Alpha Grind Review: The Ultimate Nootropic Coffee? [Grind Out Of The Matrix]

I had a hard time finding a coffee brand that did it as well as Top Shelf Grind has here. 

Alpha Grind has multiple forms of caffeine, and nootropics and it also has ingredients that support muscle building. 

What does the ingredient do and what does the science say?

Let’s dig into it…

Tyrosine is a nonessential amino acid that can be synthesized by your body when you consume protein or anything that contains amino acids. 

It can be used to increase the production of potent catecholamine neurotransmitters like epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and dopamine. 

When you’re consuming stimulants or anything that releases dopamine, it’s important to have tyrosine as it can help keep the production up. 

A single dose of 100mg can increase tyrosine levels by up to 7 hours. [1]

So to say the least, regular old-fashioned tyrosine can increase plasma tyrosine levels. 

As tyrosine can increase the production of neurotransmitters like dopamine and adrenaline, it’ll you in a state of improved mood, and focus.

It can even elevate athletic performance while reducing the effects of stress. [2, 3]

Tyrosine can also help you perform well even if you’re sleep-deprived. [4]

Research has shown tyrosine to help improve working memory and cognitive flexibility, which is a way to say multitasking. [5, 6]

And since 100mg is more than enough to increase tyrosine blood levels, we have 500mg in Alpha Grind so you’re getting more than enough here. 

When it comes to mood enhancers, PEA (beta phenylethylamine) is one of the best ingredients to have. 

Using PEA will increase the production of catecholamines like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine, leaving you feeling euphoric with motivation and energy. [7]

PEA will quickly release these feel-good neurotransmitters, and although it doesn’t live very long, it’ll put you in a prime state of motivation and enthusiasm. 

This is probably why Top Shelf Grind also put cocoabuterol (cocoa seed extract) and tyrosine, as both of these ingredients will also improve mood. 

Cocoa extract is here in its trademarked form of cocoabuterol, which contains cocoa alkaloids from theobroma cocoa. 

It’s a relative of caffeine and can be found in plants. [8]

Although it’s structured similarly to caffeine, it has a much longer half-life while it functions similarly in that it’s able to block adenosine receptors. [9]

Cocoabuterol also has other benefits as it has constituents that can burn fat as research has shown it can increase fat oxidation and reduce appetite. [10, 11]

There’s a big 100mg dose in Alpha Grind.

Also known as cytidine 5’diphosphocholine, or CDP-choline, Citicoline is one of the most bioavailable forms of choline. 

Choline is an essential nutrient that can increase acetylcholine. [12]

Acetylcholine is known as the learning neurotransmitter as it’s responsible for important functions like muscle control, and CNS functions, like learning, memory, and attention. [13, 14]

Consuming choline will improve focus and cognition function, significantly. 

Citicoline is around 18% choline by weight as it is made out of choline bonded to cytidine and it can do much more than just increase acetylcholine production. 

It has the ability to increase norepinephrine and dopamine levels as well as improve dopamine receptor density.

Memory and focus are regulated by norepinephrine while motivation and pleasure are facilitated by dopamine. 

So citicoline will optimize the brain with the production of important neurotransmitters to help you perform at your best physically and mentally. 

Theanine is one of the most versatile ingredients that you’ll see in supplements. 

It can be used to relax and put you in an optimal state for sleep, but it can also smooth out energy when it’s combined with stimulants. 

Theanine is an amino acid that comes from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, which is commonly known as tea like green tea, black tea, and oolong tea. 

Functioning like a neurotransmitter, theanine has calm, anti-anxiety effects. [15, 16, 17, 18]

It makes caffeine much more enjoyable as it provides a better uplifting buzz than if you were to consume caffeine on its own. 

Research has shown that when caffeine is combined with theanine, it performs better for cognitive enhancement than if you were to take either ingredient alone. [19]

There’s also a surprising benefit…

Theanine can help with weight loss as it can convert white adipose tissue (WAT) into brown adipose tissue (BAT). [20]

Brown adipose tissue can be used for energy and it’ll help burn extra calories through its process of non-shivering thermogenesis. [21]

The caffeine here is naturally found in coffee and it’s one of the most widely used substances in the world. 

It’s something people have to increase their energy.

Caffeine can inhibit adenosine, which is what your mind naturally builds up when it’s awake and can make you feel drowsy.

The more adenosine you have, the more tired you’ll feel. [22, 23]

This means it’ll block the adenosine receptors as long as you have caffeine in your system. 

You’ll feel energized and you’ll have an improved capacity for mental functions like more focus and energy.

Caffeine also has fat-burning benefits as it can inhibit phosphodiesterase, something that’s responsible for reducing cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). [24, 25]

This messenger molecule, cAMP is used to tell your body to burn more calories for energy. [26] 

So caffeine can actually boost your metabolism when cAMP is increased. [27]

Using caffeine will increase fat burning by as much as 50%. 

Caffeine will also reduce reaction time, increase focus and improve mental functions. [28, 29, 30]

There’s still more caffeine ahead in Alpha Grind…

Similar to caffeine malate, VitaShure is a sustained-release caffeine form that won’t have a crash. 

It’s standardized to have 60%, so with 50mg, you’ll be getting 30mg of caffeine. 

But don’t underestimate the entire formula of Alpha Grind. 

Because it also has regular caffeine, along with theobromine (in cocoabuteral form) and PEA to help increase focus and energy. 

With this form of caffeine, you’ll be getting a steady slow increase in energy. [31]

In total, Alpha Grind contains 125mg of caffeine along with theobromine and a bunch of nootropics and ayurvedic ingredients to help increase energy through multiple pathways. 

Huperzine is one of the best ingredients to have in a nootropic coffee. 

Not only can it last all day when it comes to increasing focus and mental functions, but it synergizes well with stimulants and other nootropics. 

Huperzine A works with Citicoline (which is already in Alpha Grind) to increase acetylcholine levels.

It inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the enzyme responsible for breaking down acetylcholine. [32]

This means when Citicoline increases acetylcholine production, huperzine will help protect those levels from decreasing. 

It doesn’t stop there.

Huperzine has been seen in research to protect neurons from oxidative damage, which would otherwise lead to increased risk for brain conditions that affect the brain like Alzheimer’s disease. [33] 

Alpha Grind contains 100mcg, which makes it very effective in doing what it’s supposed to do. 

There are also multiple forms of stimulants and other ingredients to help keep your mental and physical game at the top of its abilities.  

When it comes to bodybuilding and muscle gains, there are many ingredients that can help support these goals. 

But Top Shelf Grind has chosen to go with one of the most effective and expensive ingredients, phosphatidic acid. 

Phosphatidic acid is a phospholipid, which is a phosphate group, a certain type of fat molecule that’s bonded to a glycerol backbone.  

It makes up a group of lipids that play a role in cell metabolism mechanisms. 

Phosphatidic acid can activate mTOR signaling, which is activated by an enzyme called phospholipase D. 

This enzyme breaks phosphatidylcholine into choline and phosphatidic acid, which then can activate mTOR. [34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39] 

Researchers have found phosphatidic acid to not only be highly bioavailable when taken orally but can also increase PA levels in the plasma significantly. [40]

A bunch of studies has found this one ingredient can increase squat strength and lean body mass in trained athletes with a dose of 750mg for 8 weeks. [41, 42]

All of this is impressive, especially considering this ingredient is not hormonal and is completely safe based on today’s research. [43]

And Alpha Grind is using the clinically tested dose of 750mg cited in research. 

Ashwagandha has grown in popularity over the past few years, and for good reasons too. 

It’s one of the most useful adaptogenic ingredients that have various benefits, from optimizing hormone levels to reducing stress and anxiety while improving cognitive performance. [44]

It even has benefits for reducing inflammation, improving insulin sensitivity, and can even support joint health. [45]

Alpha Grind uses ashwagandha for its testosterone support benefits, although it does have a wide range of benefits on mental health that can lead to improved focus and productivity. 

Last but certainly not least is Senactiv (made out of Panax notoginseng and rosa roxburghii root extract).

This is a senolytic supplement from Nuliv Science. 

It’s made out of Panax notoginseng and Rosa roxburghii. 

Senactiv is made to help get rid of old, dead, and dying cells, or senescent cells. 

This makes it easier for healthier and younger cells to replace the old dead cells. 

The constituents in Senactiv have been found to do this. [52, 53]

One study found one of the bioactive constituents in Senactiv, ginsenoside, to help group subjects reduce muscle damage, experience better glycogen synthesis, and even reduced inflammation compared to the group who took a placebo. 

The group that had the ginsenoside bioactive constituent, had a better time to exhaustion by 20% as they found this while testing the subject’s VO2 max at 80%, which is very intense. [54]