Gaming Supplements vs Energy Drinks vs Coffee: What Each One Actually Gives You

It's the third hour of a long evening at the screen. The can beside the keyboard is empty, the next round is loading, and a quiet voice suggests another. Or it's a Tuesday afternoon, the spreadsheet is winning, and the shop shelf offers coffee, a can, a tub of "focus" chewables and a caffeine pill. Four things, one shared promise of "awake". Let's put them side by side, milligram by milligram, and work out which question each one actually answers.

Same stimulant, different outfits

Most of the work in all four is done by caffeine. Per portion, a mug of coffee, a can of energy drink and a caffeine pill land in the same broad range, and the gaming tablet used as an example below sits inside it too. What changes is the packaging around it: sugar or sweeteners, extra ingredients, how easy it is to take too much, and how late in the day it's still in your body.

Research on caffeine and gaming is real but young: a handful of small laboratory trials, mostly with plain caffeine capsules in young adults, mostly measuring aim-trainer tasks and reaction tests. None of them tests an energy drink, a coffee or a branded gaming supplement against a placebo, so none of it shows that a particular product makes you play better.

The cup, the can, the pill and the tablet

Caffeine varies with the bean, the brew and the brand, so treat every number below as a guide (figures checked 8 October 2026).

• Option: Filter coffee; Typical portion: 125 ml cup / 250 ml mug; Caffeine: about 60 mg / about 120 mg; Sugar and other notes: none unless you add it; Source: Voedingscentrum caffeine page
• Option: Espresso; Typical portion: 30 ml / 60 ml (double); Caffeine: about 40 mg / about 80 mg; Sugar and other notes: none unless you add it; Source: Voedingscentrum caffeine page
• Option: Energy drink; Typical portion: 250 ml can; Caffeine: about 80 mg; Sugar and other notes: around 27 g sugar in one widely sold version; sugar-free versions use sweeteners; Source: EFSA, Voedingscentrum, Open Food Facts
• Option: Caffeine tablet (one example); Typical portion: 1 tablet; Caffeine: 200 mg; Sugar and other notes: caffeine plus fillers; the page carries a high-caffeine warning; Source: a Dutch online shop's product page
• Option: Gaming-positioned tablet (one example, MADMONQ PULSE); Typical portion: 1 tablet (the label allows up to 2 a day); Caffeine: 155 mg; Sugar and other notes: caffeine plus other ingredients; Dutch pack not verified; Source: supplier's label image

Two details are easy to miss. EFSA's own guideline amounts are slightly different (about 90 mg for a 200 ml cup of filter coffee and about 80 mg for a 60 ml espresso), so published averages can differ by a few tens of milligrams depending on the survey. And a bigger can scales the caffeine. If a drink contains 32 mg per 100 ml (the figure on one widely sold brand's entry in the Open Food Facts database), a 500 ml can holds about 160 mg, twice the 250 ml version.

The table has a small surprise about "gentle" versus "strong". A 250 ml energy drink holds less caffeine than a large mug of filter coffee, while the pill and the tablet pack more than either into a few millimetres.

What EFSA's caffeine numbers say

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published its opinion on the safety of caffeine in May 2015, and its topic page summarises it. For healthy adults, it reports:

• Single doses of caffeine up to 200 mg (about 3 mg per kilogram of body weight) from all sources do not raise safety concerns.
• Intakes up to 400 mg per day, spread through the day, do not raise safety concerns either, except for pregnant women.
• For pregnant and lactating women the figure is 200 mg per day.
• For children and adolescents, EFSA applied 3 mg per kilogram of body weight per day.
• A single dose of 100 mg can affect sleep duration and patterns in some adults, particularly when taken close to bedtime.

EFSA also looked at the other usual energy-drink ingredients. Taurine and D-glucurono-γ-lactone at the concentrations commonly found in such drinks would not change the safety of single doses of caffeine up to 200 mg, and neither would alcohol up to about 0.65 g per kilogram of body weight. That's a statement about caffeine safety, not a claim that these ingredients do anything useful for play. EFSA's assessment also excludes people with medical conditions and people taking medicines, so it's a starting point for healthy adults, not a personal green light.

Now the practical arithmetic. One 200 mg tablet is EFSA's whole single-dose figure in one swallow. A mug of coffee (about 120 mg) plus a can of energy drink (about 80 mg) reaches it too. Across a day, a few of these add up to the 400 mg line faster than most people expect, especially when nobody adds the sources together.

Does caffeine help at the keyboard?

Almost all of the research is from the last few years, and almost all of it measures small laboratory tasks rather than a real match.

A dose-response trial in first-person shooter players (2024). Researchers at Queensland University of Technology tested 24 players (22 men, 2 women, average age about 22) on three separate days: water, 1 mg per kilogram of caffeine, and 3 mg per kilogram of caffeine, taken as capsules. Players completed an aim-trainer program and a vigilance reaction test at 60, 80 and 100 minutes afterwards. Both caffeine doses improved several aiming scores and reaction time compared with water, and the lower dose did about as well as the higher one. The average participant weighed about 83 kg, so those doses were roughly 83 mg and 250 mg. The control was plain water, not a look-alike capsule, and the authors list expectation effects among the limits. Everyone was a regular low-to-moderate caffeine user who skipped caffeine from the evening before, which the authors couldn't confirm.

A trial in national-level players (2024). In Taiwan, nine male players who had placed in national shooting competitions took 3 mg per kilogram of caffeine or a placebo capsule an hour before tests. Their reaction time on one version of a Stroop task was faster with caffeine (and not on the harder version), visual search was faster only in the most crowded displays, and aim-trainer accuracy, hit ratio and time to target improved. Nine people is a very small sample, and the authors note low external validity.

Earlier work. The Queensland paper also summarises three earlier studies: one with 15 professional players found improvements after 3 mg per kilogram; one with nine recreational gamers found that most shooting measures did not change after 125 mg; one found that a 200 mg dose improved a single task. The authors call the overall picture unclear before their own study.

What can we reasonably take from this?

1. In well-rested young adults in a laboratory, caffeine looks likely to improve simple reaction and aiming tasks a little. That's consistent with what is known about caffeine and alertness in general.
2. The studies used plain caffeine. They say nothing about whether a sugar-sweetened drink, a coffee, or a multi-ingredient tablet behaves the same way.
3. The groups were mostly young men, small, tested for hours rather than weeks, on aim trainers rather than matches. Whether it carries over to real games, other game types, women, or people who are tired and caffeinated all day is still open.
4. When regular caffeine users skip caffeine overnight and then get a dose, part of the "boost" may simply be the end of mild withdrawal. These studies can't separate the two. That's our reading, not a finding of the studies.

Sugar, taurine and the supporting cast

Sugar. According to the Voedingscentrum, regular energy drinks contain roughly two to four sugar cubes per 100 ml, and it passes on the Dutch Health Council advice to drink as few sugar-sweetened drinks as possible. Sugar-free versions swap this for sweeteners and acids; the Voedingscentrum notes the acids in light energy drinks are not kind to teeth. Sugar gives calories. It doesn't give you longer-lasting focus, and the familiar "sugar crash" story would need a trial of its own.

Taurine and the others. Taurine, D-glucuronolactone and often guarana (another caffeine source) are standard in energy drinks. EFSA's conclusion was about safety at common levels, as above, and says nothing about whether they help play.

B vitamins, amino acids, botanicals. These appear on many labels. Each ingredient has its own evidence, and none of it can borrow credit from the caffeine trials above. If a label lists eight botanicals and amino acids, the caffeine is the best-studied part of the formula. For more on reading a long label, see our guide to how to read supplement labels.

Sleep: the bill arrives later

EFSA's 100 mg observation matters here, because it is only about one and a quarter standard 250 ml cans. A typical caffeine half-life is given as 3 to 5 hours in the 2024 Queensland paper's introduction. Take that range literally: five hours after a dose, roughly a third to a half of it is still circulating, and people differ a lot. A can at 21:00 can still be around at 02:00.

The Voedingscentrum describes the trap well: caffeine in the evening can make it harder to fall asleep, so the next day is tiring, so there is another can. The same page suggests asking why you are tired in the first place. If your tiredness persists, that's something to bring to a doctor, not a drinks aisle. Our guide to sleep hygiene covers the habits that make the biggest difference.

One gaming tablet, read off its label

MADMONQ is a gaming-focused supplement brand, and its PULSE tablet makes a handy worked example of label arithmetic.

The figures come from the supplier's label image for PULSE, checked 8 October 2026: 155 mg caffeine per tablet (135 + 20), maximum 2 tablets a day, and the label says not for children, pregnant or nursing women and not to exceed the stated daily dose; we haven't verified the Dutch pack, so check the exact variant before comparing it.

Here's the worked comparison anyone can do with a label. One tablet (155 mg) is below EFSA's 200 mg single-dose figure. Two together (310 mg) are above it, although the label's maximum is two a day, not necessarily at once. A mug of filter coffee at about 120 mg plus one tablet comes to roughly 275 mg, and two tablets plus that mug (430 mg) pass EFSA's 400 mg a day line. EFSA's figures cover caffeine in general; they don't address how a particular tablet format releases it.

Gaming supplements often come with focus and reflex claims on the product page. Those are supplier claims, and the caffeine trials above tested plain caffeine capsules, not a multi-ingredient tablet.

What the label must say, and who can buy a can

Dated 8 October 2026; rules change, so check the current ones.

The 150 mg per litre warning. According to the Dutch government's letter to parliament of 2 October 2025, EU rules require energy drinks with more than 150 mg of caffeine per litre to carry the statement "High caffeine content. Not recommended for children and women who are pregnant or breast-feeding" next to the drink's name, followed by the caffeine content in mg per 100 ml.

A Dutch cap on caffeine in soft drinks. The Voedingscentrum states that the Dutch Warenwet allows at most 350 mg of caffeine per litre in soft drinks, which works out at 88 mg in a 250 ml can.

Sales to minors. The same letter says there is no Dutch law banning the sale of energy drinks to minors, though the not-recommended-for-children label is mandatory, and that some supermarkets voluntarily don't sell them to under-14s. It adds that several EU countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Poland and Hungary) have national bans on sales to minors. The Voedingscentrum's own advice is not to drink energy drinks, especially not for children. The letter also cites RIVM (2018): high consumption in a short time can cause heart rhythm disturbances, central-nervous-system effects and liver problems, with 750 ml or more a day treated as a risk. Policy on sales to minors may have moved since the letter, so check current Dutch guidance.

Which question are you really asking?

There's no "best" here, only a better match for the question behind the purchase.

• If your question is...: "I'd like a drink I enjoy with a known, modest amount of caffeine."; What fits: Coffee or tea; What to know: Content varies with brew, so the cup size matters more than the type.
• If your question is...: "I want a cold, sweet, fizzy drink with some caffeine."; What fits: Energy drink; What to know: About 80 mg per 250 ml, plus either sugar or sweeteners. Large cans multiply the caffeine.
• If your question is...: "I want an exact amount of caffeine and nothing else."; What fits: Plain caffeine tablet; What to know: Easy to measure, easy to stack. A 200 mg tablet alone is EFSA's whole single-dose figure.
• If your question is...: "I'm weighing a gaming-positioned supplement."; What fits: Read the label: caffeine per tablet, sweeteners, each other ingredient, maximum daily dose; What to know: Compare the caffeine with a cup of coffee in milligrams. Judge each extra ingredient on its own evidence, a separate question from caffeine's.
• If your question is...: "I'm tired all the time."; What fits: None of them; What to know: Sleep, daylight, food and a conversation with a doctor come before more caffeine.

If you take medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a heart rhythm condition or anxiety, or are under 18, the general figures above may not apply to you, and a pharmacist or doctor is the right person to ask. Our supplement and drug interactions guide explains why to check.

Where that leaves you

Add up the caffeine from every source in a day, not just the one you're thinking about. Watch the clock more than the brand. Gaming-performance claims are worth treating as claims until a trial of the actual product tests them. The coffee, the can, the pill and the tablet are mostly different ways of delivering the same stimulant, in different amounts, with different extras attached. Choosing between them comes down to how much, when, and what else comes along.

Written by Smart Supplements with AI assistance from the sources linked in the text. It has not been reviewed by a clinician.

Last updated: 12 October 2026

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement, especially if you take prescription medication.