Medical Reports: Shower Shocker

WSVN -- Coffee, java, cafe con leche, hot, cold, black with cream and sugar.

Whatever way you take it, for many, coffee is the fuel that gets us up and keeps us going.

Ty Liotta: "It keeps me going."

But now that black liquid may not be the only way to get your morning fix.

Ty Liotta: "Anything that they can do to get more caffeine."

Ty Liotta came up with caffeine soap.

It's called Shower Shock -- a peppermint-scented soap infused with caffeine.

Ty Liotta: "I'm a coffee-oholic."

But, come on, caffeine for bathing?

Ty Liotta: "They embedded the soap with caffeine. Caffeine is actually one of the most easily absorbed substance through the skin."

We decided to put it to the test.

We found four volunteers willing to trade in their coffee cups for some soap.

Jenny Ortiz: "Like around 10."

Jenny is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and a professional recruiter.

Jenny Ortiz: "Well, I have to drink coffee in the morning. If not, number one, I'm sleepy, and I get a headache."

Helen, a retired grandmother, needs lots of energy to run after her grandson Nicholas.

Grandma Helen: "I always have my latte in the morning"

Kathy, a 30-something mother of two, starts her day early and ends it late.

And James, an energetic producer here at Channel 7.

James Perez: "My day without caffeine is pretty slow. I can't function basically."

All caffeine lovers, all ready to lather up and give this cafe-con-soap a test.

The soap promises you'll feel the jolt of 200 milligrams of caffeine as you lather up, about the same amount you get in two and half cups of coffee.

Dr. Thomas E. Rohrer: "When it comes to caffeine, it's a fairly big molecule, so only a little bit of that can be absorbed. We can put caffeine on the skin, but most of that is going to wash out with the soap."

Which might be why our tester Jenny didn't feel the jolt.

Jenny Ortiz: "Well, I didn't really have any effects. It's just like a regular soap."

But, for Grandma Helen, it seemed to work.

Grandma Helen: "It kind of wakes you up a little bit, smells good, feels good."

Busy mom Kathy gave it a thumbs up:

Kathy: "I liked the soap itself. I liked the scent, but I'll still have my coffee in the morning."

But our producer says he'll stick with the liquid stuff.

James Perez: "The soap was not really a 'shower shock' at all."

Jenny says, on a positive note, it smells good.

Jenny Ortiz: "It was just minty, it felt like eucalyptus, and that's it. To some people that don't drink coffee, that might wake them up, but me -- that I drink coffee everyday -- it doesn't do anything to me."

So, if you're trying to cut down on the coffee, you might want to start lathering up with the shower shocker.

Belkys Nerey: "So, if you want to try this cafe con soap, it will set you back $7 to get your own Shower Shocker."

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