# How much caffeine is too much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2000, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494 "2000-12-20T07:38:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/1 "2000-12-20T07:38:46Z")
Besides the obvious: “never enough”? Thing is, I have this box of caffeinated peppermints (Penguin Mints, to be brand specific) next to me, and they say that “3 Penguins are the caffeine equivalent of 1 cola beverage”. Now, these being mints, I can just keep eating them one right after the other; how do I know when to quit? (I mean, besides the fact that I’m getting a little woozy and all…) ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/2 "2000-12-20T08:14:44Z")
From the chapter on drugs in my psych text: > [@](#): > > If you are like the man who drank 80 cups a day, however, you’re in trouble, because he died from it (McKim, 1986). [Honoré de] Balzac (1799-1850), the famous French novelist, drank about 50 cups of coffee a day and is also thought to have died of cafffeine poisoning (Ackerman, 1990). Given that the average cup of coffee has about 115 mg of caffeine, Balzac ingested roughly 5750 mg of caffeine per day. For comparison, 150 mg alone is usually enough to make you feel awake. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@Farmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/3 "2000-12-20T08:19:40Z")
If you go for 6 hours without it and you have a headache. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/4 "2000-12-20T08:26:22Z")
I love Penguin Mints! I’d just quit taking them when you began to feel uncomfortable. If I consume a certain amount of caffeine I get very sweaty and jittery, and don’t want more. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/5 "2000-12-20T09:23:54Z")
As for when you should quit, you should probably quit as soon as you start wondering if you should. \ ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/6 "2000-12-20T14:59:13Z")
I have recovered from last night. Still kinda jittery, but I’m that way normally. However, it’s good to know that I need at least a few boxes to OD, and since I only have one… ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/7 "2000-12-20T15:18:51Z")
Ask my friends - As a practical joke for my birthday, a friend gave me a 1/2 lb of chocolate-covered espresso beans, telling me they were off-brand M&M, coffee flavored. I had no reason to doubt him, since he would normally buy chocolate-dipped potato chips and other 12.00/oz treats. A little tough to chew, but otherwise quite tasty (and something like 30 large beans in a 1/2 lb). I was completely wired for the rest of the day. Evidently I dominated the whole conversation and could not sit still for more than a nanosecond. Coffee: my acid trip. The headache was horrible, though. Since then, I limit myself to one cup of coffee per day (even that is going to be curtailed very soon), and have herbal instead of regular tea. I have cut my soda intake to about 1 per week, and do not take aspirin (since many brands also contain caffeine). Okay, I had some chocolate yesterday. My headaches have decreased in frequency and duration, except for laughing so hard at some of the posts on these boards. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-caffeine-is-too-much/46494/8 "2000-12-20T18:29:01Z")
I took 18 NoDoz at once; 1800 mg. (First the last 3 from a box, then a whole fresh box of 15.) I lived, but that night was a nightmare. Symptoms: sweats, uncontrollable salivation, nausea all the next day.