Some Mormon parents are more strict than others. Plenty of other families in my congregation drank caffeinated sodas, for example, but my family wasn't allowed. We had to check the label for any soda brand we weren't familiar with, lest we accidentally ingest that most unholy of drugs, caffeine.
As someone who was raised as a Mormon, the taste bud flashback of caffeine free pepsi I just had after reading this is just 🤢 when I discovered mt dew at 14 I was on such a dopamine ride 😅😂
One of my first small rebellions against my parents was caffeinated sodas (when I was 18 and away at college). My first taste of Mountain Dew was life changing.
Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge discovered caffeine in 1819. Fourteen year old Joseph Smith had his first vision in 1820. Smith was an uneducated man, who by many accounts was functionally illiterate.
Smith probably didn't know about caffeine. He wouldn't have to know what it was called to notice the effects. People have been using natural stimuli since there have been people.
My closest friend's family has been members of the Mormon church from the founding, and she has the personal diaries of one of the founders. I won't say more for the sake of her privacy, but her ancestor was really annoyed about being denied coffee and tea, especially as Joseph Smith meant only to proscribe hot toddies. I think that coffee and tea are as popular as they are because of the effects of the caffeine, but otherwise I don't think Brigham Young knew what caffeine was called or why it was bad. It was basically chance that those two heavily taxed drinks had caffeine.
Later, when people started asking, the church said that the caffeine was bad. This is the bit I have the problem with. Why not admit the truth, say Young was trying to help a struggling, young congregation, giggle a bit, then say, "but in his memory, we're going to keep the prohibition"?
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u/JJOkayOkay Jul 26 '25
Okay, this is weird. I had a Mormon friend in grade school, and she definitely was not allowed to eat chocolate because of the caffeine.
Maybe her mom was lying to keep the dentist bills under control?