Jayme Poisson
Staff Reporter
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/866828--introducing-the-pharmaceutical-grade-caffeine-brownie
What’s the opposite of a hash brownie? Try stuffing the dense chocolate dessert with pharmaceutical-grade caffeine.
That’s exactly what baker Allison Nelson is doing. The Iowa resident, who hails from Vancouver Island, has opened up the first caffeine bakery in the United States, called A Snack in the Face.
It’s conveniently located right across the street from Iowa State University, gearing itself to the needs of sleepy freshmen looking to make it through an early morning class – and perhaps indulge in some bad eating habits.
“Being a child in the ’60s, that’s probably why I was inspired to do a caffeine brownie,” said Nelson with a laugh. “The idea of a ‘special brownie’ just sticks with you.”
Nelson and her husband, Wes, never took a liking to the taste of coffee, but they still considered themselves caffeine addicts in need of a daily fix.
“My husband and I are geeks,” said the one-time graphic designer, whose hobby is online gaming. “We spend a lot of time in front of the computer, and you need caffeine or you just won’t survive.”
When Wes got his hands on some pharmaceutical-grade caffeine – which is, in case you were wondering, legal even though it sounds like it’s not – the couple began to experiment.
They tried putting the substance in water. It tasted awful. They then moved on to sugary sweets. Success.
Pharmaceutical-grade caffeine doesn’t taste one iota like coffee. It comes in powder form and is used, among other things, to help boost the effectiveness of painkillers. To be considered pharmaceutical grade, the caffeine powder has to be in excess of 99 per cent pure.
Each 10-centimetre-long treat packs about 200 milligrams of caffeine. That’s more than you’ll find in two-and-a-half Red Bulls, but it’s only about half as much caffeine as a venti brewed coffee from Starbucks.
It’s made from scratch. “It’s a rich, old-fashioned brownie,” said Nelson, adding that each batch contains two cups of butter and eight eggs.
Nelson said she’s trying to expand her business to Canada. She has a son who lives in Ottawa and would like to see her squares make their way north this year.
“I’m still a Canadian citizen, man, and I want to take this back home,” she said.
For now, she says she’ll be happy to ship her baked goods across the border.
Other products include caffeine-laced chocolate-chip cookie squares and something called the “head shot:” a chocolate truffle that boasts 75 milligrams of caffeine.
“It’s the ‘special brownie’ of the 21st century,” said Nelson, “because now we’re such a caffeine culture.”
Staff Reporter
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/866828--introducing-the-pharmaceutical-grade-caffeine-brownie
What’s the opposite of a hash brownie? Try stuffing the dense chocolate dessert with pharmaceutical-grade caffeine.
That’s exactly what baker Allison Nelson is doing. The Iowa resident, who hails from Vancouver Island, has opened up the first caffeine bakery in the United States, called A Snack in the Face.
It’s conveniently located right across the street from Iowa State University, gearing itself to the needs of sleepy freshmen looking to make it through an early morning class – and perhaps indulge in some bad eating habits.
“Being a child in the ’60s, that’s probably why I was inspired to do a caffeine brownie,” said Nelson with a laugh. “The idea of a ‘special brownie’ just sticks with you.”
Nelson and her husband, Wes, never took a liking to the taste of coffee, but they still considered themselves caffeine addicts in need of a daily fix.
“My husband and I are geeks,” said the one-time graphic designer, whose hobby is online gaming. “We spend a lot of time in front of the computer, and you need caffeine or you just won’t survive.”
When Wes got his hands on some pharmaceutical-grade caffeine – which is, in case you were wondering, legal even though it sounds like it’s not – the couple began to experiment.
They tried putting the substance in water. It tasted awful. They then moved on to sugary sweets. Success.
Pharmaceutical-grade caffeine doesn’t taste one iota like coffee. It comes in powder form and is used, among other things, to help boost the effectiveness of painkillers. To be considered pharmaceutical grade, the caffeine powder has to be in excess of 99 per cent pure.
Each 10-centimetre-long treat packs about 200 milligrams of caffeine. That’s more than you’ll find in two-and-a-half Red Bulls, but it’s only about half as much caffeine as a venti brewed coffee from Starbucks.
It’s made from scratch. “It’s a rich, old-fashioned brownie,” said Nelson, adding that each batch contains two cups of butter and eight eggs.
Nelson said she’s trying to expand her business to Canada. She has a son who lives in Ottawa and would like to see her squares make their way north this year.
“I’m still a Canadian citizen, man, and I want to take this back home,” she said.
For now, she says she’ll be happy to ship her baked goods across the border.
Other products include caffeine-laced chocolate-chip cookie squares and something called the “head shot:” a chocolate truffle that boasts 75 milligrams of caffeine.
“It’s the ‘special brownie’ of the 21st century,” said Nelson, “because now we’re such a caffeine culture.”
