Soda Machines for Geeks?

PhaseBurn writes "In all my findings, I've yet to see things like Bawls or Jolt in a soda machine. Even bottled water is hard to come by... Working in a call center for an ISP, we don't have to worry too much about what's popular with the rest of the world, and so, I'm tasked with finding a vending machine replete for geeks. While Jolt can come out of any normal soda machine that supports plastic bottles, the glass Bawls bottles woultn't fare so well. Do they make a soda machine that would work for this? What's around your office... And what's popular among the geeks today, as I want it to appeal to the vast majority of our staff?" Why use a vending machine when a community cooler would work just as well. With that aside, what kind of beverages would you like to see more of in vending machines?

Comments

Re:Special Geek Beverages

[RevAaron]

I don't know about you man, but I'd be pissed if everyone got their Bawls for free in a company paid-for fridge. I mean, get some variety at least. Coke. Mt. Dew. Jolt. Beamish Stout. Dr. Slice. Those seem to be other "geek" drinks. That's probably because "geeks" drink the same stuff everyone else does.

Even better, skip the Bawls. It's over-priced. Keep a bunch of lemon-lime soda, grenadine, and freebase caffeine powder [1] on hand, perhaps even mix it for everyone in a pitcher. Throw in a couple sliced oranges for a zesty citrus surprise. Hell, you could have various levels of caffeine per 12-oz glass, 0 mg to 100. Why not?

At work, we have a water fountain and it works great. You know, one of those 5 gallon glug-glug-gluggers of purified water in a bottle, connected upside down to a fountain that dispenses very cool and hot-enough-for-tea water. Can't lose with one of those.

[1] Pure caffeine can be easily isolated from caffeine tablets or ordered from chemical suppliers. Damn cheap.

Re:Special Geek Beverages

[RevAaron]

Heh. I was going to make some of that for my girlfriend, who was starting to drink a SoBe Energy Drink (caffeinated 5-Alive) every morning.

There are a lot of places that provide "research" chemicals online. A lot typically provide to businesses, but can be kajoled into selling to an individual. Also, there are a handful of companies which sell smaller quantities directly to curious consumers. Caffeine is among various Tryptamines, DXM HBr, and others.

Just make sure to get Food or Technical Grade Caffeine powder, which implies a certain (almost 100%) percentage of purity.

As per the tablets, more than just smashing them up. However, that would work, you would just be drinking 3 grams of cornstarch or binder. If it dissolves and doesn't tastebad, I suppose it's not a big deal. Otherwise, if it doesn't dissolve in water, you could extract via water, perhaps 1 tablet per oz- then strain out the binders. You then could take this liquid and add it to a big 20 oz OJ. :) It would be a lot better on your teeth and stomache than coffee or even tea.

There are much better methods, I've seen plenty of extraction procedures in HS/Intro College chemistry. Google around for "caffeine isolation" or something. Probably find info on isolating it from soda and tea as well.