Coffee that helps you sleep…

The label of the coffee looks rather inconspicuous. There a neat little graphic and the text is nicely arranged and presented in a couple of fonts. The coffee itself is described as either a ‘gourmet roast’ or ‘extra strong’ and, on a first cursory glance it all looks a little run of the mill.

That is however until you take a closer look and realise that Counting Sheep flies in the fact of everything that you know to be true about coffee. It’s a coffee that’s meant to be enjoyed immediately before you settle down for the night and get some shut-eye.

Seriously?

Yes!

The Boston Globe has described it as a ‘sign of how fragmented and specialised’ the coffee industry has become, and we’re inclined to agree.

“The decaf market was 10 percent of the [entire] coffee market. That’s a huge number of people drinking decaf to begin with,” explains the co-founder of Counting Sheep Coffee, Deland Jessop.

“We realised there definitely is a market. We don’t know exactly how big [but] the decaf market is worth billions of dollars, so there is space there.”

So then, how did this idea come about?

According to Jessop, the business idea came about because his wife is unable to drink a cup of coffee – even decaffeinated varieties – after mid-afternoon and get a good night’s sleep. So, the question “Why isn’t there a coffee that helps you sleep?” was raised.

To answer that, Jessop headed into the realms of alchemy and after a period of trial and error they came up with a mix of coffee and valerian root, an herb that is commonly used to combat sleeping disorders.

At the moment there are two varieties that are beginning to pop up on retail shelves across the United States of America. One, called 40 Winks will make the drink slight drowsy whilst the other, Lights Out, will put you to bed.

So what do you think of this coffee that aims to help people sleep rather than give them a caffeine jolt?

picture: Counting Sheep Coffee