By Keri Blakinger *
Why drink your coffee when you can wear it as jewelry? The new Joule bracelet is helping bring the world one step closer to an IV caffeine drip by offering wearers their daily java jolt in the form of a transdermal patch.
As the makers explain in a kind of awkward promo, caffeine is fat-soluble, so it sneaks through the skin pretty easily — and the back of the wrist is a good target area because it provides fairly direct access to the bloodstream.
The bracelet — also available as a watch — basically looks like a fitness tracker and features a spot to slide in changeable patches so users can insert fresh doses of caffeine daily (or multiple times a day if that’s how you roll).
Joule doles out a dose — equivalent to about a cup of coffee — over the course of four hours, thus theoretically avoiding the ups and downs of slamming down cups of caffeinated goodness throughout the day.
The makers also boast that the product avoids the blood sugar problems, teeth stains, bad breath and stomach pain that drinking coffee can cause.
The company, headed up by Adam Paulin and Alex Kryuk, launched a crowdfunding campaign in February where caffeine lovers can pre-order products for delivery in July.
The basic Joule Starter Kit is available for $29 and includes one bracelet and a one-month supply of patches, although extra patches can be pre-ordered separately and larger orders are available for resale.
The campaign set a $15,000 fundraising goal, but by Monday they’d raised more than $33,000.
