Or Two, Depending On How Tripped Out You Are. Reaction Times.

Results

Upon waking up: Sluggish Snail (to say the least...)
After drinking: Ambling Armadillo (probably more to do with breakfast)
15 minutes after drinking: Rocketing Rabbit
30 minutes after drinking: Bobbing Bobcat
An hour after drinking: Ambling Armadillo

As you can see from the results Red Bull takes about 15 minutes to get into full swing, but reaction times drop after 30 minutes without more. We'll explore this further in the buzz.

The Buzz

As you saw in the results above the reaction times, which are directly related to the buzz, improve up until the 15 minute mark, and then drop you back down again.

In terms of how intense the buzz is, Red Bull provides about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, plus a shed load of taurine. Now some believe this to be an extract from the testicles of a bull, though the makers claim otherwise. I'd tend to agree with them on that point, as they'd need an awful lot of bulls for the 1000 mg of the stuff that goes into each of the two billion cans that are sold worldwide every year. I also choose to believe it to avoid the reality that I may have been drinking bull's balls (try saying that a couple of times on a mix of vodka and Red Bull...)

The nice thing about Red Bull is that when you drink it to laze around and work at a desk, it doesn't make you want to do anything physical - but if you do happen to get out of your chair it'll help you sail across to the spiked water cooler to get more. Concentration is increased and so is productivity... until of course, The Crash...

The Crash

The crash off Red Bull is particularly jolting and head banging. Even after one can, if you do not pick up another one after the effects wear off 30 minutes or so later, you're in for a headache that'll last a couple of hours. I can only put it down to the mix of taurine and caffeine that the stunning effects happen so quickly, but it makes Red Bull an expensive habit to keep if you want to avoid headaches and keep up the buzz.

The more you drink the longer you'll put off the headaches - but the bigger they'll be when they arrive, unless you conk straight off to bed. It's almost enough to make one want to avoid Red Bull entirely. Then again, we drink alcohol and get the same effects - the buzz is what makes it worthwhile, and for working, Red Bull can be an essential tool to keeping yourself going and focused.

The Other Stuff

Red Bull is hip to drink and if you happen to be of that persuasion then it beats coffee and the like. Drink it from the can as it doesn't look wonderful in a glass, and keep a toilet nearby if you're going to be drinking a can every half hour.

It's handy for situations in which you don't have a kettle or a mug about, such as at LANs, and it's much more palatable with food than most hot drinks. It also comes in a sugar-free flavor that's exactly the same, except for the artificial sweeteners, which will kill you faster than sugar, but what the hell, at least your corpse will have nicer teeth.