Starting your morning right might always include a coffee, but that cup of joe isn’t the best wake-up call and energy booster you can get.
Braincare Smart Focus – a nootropic coffee alternative – provides a potent caffeine hit alongside brain-boosting mushrooms, root and bark extracts, and B vitamins to fuel you for the day ahead, regardless of stress levels.
The beauty of these additional ingredients is they build up in your body over time, providing medium and long-term cognitive and energy benefits.
While coffee boosts you for an hour or two – and Braincare Smart Focus boosts you the same – Smart Focus also builds energy resilience into your body with nutritional elements that help you feel healthy.
We provide more colour below.
The case for coffee
A cup of coffee contains two ingredients—water and coffee (ground or instant)—making it the simplest of stimulants. You can then add milk (dairy or plant-based) and sugar or sweetener to make it just how you like it. You can even ice it.
You’ll get a welcome caffeine hit from coffee and benefit from its stimulative effects within minutes - think alertness and better concentration.
Coffee also comes into its own when trying to stay awake on night shifts or when driving long distances (energy drinks are decent too).
But the only ‘active’ ingredient in coffee is caffeine, so you aren’t getting any nutrition, and the effects are relatively short-lived.
The case for Braincare Smart Focus
Braincare Smart Focus gives you the caffeine hit you crave with additional ingredients that deliver nutrition and brain-boosting benefits.
But first, let’s talk about the flavours – Cacao and Matcha:
- Cacao flavour is a rich, earthy chocolate with a hint of coffee.
- Matcha is an umami delight with green tea and grassy notes.
Both flavours are intended as standalone drinks, but there’s nothing stopping you from adding them to your instant coffee—both are gorgeous. Cacao is more of an indulgent experience, perfect in the morning.
A nutritional hit
Braincare Smart Focus has a fantastic nutritional profile per 8g serving:
- Caffeine 40mg.
- L-theanine 80mg.
- Carbs 7.6g (sugars 1.8g).
- Protein 1.5g.
- Fat 1g.
- Fibre 1.7g.
It also has a B vitamin complex:
- B1 (thiamine) 2mg.
- B2 (riboflavin) 2mg.
- B3 (niacin) 18mg.
- B5 (pantothenic acid) 6mg.
- B6 (pyridoxine) 2mcg.
- B9 (folate) 268mg.
- B12 (Methylcobalamin) 3mcg.
But the real power behind Braincare Smart Focus is the active ingredients – a nootropic blend of fungi, roots, and plant-based ingredients:
Nootropic mushrooms
Lion's mane
The bioactive compounds in lion’s mane - hericenones and erinacines - stimulate the growth of new neurons and increase the levels of BDNF, a protein that supports the health and function of your brain cells. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Lion's Mane also protect your brain from oxidative stress.
Lion's mane also has strong immunomodulatory effects, as a protein called HEP3 increases anti-inflammatory activity in cell cultures.
Chaga
Chaga brings beta-glucans and other immunomodulatory compounds to your morning drink [1], bolstering the activity of immune cells by enhancing their ability to identify and eliminate potential threats efficiently.
The antioxidant compounds also wage a relentless battle against oxidative stress, one of the primary culprits behind brain fog and accelerated cognitive ageing.
Cordyceps
Cordyceps can restore depleted levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine in the hippocampus - these neurotransmitters play a role in mood regulation and have noticeable antidepressant effects.
It might also have anti-inflammatory benefits, reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-6, TNF-α, and NFκB, which are often elevated in depression [5].
Reishi
Reishi has anti-anxiety effects on the nervous system, ushering in a state of calm, steady focus that will leave you feeling centred and poised, even in the eye of the storm.
This is likely due to the polysaccharide content that stimulates the development of new neurons in the brain [2].
Roots and stimulants
Caffeine
Braincare Smart Focus contains 40mg of natural caffeine per serving, which is around the same amount as an 8-oz cappuccino. We source it from Matcha Powder Premium Grade or cocoa bean extract.
Caffeine is a powerful nootropic stimulant in the seeds, leaves, and nuts of coffee beans, cacao, tea leaves, and guarana beans.
Peruvian Maca
Peruvian maca has bioactive compounds—macamides—that fortify your body [3] to tackle even the most arduous tasks with confidence, whether you're pushing through a workout or tackling a mental marathon.
Indigenous cultures have eaten Maca root for centuries for unwavering energy without the dreaded jitters that accompany sugar.
Choline
Choline is a memory and neurotransmitter ally [4], producing acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that orchestrates memory formation, learning, and focus.
Topping up your choline levels with Braincare Smart Focus will help to keep your brain operating at peak performance.
L-Theanine
L-theanine is an amino acid that is a soothing counterpart to caffeine, tempering its "edginess" and bestowing smooth, jitter-free energy.
Unlike caffeine and other stimulants, which simply amp you up, L-theanine's effects are more nuanced. It increases alpha brain wave activity, a state associated with wakeful relaxation and increased creativity [6].
Summing up
Coffee is a one-hit-wonder that’s admittedly delicious in every form and massively convenient because every high street has a good coffee shop (and every home a kettle).
But if you’re willing to try something new, Braincare Smart Focus offers a similar caffeine hit with additional ingredients for even more benefits.
The nootropics and plant-based ingredients in vybey stimulate your brain and body, giving you more gusto than coffee provides alone. It’s 100% safe to consume nootropics every day, and you’ll feel the benefits after a few weeks.
Grab a vybey Starter Pack today to get started.
Sources
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