2

I've bought pure caffeine powder and its serving size is said to be a microscoop, but no measure of weight is given.

So what's/what size is a microscoop?

"Microscoops" can be found from the internet, but their size is 7-12mg. Is this reasonable for caffeine?

mavavilj
  • 173
  • 5
  • 4
    Please keep your powder out of the reach of children and pets. [The LD50 of pure caffeine is ~150-200mg/kg of body weight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine). That means less than a gram of your powder could kill a toddler or curious pet. – Jolenealaska Sep 06 '16 at 08:02
  • 1
    Seconded. There are publicly documented cases where people have been hurt by misjudging the quantity they ingested. – rackandboneman Sep 06 '16 at 09:23
  • http://blogs.fda.gov/fdavoice/index.php/2014/12/tragic-deaths-highlight-the-dangers-of-powdered-pure-caffeine/ – rackandboneman Sep 06 '16 at 15:40

1 Answers1

4

Yes, 7-12mg is a perfectly reasonable, very conservative amount. 12mg of caffeine is about equal to the amount of caffeine in a liquid ounce of 'average' coffee. (Source USDA)

Take care not to pack the scoop. Pure caffeine is a potentially dangerous ingredient. Microscoops vary even more than what is implied by your question, I've seen them as large as 50mg; a comment here tells of a 100mg microscoop. Again, take care, and know exactly what you have.

For greater accuracy, consider a milligram scale which can be had for about $20 US.

Jolenealaska
  • 58,386
  • 30
  • 196
  • 321
  • A liquid ounce is around 0.3dl so if 12mg of caffeine corresponds to the caffeine in 0.3dl of coffee, then it's not much. Somewhere (https://www.google.com/search?q=pure+caffeine+miscroscoop+100mg) the serving for pure caffeine was said to be "100mg microscoop". But I would want to avoid taking too much of caffeine, since it can be dangerous – mavavilj Sep 06 '16 at 07:19
  • 1
    +1 for mentioning the danger of pure caffeine. One can't really poison oneself with brewed coffee, but with caffeine powder [(1)](http://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/2857/what-is-the-limit-to-the-amount-of-coffee-one-can-consume/2859#2859). – Stephie Sep 06 '16 at 07:38
  • I don't know about the "7-12mg is a perfectly reasonable, conservative amount" though. One cup (8 fl oz) is said to contain 94,8mg of caffeine. In that sense (since surely the pure caffeine I have is the same thing as that in the measurement) one could equate ~100mg of the pure caffeine powder into 1 cup of coffee. – mavavilj Sep 06 '16 at 12:16
  • @mavavilj That's why I called it *conservative*. I'll edit it to say *very* conservative. – Jolenealaska Sep 06 '16 at 12:20
  • Actually, looking closer the pure caffeine bags that I bought had the microscoop in them, but it was hidden into the caffeine itself. So this is their measure of "microscoop". The volume is about the size of a medium sized pill or a button cell. They say in the bag that the microscoop would be 180mg. Perhaps, it looks like it's something between 100-180mg (I know the size of a 100mg caffeine pill). – mavavilj Sep 06 '16 at 12:37