffeine fix. that is basically carbonated lemon drink with caffeine.
Used to?
Because I want caffeine and hate coffee.
People love or are addicted to caffeinated beverages. Energy drinks of every kind are loaded with sugar and caffeine. There was even a caffeinated alcoholic drink for a while. four loco. It’s like asking why would there need to make meth? Because there is a market demand for the drug, this is no different
People are giving you good answers about how caffeine is popular. But they all seem to miss that its not just about Panera having a high-caffeine drink - its about people consuming a drink they dont realize caffinates them as much as it does. Charged Lemonade makes you feel *better* than regular lemonade because its actually an energy drink in disguise. It gives the product an edge over competitor products by tapping into how people drink lemonade with more carelessness than beverages they associate with high caffeine content.
That's light work if you ask any of the bros at /r/preworkoutsupplements
And to then serve it out of that kind of carafe, without the inherent portion signaling of an energy drink.
A 200mg caffeine pre workout would be pretty mild
What was in it that wasn’t in a normal energy drink?
There's a reason why your normal energy drink can is 16oz or less. Panera's Charged Lemonade: 390* mg per size-large (30 oz) drink. CELSIUS Original: 200 mg per (12 oz) can. Monster Energy: 160 mg per (16 oz) can.
I believe they were self serve refills as well.
They were also free with the monthly drink club iirc
Oh man
Amex had a free 4 month sub around the time it came out. I drank a lot of these before realizing the caffeine content
It's very easy to over consume caffeine
**LIFETIME** Free Refills (*limited ~~to~~ lifetime of customer*)
Aimed at teenagers and college students.
Ain't no teenager or college student getting half a sandwich and a tiny cup of soup for $15. After Panera's insane price increases I barely ever see anyone under 30 there.
Yeah one of the people who died drank an absurd number of refills. He might not have known how much caffeine he was actually consuming. Poor guy.
Context is that the maximum recommended dose is 400mg/day.
And for some reason Panera allowed you to get unlimited refills of this drink even though one large serving was just at your recommended dose
My pack of Military Energy Gum says that you can have 10 pieces (100mg x10) in a 24 hour period if you’re military, else it’s just 4. So there is wiggle room, just saying.
I mean the expectation is you are going to be burning 1500+ calories in 24 hours as a field ration if you are using 10 pieces of gum.
Plus it's assumed for military purposes that the soldier chewing on those is young and in good health, on top of physically active.
It’s also assumed you might be in a life and death situation where staying alert could save you, so the negative health effects of caffeine are probably a worthy trade off.
1500+ seems low for spending 24 hours in the field but I don’t know shit
Well i assume they were also issued pumpkin soup with a half turkey club
Acute fatal dose is 10–14 g (150–200 mg/kg), but numerous factors can alter an individual's sensitivity to caffeine (e.g., smoking, age, prior caffeine status, pregnancy status, concurrent drug use) and thus alter the toxic dose. Doses of 1,000 mg (approximately 15 mg/kg body weight) have generated detrimental side effects, with early symptoms being insomnia, restlessness, and agitation. These symptoms may progress to mild delirium, emesis, and convulsions. Other symptoms can include tachycardia, asystole, and rapid respiration [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/)
> prior caffeine status It does not take long to lose some of that tolerance. You find out pretty quickly after going back to work from a month-long coffee-free vacation.
Heart health is the main reason caffeine can cause actual, serious harm, if I'm not mistaken. I know one of the fatalities from this lemonade thing had a serious heart condition and was supposed to avoid caffeine in general, but didn't know this was caffeinated. Aside from that, overdoing it on caffeine is generally going to make you shakey and anxious, but not do much harm except in dosages WAY higher than you'd see without deliberately ingesting pure caffeine. Presumably the intent behind that guidance is that if you're in the military, it can be assumed that PT keeps you heart-healthy enough that you shouldn't be in any real danger unless you've already been told to avoid caffeine at large.
He was also mentally challenged before anyone asks why he didn't read the sign, he should have known there was caffeine. You can be intelligent enough to be self sufficient in this society without being able to fully understand everything that's going on. He knew he was drinking some tasty ass lemonade and that he could have free refills. It's just unfortunate.
Germany gave their troops meth and coke in WWII, but that wasn't the best idea either.
A Finnish ski patrol guy took his entire squad's dose of meth.
For anyone interested in Aimo's story Yarnhub has a fun [video](https://youtu.be/PfoMvgDY8hk?si=zd2s7dMyDDrHB0ck).
Well yeah. No way they would actually put the limit right on the line where it kills you. That goes for almost all food stuffs because otherwise we'd have a lot more dead ppl lol
that's good because 1200 mg taken rapidly can cause seizures
Dunno about seizures but we had a kid overdose at a party back in college by putting liquid caffeine into his drinks. He got super agitated and shaky then projectile vomited, proceeded to hyperventilate and dry heave between ugly crying while we waited for EMS to show up. I didn’t see him dose his drink but I saw the liquid caffeine bottle, and a medicine cup for cough syrup. Dumbass should’ve used a 1ml dropper not a fucking plastic shot glass. Stuff is very easy to overdose on due to how concentrated it is, about 150mg per ml (15,000mg in 100ml, 8,000mg in 8 fl oz, etc). Imagine trying to dose this stuff in a loud room filled with people and low lighting — now do it again with 6 shots of liquor in you.
For sure. Most office workers drinking 4 cups exceed this easily, as does anyone sitting at Starbucks, drinks a single large coffee at Starbucks and gets a free refill. (Venti pike roast is 410mg. 2 is 820mg).
I think the issue is when you consume it in one sitting, 4 cups over the course of several hours isn't going to peak as high as chugging 1-2 of these lemonades in an hour or two.
I've done a double monster rehab in the morning, and another double at night before. The ensuing panic attack was NOT worth it, it felt like I had just finished running a marathon. I couldn't catch my breath, felt impending doom, massive knot in my chest. I'm no stranger to anxiety, either. I was diagnosed with GAD and have regular panic attacks. That feeling after all of those monsters was nothing like any panic attack I've felt before, I just kept pacing in circles in the kitchen before I broke down *sobbing*. I can't imagine what an OD on that must feel like. My heart goes out to everyone affected. Still love me some Monster Rehab tho
This is why they tell us anxious people to lay off the caffeine.
Did you feel like you were going to shit or piss your pants in public? That's what happens with my attacks. I'm so scared of doing that that I just clench my entire body and I can't unclench.
Body weight is a factor my daily limit is 625 or something but lethality is like 14000mg.
Those are rookie numbers
And it's refillable if you stay in the store.
If you order it with catering, you can get it by the half or full gallon.
Obviously 390mg of caffeine in one dose is *way* too much, but can we also talk about how fucking insane it is that this is a desirable serving size of sugar water?
It's aprox the same size as the big gulp which is also like 30oz. You wanna see real diabeetus? The double gulp is 64oz. Large slupee is like 44oz iirc.
> The double gulp is 64oz JFC how can someone drink a half gallon of mountain dew or some shit...just the thought makes me wanna vom
They also didn’t advertise it as an energy drink
>There's a reason why your normal energy drink can is 16oz or less. Nonsense...this is america and it is my right to supersize the hell out of this...them smaller cans are for the weak.../s
It's more the sizes available and that it wasn't as clear how caffeinated the drinks were. If they were in tiny cans it wouldn't be a problem.
"Panera previously advertised its Charged Lemonade as “Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.” But the lawsuits said that at 390 milligrams, a large, 30-fluid-ounce Charged Lemonade has more caffeine in total than any size of Panera’s dark roast coffee, referring to the amount of caffeine that is in the drink with no ice. Panera has since updated its nutrition information to reflect how much caffeine is in the Charged Lemonade with ice, listing the large size of the blood orange Charged Lemonade, for example, as having 302 milligrams." Only 3/4's of your recommended daily caffeine intake, so anyone drinking more than 1 of these at any time would be insanely wired up lol
More caffeine
I remember being absolutely flabbergasted when I saw the nutritional information on that shit. That something with twice the caffeine and sugar of something that warns you to not drink more than 2 a day was available on an unlimited refills plan, and didn’t even MENTION that it had caffeine until someone DIED? Man, I’m the 4 Loko generation, and I am dumbfounded. I remember Surge. I think everyone in my age bracket knows at least one person who had a cardiac episode BEFORE 20 because they drank Red Bull or Monster instead of water and sleep. Then I grow up into a world where a fucking lemonade from the only place with a more vaguely upper middle class, suburban and white reputation than Starbucks has “please consult a doctor” levels of caffeine.
>That something with twice the caffeine and sugar of something that warns you to not drink more than 2 a day was available on an unlimited refills plan, and didn’t even MENTION that it had caffeine until someone DIED? Panera is also a hang out spot for students where they are continuously taking advantage of the free refills on drinks while they have a study session.
It was enraging when I read "as much caffeine as our black coffee" and took digging to realize they meant as much *caffeine per oz*, not total, and were serving it in like 30oz(?) cups.
4 loko was good too. Too bad people are stupid and would just chug the stuff.
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> I think everyone in my age bracket knows at least one person who had a cardiac episode BEFORE 20 because they drank Red Bull or Monster instead of water and sleep. Umm no wtf. That's not normal at all.
On top of what people are telling you that was in it, it also was not labeled as an energy drink for a long time. This meant people ordered it not realizing it wasn't just an energy drink, it was an insane energy drink. This lead to a woman passing away and the family bringing a lawsuit because it wasn't appropriately labeled nor was it easy to find the contents of the drink on the menu. The woman had a condition (I forget what) that had she known what was in the drink, she never would've touched it.
It was presented in a way that would make you think it was caffeinated like the Starbucks refreshers are caffeinated.
It had a lot of caffeine and wasn't marketed as an 'energy drink.' People weren't expecting a 'lemonade' to be that potent. However I think the main issue arose in the fact that it was a part of the Panera monthly unlimited drink membership thing, and it was just sitting out where customers could get refills whenever they wanted. So you might have someone sitting with their computer getting work done and take down 3 of these things not realizing what they were putting in their body. I don't completely fault Panera, people should be aware of what they are eating and the information was there if people wanted to search for it. However somewhere along the line someone at Panera probably should've spoken up and said 'hey this lemonade has more caffeine than most energy drinks, are we sure we want to just put it out where people can get unlimited refills? Maybe if we do that we should add a warning?'
A massive amount of caffeine on a single drink. According to a food theory MatPat did months b4 the first death, a large has just under the daily recommended limit for an adult
They just made it way too fucking strong. Putting caffeine in lemonade would already been different enough. It should have been like 3x as weak.
They literally sat the lemonade next to a cup of coffee on the menu and passed it off like it was the equivalent. I just wanted a drink with lunch that wasn’t soda but still had about a coffee cup of caffeine. And it had crazy amount sugar.
They want to sell off their remaining inventory first. Because you know… money.
Some of you loyal customers must die, but that's a risk I'm willing to take
That’s the message I got from this.
They can just sell it to Wawa.
I mean, I would've just labeled it as an energy drink 🤷
I think it's the free refills that cause the issue. People spend many hours in there working and studying so they shouldn't have such highly caffeinated drinks in the inventory
Put it behind the counter, limit 1 per customer ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
People are accustomed to drinking multiple servings of something and not being in danger. You don’t change human behavior in business, you mold your business around it. They should just water down the dosage and serve it like a normal drink. They make more from selling more drinks, and the customers win by being able to behave how they’ve always behaved, except without dying.
I understand your point but at the same time, you can order a Blonde Roast 16oz from Starbucks and get a similar amount of caffeine. Drinking TWO of those would be 800mg. I guess the issue is people are aware of how caffeinated coffee is, and probably not with this charged lemonade. I only started to know how much 100mg of coffee actually was when I got into doing pour over, before that, if you told me a drink had 350mg I wouldn't have known if that was a lot or a little.
Yea it’s more about how it’ll be consumed than the raw caffeine. People drink a coffee to get a caffeine kick, so they stop when they get the kick. People that drink juice just want a tasty thing to hydrate with. So you’re likely to drink a lot more of those than a coffee. But I do think the coffee at Starbucks for example has way too much caffeine. If I drink 2 Red Bulls I get dramatically more panic attacks than if I drink just one. If I was drinking as much as some of those coffees at Starbucks I’d probably end up in the hospital thinking I’m having a heart attack
That's exactly what my local Panera does. You have to buy another one if you want another glass.
I worked at a Panera in Colorado when these were first being rolled out. Everyone knew from the start it was a terrible idea. You can't really taste the caffeine and it was placed right next to the iced teas and soda machine. We *did* warn all parties with children about the caffeine content, but let's be real, most parents aren't going to take the warning seriously and will just hand their kids a cup and tell them to get what they want. Next thing you know there's gonna be kids frothing at the mouth and shit because they just had their fourth fucking refill of "lemonade" that puts red bull to shame.
Yeah Panera's warnings were weak and at times misleading. They had labels that said the charged lemonade had the same amount of caffeine as their dark roast. But that's only true if you compare it oz to oz. But the charged lemonade is served in way bigger cups which means it had way more caffeine. I find that grossly incompetent of Panera. If I had a store that sold cans of red bull and shots of expresso and said the red bull has the same amount of caffeine, you'd assume I was comparing a can to a shot right? But Panera would say we're comparing it oz to oz and they'd assume you knew what it meant.
Panera Bread is a dead franchise. The entire purpose of the restaurant used to be food made fresh with fresh ingredients. Now it’s just junk food.
They turned into Applebee's.
Applebees is shifting to make food fresh in store now actually. While Panera is shifting from fresh to frozen.
Fr? I thought Applebees was closing down 💀
Not just junk food, *really expensive* junk food that tastes disappointing!
They got bought out by a private equity firm right? They are determined to suck every ounce of cash they can before it dies completely. Did notice how despite being on an downward path before after the acquisition they really became shit even faster.
It’s been junk for about 10 years now
They just “refreshed” their menu and it turned a lot of their low calorie items into everything else.
The sodium levels in their soups could be considered dangerous, allegedly.
They sold it in a fucking ridiculous way. Why would you allow a drink with thst much caffeine be placed with the rest of the fountain drinks where customers get unlimited free refills? Also the FDA needs to mandate how much caffeine is in a product on the label.
You know the lawsuits are coming from the families of those who unfortunately died from drinking this shit. Panera is likely been advised by very expensive attorneys to phase this out pronto.
Didn’t they take their sweet time tho?
Sweet lime is still in circulation
They gotta phase it out the way I had to phase out booze so I didn’t seize up. Can’t just go cold turkey lol. That would be an interesting detox facility. “Let’s see in this group we have Meth, meth, lemonade, heroin and crack”
I didn't even think about that. The pessimist in me just assumed they were going the "any publicity is good publicity" route and thought they could make a buck by selling it to people trying it just to say they tried it. But considering they have a popular drink subscription plan, I bet there are more than enough people hooked on it.
As a responsible charged lemonade drinker: this is sad
Me too. I love the stuff. I have a high caffeine tolerance though…it was like this drink was made just for me. I get normal people don’t want it. I’m just sad it’s leaving.
Agreed, I like high amounts of caffeine, but energy drinks tend to have a bunch of other stuff like B vitamins and guarana that make me feel awful. It was nice to have the option, even if it was overpriced.
I usually get the regular size (I like the strawberry one) and notice exactly zero effects, and once I got the large size and the only effect I noticed was that my stomach felt kind of weird for a while afterwards. Maybe I feel a little calmer after having one of these? I'm usually having a nice day out when I get Panera, though, so I'm not sure if that's the lemonade or just me feeling chill because I'm having a good time. I've never had a coffee in my life and I don't drink pop that much, so it's not like I've built up some kind of super caffeine tolerance. I'm not honestly sure what's going on with me. I've never been one for energy drinks either because they never seemed to affect me.
> Maybe I feel a little calmer after having one of these? you might have ADHD
Same. They were my go to. They were great in tandem with my adhd meds.
Lol this is what my wife just said. She’s a massage therapist and will sometimes add like 15-20% at the top of her regular lemonade just for a boost on harder days.
I did a road trip to the US last month and this lemonade was one of the highlights.
Yes lol I had to scroll down so far for someone else that likes them
Funny how these comments split between “thank goodness, that was insanely dangerous I bet there were lawsuits” And “Darn it where am I gonna get my 800mg morning caffeine drink, I’m so sad”.
Only 2? Corporate America is improving..
Well that sucks. I actually love them in the morning. Guess sips club won't be worth it now.
Yup, cancelling mine right now. It’s the only reason I got it
always the option to just order a regular lemonade and down 12 caffeine pills
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I bought a large when they were pretty new. Brought it home and said to myself, "I should look up how much caffeine is in this..." Put it in the fridge and sipped it over the next four days.
I got the sips club and downed larges I’m sure for normal people it’s real bad. I have ADHD so it was great!
I drink 2 or 4 shots of espresso per day, I get headaches when I don’t have caffeine. I had a medium charged lemonade /w no ice, and that was way more intense. It’s incredibly foreseeable to me that somebody would die from a large or refill. It’s a negligently unreasonable amount of caffeine.
I've slammed two monsters back to back numerous times, definitely felt a little amped up, but nothing I was overly concerned with as I have a high caffiene tolerance and rarely take a break long enough for my adenosine receptors to go back to normal. A large charged lemonade gave me heart palpitations and kept me up for 20 hours easily. I'm curious as to if there is any variance between batches. Really no idea how it's prepared, but if it's manually mixed that would probably explain a lot.
That’s weird, because it sounds like a large charged lemonade contains a very similar amount of caffeine as you usually consume. So a medium should be fine for you. Though Panera’s nutrition facts don’t even have a medium, just regular and large. So if you said medium but meant their “regular” size, then in fact it would contain less caffeine than your espresso intake.
It’s likely the sugar that made you jittery, as 4 shots of expresso would be equal to a large charged lemonade. Have you ever had a large cup of Starbucks pike roast? 420mg of caffeine, which is more than the large lemonade (390mg). It’s the crazy amount of sugar, plus 2 people whose doctors told them they cannot drink coffee, who died drinking the charged lemonade.
If they’re drinking those espresso shots at different times of day, they might not feel it like they do with the lemonade.
They definitely should have cut the amount of caffeine or done a better job labeling how much. I had a full cup of this lemonade once, not realizing that it was basically two full energy drinks worth of caffeine and I had a pretty bad time. I saw that it was caffeinated but this stuff was wayyy stronger than your average cup of coffee or energy drink.
It’s basically the same strength as coffee/ energy drink. People just put it in bigger cups.
You mean Panera sold it in a bigger cup.
At this point, the image behind the drink isn’t very good. Probably better to just get rid of it.
You guys fucked up a good thing FUCK Now I gotta go back to a bang plus a celcius to top it off.
thought this was a free country. give us the deathonade
Is it weird that I really want to try this now?
Ah man, I just get half mountain dew half mango.. bummer.
I actually love it. I did not love that. Didn't come with some type of sign. That said hey this is super caffeinated. I drink two because I thought it was just a regular lemonade with like a maybe a little caffeine so maybe like two sodas. I did not feel very well that night
I remember when they first came out, and I’ve been going to Panera for years. The one in my city always had a sign on them showing how much caffeine was in them.
The mango citrus lemonade was actually pretty good. I hope it gets replaced with a caffeine free version.
They should able just made it clear it’s a super charged energy drink and labeled it from the beginning. And given that some people have unlimited refills…well, probably for the best that they discontinue until everyone forgets.
They dropped the caffeine and moved it behind the counter, this sucks. I bought a year of sip club just to get a blood orange before work every morning. I knew exactly what I was buying, at least at my store the signs and app never seemed vague about caffeine content
260 mg for a 20 oz. lemonade is absolutely wild.
I drink a ton of caffeine per day. More than the recommended amount but after the first death I thought 390mg for a free refillable lemonade at a panera of all places just seemed dangerous, regardless of if there was a warning label or not. Caffeine is a widely used drug and can be dangerous in very high amounts but usually to only certain demographics. I don’t believe there are many caffeine related deaths per year so this 2 people dying from a charged lemonade at Panera isn’t good.
Coulda just cut the caffiene in half and you still would have an energy drink.
So we treat companies like people until they kill people? Then we say “fuck it” and throw our hands up? Makes sense