You’ve heard of popping caffeine pills for energy or gulping down a Red Bull. But caffeinated mints? Mojo for Energy is the first caffeinated mint I’ve ever heard of, and I’ve decided to give it a whirl. Each minty tablet is said to equal one cup of coffee or one energy drink, providing 22 milligrams of caffeine. How do they get caffeine into a little tablet in the first place? The mint’s number two ingredient is guarana extract—and guarana fruit contains three times the caffeine of a coffee bean the same size! Ingenious. Ginseng, taurine and vitamin B12 round out the formula. Another benefit of this tablet? It only has five calories, which is a vast improvement over calorie-laden soft drinks and specialty coffees and the empty calories consumed there, just for the sake of staying alert. Each packet contains 12 mint tablets that you can stash in your pocket or purse for convenience.

Each mint is about the circumference of a nickel and has a cool taste. The actual flavor is called Tri-mint, which tastes a lot like chalky peppermint to me. The tablet must be savored like a lozenge, because it is too hard to chew right through. But that means you have more time to let the mint freshen your whole mouth while the ingredients kick in to give you a boost of alertness for that long road trip or snore-worthy business meeting. I have personally been scared straight from trying these kinds of supplements since I witnessed Jessie (Elizabeth Berkley) from Saved By the Bell fall into a dangerous rendezvous with caffeine pills in order to stay awake and study. But, used responsibly, caffeine is a part of life for so many people—and, for that reason, this seems like an ingenious product that could really catch on.

Mojo for Energy is brought to us by Sweet Stuff Innovative Products. Product creator Jill Pyles wanted to create an alternative to coffee and soft drinks for a quick boost of energy. The name “Mojo” was decided upon because it represented the first initials of people in her family—and the final “o” was added to signify the others who would try the product.