STEEM peanut butter
As a busy student who will often wake up at 9:15 a.m. for a class that starts at 9:30, I’m always looking for new ways to force my body into alertness.
When I heard a company called STEEM was selling caffeinated peanut butter, I had to try it.
STEEM is based in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and works to supply the world with a sticky alternative to coffee or energy drinks. A standard jar of the peanut butter costs about $6, with added shipping and handling fees when ordered online.
The product is designed to provide a consistent release of sustained energy provided by the peanut butter’s naturally slow digestion, according to STEEM’s website. This super peanut butter is marketed as being able to give you energy without the jittery feeling that often comes with drinking copious amounts of coffee.
The first morning I tried STEEM, I followed one of the tips the website suggested and spread about a tablespoon of it onto a piece of toast. The peanut butter itself tasted better than expected. STEEM is made with natural peanut butter and no artificial sweeteners, so it has a more bitter and peanut-y taste than peanut butter of the Jif or Skippy variety. It had a smooth texture and, combined with the toast, was filling enough to sustain me until lunch.
However, the first trial of STEEM didn’t yield any type of increased energy. I knew I had to step up my caffeinated peanut butter game.
The next morning I abandoned the toast altogether and opted for the classy and wholesome breakfast of two giant spoonfuls eaten directly off the spoon combined with about two handfuls of cinnamon-flavored Life cereal eaten directly from the box.
My first spoonful of STEEM was delightful. However, by the second spoonful I was fighting my way through it. Hastily eating a mountain of natural peanut butter before class turned out to be more challenging than I expected. I grew tired of the taste but I knew I couldn’t let myself quit. After all, I had gone out of my way to have special peanut butter shipped to me. I soldiered through the second spoonful just in time to run out the door.
About 10 minutes into class, I finally began to feel STEEM’s effects.
I was awake, energized and ready to learn. I finally understood why STEEM caffeine was different — I felt alert without feeling jittery, attentive without being off-the-wall. The only major downside was that I was also full of peanut butter.
Like, too full of peanut butter.
All of the alertness I had gained from STEEM seemed to be dumped into my hyperfocus on the fact that my stomach felt like a ball of wet cement.
I carried on through my morning, vigilant and awake as ever but still bearing the brunt of the mass of unsweetened peanut butter I had decided to consume. It was like gaining the ability to fly with the caveat of being chained to a bowling ball. A bowling ball made of dense natural peanut butter.
I’m sure when eaten slowly and in the correct serving sizes, STEEM could be a helpful way for those who hate burning their mouth on hot coffee to get their caffeine fix.
For me, though, I’ll probably just stick with Jif.