A New Coffee Buzz Designed To Put You To Sleep [Video]
Coffee is the go-to drink for many tens of millions of morning risers around the globe. But the Canadian team behind Counting Sheep coffee hope to change the habits of coffee drinkers in a big way. They want you to take their coffee to bed.
Company founder and “Sheep Executive Officer” Deland Jessop got the idea to develop coffee as a sleep aid when his wife complained of not being able to sleep at night when drinking coffee in the afternoon. He experimented with many herbs blended with decaffeinated coffee beans and discovered that the most effective sleep-inducer was valerian root.
Valerian has been in use as a sedative dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks. Both Hippocrates and Gelen mention it in their writings.
In March of 2014, Jessop and coffee engineer Joseph Fernandes III (Sheep Operations Officer) appeared on an episode of the Dragon’s Den, a reality TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their products to the show’s hosts to raise money for their companies. Jessop and Fernandes were able to convince two panel members that their sleep coffee was a great idea, and walked away with a modest $10 thousand dollar deal in exchange for a stake in their coffee company.
“I still think it’s crazy they did that,” said host Kevin O’Leary. “I cannot believe they just gave you a third of their bottom line for ten-thousand dollars.”
See the episode here.
Shape magazine reported that Counting Sheep coffee utilizes a patented, chemical-free Swiss Water Process that removes 99.9 percent of the caffeine during production.
Pre-ground coffee bags and single-serve K-cups are available in two blends. The original Bedtime Blend/40 Winks coffee is the milder variety. The more potent Lights Out! has a bolder taste and contains more valerian root.
According to the National Institutes of Health, studies are inconclusive as to whether valerian is effective in treating serious sleep disorders like insomnia. But Monsters & Critics writer April Neale wrote that the Lights Out coffee blend made her pass out on the couch.
“The Lights Out is aptly named,” Neale said. “I tried this grind the other night and fell sound asleep on the couch within fifteen minutes of drinking it.”
Coffee side effects have been known to make drinkers sleepy, caffeinated or not. But contrary to many misconceptions about coffee being bad for health, the Inquisitr reported that heavy coffee drinkers may be more resistant to type 2 diabetes, heart problems, strokes, and other diseases. Coffee drinkers are also less likely to be hospitalized for such issues, and are more resistant to Parkinson’s and dementia.
