A Day With Rocket Fuel

If you’re like me, then you’re praying for 11:30pm on Friday, where bedtime doesn’t coincide with a deadline (a.k.a that morning alarm that forces you to get ready for work or school). It feels like the only nights I can get a good night’s sleep are Friday and Saturday, when the looming reminder of work obligations aren’t as glaring.

The result of all this? Stunted energy, frequent yawning, and some scatterbrained thoughts during what’s supposed to be pivotal working time. And after the 9-5, I have no choice but to run on fumes and complete an hour at the gym, cook dinner, and (hopefully) fit in some writing time. The time for all of that is there, but where’s the energy?

Hot take: I don’t drink coffee. You’d think that’s the elixir I’ve been looking for, but it’s not. I actually keep my caffeine intake to a minimum, for a few reasons. First, when I WAS drinking coffee, I didn’t like who I was when I WASN’T drinking coffee; missing that cup of coffee in the morning meant withdrawal headaches, which meant losing all sense of focus for the day. Second, I hated the dependence on coffee, and the amount of time it takes to make coffee, or to buy coffee before getting into work. I try to keep my schedule as exact as possible, and to go to a Dunkin everyday means spending five minutes in the drive-thru line for an iced coffee that, quite honestly, isn’t consistent (could be burnt, could be watery, could have too much ice, etc.). 

I kicked my coffee habit in 2017, but the lethargic feeling persists. 

In comes UPSY, a wellness company offering a CBD drink mix called “Lift,” which promises all the energy of a cup of coffee without any caffeine spikes, crashes, or “nervous energy.” It’s a unique proposal: all energy, no jit. The directions are rather simple, too: add your Lift packet to 16 ounces of water, “shake it like you mean it,” and enjoy. 

It’s been a long time since I had a fully caffeinated cup of coffee, so when I was asked by the UPSY Team to try the LIFT Rocket Fuel Beverage Blend for a day and report my results, I was skeptical. And I already used CBD for sleep with fantastic results, so would a CBD product be able to have the opposite effect on me?

I learned quickly that it’s not just CBD; the drink mix contains 20 milligrams on Cannabidiol per packet, but it is aided by 150 milligrams of caffeine per packet, and 100 milligrams of theanine per packet (an amino acid believed to help with mental performance). With that in mind, the marriage of CBD and caffeine makes sense; all the perks of energy-inducing caffeine, combined with the calming effect of CBD, should provide a comfortable lift that isn’t so intense that you’re doing backflips in the office. 

With that in mind, I started using Rocket Fuel, optimistic about the result.

MONDAY, MARCH 2nd: 

The apartment across the hall from me has two dogs which, for a lack of better words, don’t shut up. I love dogs, but these dogs are special, in that they have an owner who has expertly tuned out their incessant barking. It doesn’t really matter what time of day it is, either.

So I start my week on a low note, wherein the dogs wake me up two hours before my alarm is supposed to go off (5:30am instead of 7:30am). They don’t stop for twenty minutes, and by this point, I’m fully conscious, and unable to get back to sleep. 

Don’t listen to any celebrity that tells you that you only need 5 hours of sleep (looking at you, Sean Combs). Anything less than 7 hours is a bad time (and 8 is the dream). I’m starting Monday at a deficit, and it sucks.

I get to work alarmingly early (by that I mean 10 minutes early, which is too early), and it’s time to try UPSY. Each single-use package of Rocket Fuel has two servings in it, so I put ½ a packet into my water bottle, and per instructions, shake it like I mean it. I open the bottle, and a rush of lemon scent escapes; it’s a far different lemon that I’ve seen in other drink mixes, an incredibly close to the real thing. The drink mix promises a “real lemon” flavor and lists Citric Acid, Lemon Oil and Lemon Juice as the top ingredients, and the result is a very pleasant, very fragrant aroma. 

For half a packet, this drink mix packs a whole punch. I went into it expecting the dull, watery lemonade flavor of similar drink mixes, but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of lemon flavor; it’s tart, it’s sweet, and far from artificial. The energy has yet to kick in, but Lift is already waking up my taste buds.

I start getting the full effect roughly half an hour later. It’s a slow burn, which eases my concern of over-caffeination immediately (ever taken a shot of espresso and your heart starts racing? That’s over-caffeination, and it sucks.). I’m noticing that some of my woes from hours ago are gone; that exhaustion from being woken up by the neighbor’s dogs doesn’t seem as bad. 

I find myself taking my time with the drink, mostly because I like the taste. All the while, I’m running through my writing assignments for the day (including this one) with MUCH more enthusiasm than I think I would have had without some sort of pick-me-up. I feel focused, I feel energized, and I don’t feel jittery. 

This energy remains pretty consistent throughout the day; leaving work, I don’t find myself looking for excuses to avoid the gym (especially today, since I always try to run a 5k on Mondays). And while my workout is the same level of difficulty… I’m not begging for it to be over like I usually do. 

All in all, my day with Rocket Fuel has been a game changer. I gained, perhaps, the calmest sense of energy that I’ve had in awhile, thanks to this unique blend of caffeine and CBD. The best part, for me, is that the “wired” feeling that comes to infrequent caffeine consumption never showed up for me. It was just as the product promised: a lift in energy, and none of that nervous energy from over-caffeination.

Shop the LIFT Collection today!