A TikTok (below) from a woman who drank several Panera Charged Lemonades is going viral. User Sarahebaus explains, very rapidly, that she’s been drinking Panera Charged Lemonades with free refills as she works out of her local Panera. (She doesn’t work there behind the counter, she just likes to be around people so she does her work there.) Sarah doesn’t drink coffee regularly and when her husband wanted one, he looked up the nutritional information because he’s a type 1 diabetic. It turns out that a 20 ounce serving has between 280 to 350 calories depending on the flavor, 260 mg of caffeine and between 62 and 85 grams of sugar. In comparison, a 12 ounce can of Coke has 140 calories, 34 mg of caffeine and 39 grams of sugar. A 16 ounce Monster energy drink has 210 calories, 160 mg of caffeine and 54 grams of sugar. I think did the math right and the Panera charged lemonade has more sugar and caffeine than a Monster energy drink! An eight ounce cup of coffee has about 100 mg of caffeine. So you’re getting 2.5 cups of coffee in one Charged Lemonade at Panera. The Daily Dot has more:
TikTok user Sarah (@sarahebaus) claims that she started drinking the specialty lemonade while doing work at a Panera Bread location. It was only later when she was ordering the drink again with her husband, who is a Type 1 diabetic, that she realized just how much sugar and caffeine is in the drink.
“@Panera Bread this drink should come with a warning because it’s delicious and will lead to my cardiac arrest,” she writes in the video’s caption.
In this video, Sarah says, while she knew the drink had caffeine, she consumed four or five of them over the course of a given workday as the location has free refills.
Four or five cups of coffee is within the recommendations of caffeine limits from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which suggest that a person should not consume more than 400 milligrams of caffeine per day.
Many users in comments expressed their shock at the drink’s contents.
“260??????…Are you kidding, my pre workout rn doesn’t even have that much,” shared a commenter. “I thought it was going to be less then coffee!”
“Giiiiiirl that is SO MUCH SUGAR and I RARELY say that,” noted a second.
Some claimed they’ve already had negative experiences with the drink.
“these drinks gave me heart attack symptoms and i thought it was over,” alleged a commenter.
“I work there and warn so many mothers when their 7 yr old will fill up a 30 ounce cup,” stated another. “the caffeine sign needs to be way bigger.”
I actually ordered a lemonade at Panera that I filled myself and then saw the sign for charged lemonades. I was horrified that I was drinking an energy lemonade (I only drink 2-3 coffees in the mornings) so I asked another customer about it. She said that they fill the charged lemonades at the counter so I didn’t need to worry that I got the wrong kind. At least that’s a start, but I agree that the caffeine sign needs to be be bigger for this! They’re selling energy drinks at Panera disguised as lemonade. Gross. I mean I get that there’s a call for that, but it should be clearer to the consumer. Plus they have the “sip club” where you get free refills! Panera also shouldn’t be allowed to sell charged lemonades to kids.
Here’s that TikTok thanks to user Sarahebaus
@sarahebaus @Panera Bread this drink should come with a warning because it’s delicious and will lead to my cardiac arrest #panerabread #mangoyuzucitrus #remotework ♬ original sound – sarahebaus
I accidentally got one recently (it was with the other self serve drinks). It completely messed me up. I am not used to all that caffeine
I’m old. Anymore, even a little caffeine ruins about 2hours of my life. On the can or over it🤮
I accidentally took Panadol with caffeine for about four days before I realised.. didn’t sleep for days, had huge anxiety and freaked my colleagues out. Was so mad when I realised. Caffeine can seriously mess you up!!
Good lord. She is hopped up. I chuckled though. That’s a lot.
I remember the first time I ever had an espresso. I didn’t drink a lot of caffeine at the time and I felt like I could conquer the world for a brief moment in time.
Now, as a regular caffeine drinker… I only am able to avoid headaches.
Years ago when I was in college, I had a cousin working at Starbucks who offered to make me a caramel frappuccino which I’d never had before. I took a few sips and remember being up all night calling my friend to chat at 3 am lol.
Now I’m a 3x/day coffee drinker and frappes barely do anything for me 😆
FIVE refills?
Lol, I literally texted this to my sister last night who has 2 little kids and doesn’t drink coffee and her first words were “I want one.” Don’t think she’s gonna get 5 refills though.
Forget about the caffeine. The amount of sugar in ONE serving is off the charts unhealthy!!!
I go to Panera pretty regularly for lunch and have had the charged drinks a few times, but only when I haven’t had coffee that day and need a caffeine boost. Tbh they don’t taste that good. That said, the calorie information is posted, but not the excruciating sugar content (though idk why I’m surprised. Sugar is a main ingredient in lemonade) and the fact that they are caffeinated, but not how hugely caffeinated, and that is a problem. Plus it’s too easy for kids or anyone not thinking about it who don’t know any better to think they’re just regular drinks and not literally energy drinks. I’m pretty caffeine addicted and can barely handle drinking small cup of that stuff.
Yep. I tried to ordered a charged lemonade one evening with dinner at Panera and the kind young man at the register took pity on the old boomer lady and informed me that they are loaded with caffeine (I didn’t notice. I thought that it was just plain old flavored lemonade),
that video was hilarious. what a cutie!
We have a Panera in our building at work and I have the same subscription service, which really does save me a ton of money every month. But when I do the ice teas, I tend to blend them. Mostly fill it up with the no-sugar iced tea and then just a splash of the strawberry mint or one of the other charged ones. It improves the flavor without all of the sugar and caffeine.
These energy drinks seem to be everywhere. Is it all just sugar and caffeine or is there something else added in?
I saw at the store Coke has an “energy” version, which I thought was ironic for a product that had actual cocaine in their original product.
Not to mention the guarana in it which potentiates the caffeine.
I use to work full-time over night nursing shifts. I would have LOVED this lemonade! All this lady did was make .e want to try it for a weekend errand day lol