I have to say, at first I thought these things were for testing if your coffee is too weak. But no, apparently the greater scourge is coffee falsely advertised as decaffeinated. Is this really a major problem? I think you can generally tell decaf coffee because it just doesn’t taste as good.

The page refers to “decaf junkies,” as if that’s a legitimate category of human beings, and claims “studies have shown” that 30% of decaf served has “unacceptably high” caffeine content. Now, if you want their product and have a use for it, that’s great, and furthermore I don’t doubt that these cool little strips work exactly as advertised. But you don’t have to build a whole mythology around your product with this ridiculous copy! Good lord, sir! I’m going to go get a fully-caffeinated espresso right now just to wash the stink of this post off me.

The product photo is also a little misleading, since the instructions caution you to not allow the strips to come in contact with whatever you’re drinking. I guess the description should be more like “Decaf tester and coffee poison.”

[via MedGadget and MIT Tech Review]