New 'Meth' Coffee Provides Drinkers With Extra Boost

SAN FRANCISCO – A mysterious San Francisco company has launched an equally mysterious product aimed at coffee drinkers seeking an extra boost. The company and the product share the same name — Meth Coffee.

It's a thinly veiled reference to methamphetamines, but the company admits there is no meth in its coffee — just rich arabica coffee beans and something a little different called yerba mate.

Yerba mate comes from South America and is used to make teas and coffees there. Sellers of yerba mate products claim it raises your energy level, so pairing it with already caffeinated coffee beans could provide quite the boost.

"If you're just trying it for the first time, don't throw back five cups like regular coffee. Ease into it. Have a little. Feel the rush, the euphoria, the smooth-edged high. Then go for more, if you want," the company said on its Web site.

The product, which went on sale Wednesday, is available only at the site.

But don't try asking the brains behind Meth Coffee for his secret recipe. His identity is hidden from view at this point and he only goes by the name "The Roaster."

Meth Coffee's questionable product naming strategy is similar to the tactics of Las Vegas-based Redux Beverages LLC, which recently introduced its energy drink, Cocaine. That product, like Meth Coffee, contains no actual illegal substances, but does offer the drinker an energy boost thanks to caffeine and guarana, a South American seed that purports to be an effective stimulant.