How energy drinks are made

Industrial caffeine is built from urea and chloroacetic acid, and Red Bull says it is identical to natural caffeine.

stations: 7
things upstream: 63
raw sources: 19
steps from the ground: 9

The short version

An energy drink is a carbonated soft drink with added caffeine. A factory blends sweetener, acid, flavor, color, caffeine, vitamins and preservatives into a concentrated mix, screens it for foreign material, and adds chilled water in a carbonation tank. Rinsed cans are filled and sealed. A serving carries between 50 and 505 milligrams of caffeine.

Make the caffeine

Caffeine can come from plants or from a chemical plant, where it is synthesized from urea and chloroacetic acid. The processes were mostly patented between the 1940s and the 1960s.
Blend the ingredients

Citric acid, flavors, colors, caffeine, preservatives, vitamins and sweeteners are dry-blended or stirred with water in a mixing kettle. Many of them arrive ready to eat, so this stage has no cooking step.

Goes in
Sugar Water Caffeine
Run it through screens

The mix passes screens that catch foreign material from the ingredients or from worn equipment. Operators check them at intervals, because what they catch shows whether something upstream has failed.
Carbonate with chilled water

A chilled water tank brings the water to temperature. In the carbonation tank the mix meets that water and the carbon dioxide dissolves into the liquid.

Goes in
Water Carbon dioxide
Rinse the empty cans

A twist and rinse system turns the cans and rinses them to clear out dust and foreign material just before filling.

Goes in
Aluminum can
Fill and seal

The cans are filled and sealed, then labeled if the can maker has not already printed them.
Tray and ship

Cans are grouped into trays and cartons for shipping.

Goes in
Cardboard

End of the lineEnergy drink

Worth repeating

An 8.4 ounce can of Red Bull has 80 milligrams of caffeine, about the same as a cup of home-brewed coffee, while some energy drink servings reach 505 milligrams.
Studies attribute most of the drinks' effect on attention and reaction speed to caffeine, with little evidence that the other added ingredients do anything.
Low pH and carbonation both limit bacteria in a canned energy drink, so they serve as food-safety controls.