We at Okana value healthy habits and espouse the virtues of exercise. For some reason, we divide people into two categories: those who are fit, and those who are smart. You know the stereotype. It probably started in high school, where you had the jocks and the nerds, and mixing the two was blasphemy. Even traitorous. The smart kids looked at the athletes as dumb meatheads, and the jocks looked at the smart kids as lowly dweebs. 

We are here to put an end to this stereotype. Or, at least, put an end to it again. Going all the way back to ancient civilizations in Greece and Rome, society put value on being both mentally and physically fit. Yes, some of Ancient Greece's smartest philosophers, rulers, and mathematicians believed in the value and virtue of keeping physically fit. And this notion carried throughout the medieval worlds and the early modern periods. Until, strangely, we decided that intelligence and physical fitness should be separated. Can't be fit if you're smart. And can't be smart if you're fit. Or some shit like that. 

While we at Okana are huge fans of mental health and intellectual pursuits, this article will focus on physical fitness. Because, let's be honest, heaps of research has shown that physical activity isn't just good for your body, but also for your mind. Okana is all about holistic health – choices and activities that improve your overall well-being, from the ground up. (Why do you think we want you to choose Okana over coffee? For your health!) 

Physical fitness is no exception. And Okana can play a role in that. 

If you've ever been a physically active person, you might have relied on supplements, powders, elixirs, and energy drinks for not only recovery, but also performance enhancement. No, we don't mean steroids. We're talking about pre-workout bars and gels, energy drinks, recovery products, etc...

Well, you might be surprised to learn that one of the most prominent ingredients in many pre-workout drinks is caffeine. That's right – run-of-the-mill caffeine, just as you'd find in a cup of coffee. Why? Because it's an effective nootropic that enhances your cognitive functions and physical performance. There's a reason why industrialists of the 19th Century started giving their employees coffee, and why the coffee break ultimately became a common demand for unions across the country. Caffeinated people work better. And the same could be said about people who workout. 

Although drinking a cup of coffee before a workout has become a more common piece of advice for those desiring a simple pick-me-up before a trip to the gym, it isn't necessarily the most effective means of delivering that caffeine. You might have heard that consuming carbohydrates is a good way to supply your body with energy before a cardio workout. That doesn't mean that you should drink beer before a workout. But why not? Beer is full of carbs. Well, beer isn't the most effective delivery means for carbs, just like coffee isn't the most effective delivery means for caffeine. 

What about all the different powders, gels, and drinks available as a pre- or during-workout energy boost? While they are undoubtedly full of caffeine, they are also usually full of chemicals, additives, and processed bullshit. So, what to do? 

This is where Okana comes in. A single cup of Okana has all the benefits of a cup of coffee or pre-workout powder, and none of the negatives. That's right – Okana is the perfect choice to fuel your workout! The reason is simple. 

Coffee, while full of caffeine, delivers too much caffeine in a short period of time, resulting in a crash. And for many people, coffee has a host of other nasty side effects: indigestion, poor sleep, anxiety, heart palpitations, ulcers, stained teeth, and bad breath. Sounds like a bad way to ruin otherwise healthy choices. 

On the other end of the spectrum, many of the pre-workout supplements available on the market are full of all kinds of shit that you may not want to put into your body, unless you're really careful about which products to choose. And don't even get us started on all the crap in energy drinks. 

Okana, meanwhile, provides your body with a natural boost of caffeine, but does so with a slowly-diffused and long-lasting spike of energy. This is because Yerba Maté, a key ingredient in our Ultimate Coffee Alternative, delivers caffeine in a way that is milder and more sustainable, and still no less effective than coffee or workout supplements. You get the boost of energy that you need, but without the short-lived explosion of caffeine provided by coffee. This means more fuel to keep you going over longer periods of time. 

Perhaps more importantly, and unlike coffee and energy supplements, Okana comes with more than just caffeine. It's also full of some of the world's most potent superfoods and adaptogens, like licorice, ashwagandha, lucuma, ginger, ginseng, reishi, lion's mane, and cinnamon. When you finish a workout, your body needs the kind of ingredients that can help it recover. And what better than ingredients that have been prized around the world for thousands of years for their ability to enhance your overall health and well-being? 

When you're preparing yourself for a heavy set of squats, or for a grueling marathon, your body is going to need a ton of things to prepare and ultimately recover: good sleep, stretching, healthy diet, water, to name a few. But there's a new workout supplement that you can count on for maximum performance and recovery during your journey to peak performance: Okana. The ultimate source of energy in caffeine, the ultimate source of recovery in superfoods and adaptogens, and the Ultimate Coffee Alternative. 

Now get your ass off the couch and into the gym! Just be sure to grab that cup of Okana before you do.

We at Okana value healthy habits and espouse the virtues of exercise! This article will focus on physical fitness...

We all have heroes. People we look up to for inspiration, motivation, even validation. 

Our heroes can be men or women. Dead or alive. Personal or broad. 

Sometimes our heroes are advocates for noble causes – the environment, LGBTQ rights, income equality. Sometimes our heroes simply do cool shit – write awesome music, develop innovative bicycles, scale mountains, or travel the world. 

Mozart for the musician. Martin Luther King Jr. for the human rights activist. Hemingway for the writer. Bourdain for the adventurer. Hell, even your cancer-beating mom can be a hero. 

We often look up to people in the hope that one day we can face them eye-to-eye, as peers. But sometimes we look up to people as we search for proof that the metaphorical mountains that we're climbing are, in fact, scalable. 

This is why at Okana we focus our attention on certain people in the world in our Excel series of content and interviews. We, both as individuals and as a team, look up to certain people who are doing great things in this world. They inspire us to excel at what we do, and hope that they can inspire you to excel at what you do. 

But to us, everyone is worthy of praise. If you're working hard, sacrificing, struggling, and committing to do good and succeed in this world…we see you. We admire you. And you're part of the reason that we got into this business. 

We want you to have the energy, focus, and health to maximize your efforts. To scale that mountain, to cross that valley, to break that plateau. 

This goes beyond the ingredients in our product. Using our Excel series of content and interviews, we want to show you inspirational people from around the world, working on an endless range of projects, coming from a variety of backgrounds, in the hope that you can find the inspiration that you need to keep going. 

So keep an eye out for more content with fascinating people. In the meantime, get back to excelling at what you do.

We all have heroes. People we look up to for inspiration, motivation, even validation.

Excel with Taras Kravtchouk

We had the chance to speak to Taras Kravtchouk, which you can also see on our Instagram page. 

This was an absolute pleasure for us at Okana because Taras is not only an incredibly friendly and endlessly fascinating person, but our co-founder is a big fan of Taras as both a creator and entrepreneur. 

(And holy shit do those motorcycles look amazing.)

We know what you're thinking: “What the heck does a Coffee Alternative company have to do with a guy building electric motorcycles?”

It's a fair question. But also an easy one to explain. 

We at Okana love to gain inspiration from, well, inspiring people. This applies to people in all walks of life. Engineers, musicians, chefs, entrepreneurs, artists, explorers, athletes – all creatures big and small who strive to make a difference in this world. 

At the end of the day, we make Okana Coffee Alternative to provide you with the health, focus, and happiness to keep you moving on whatever path you're taking. And if people like Taras can help you find that extra bit of inspiration or motivation, then all the better. 

This world is big, but it's also surprisingly small. We're all in this together, and we collectively face a host of problems. Problems that require everything from small actions to big ideas to solve. Taras is one of those people who looked at a problem and decided with great conviction to address it. That's what we want to inspire in you: The courage and motivation to face a problem, no matter the scale, and think, “I'm going to do something about this.”

Maybe it's figuring out what to do with the last of the food in the fridge before it goes bad. Maybe it's writing code for a new app that addresses issues in healthcare access. Or maybe it's looking at a motorcycle and proclaiming, “Let's make these fuckers better for the environment.” 

Taras is a man of vision, a man of action, a man of principle, and a man worth knowing. So it was our pleasure to introduce you to him. We plan on introducing you to more inspiring men and women who are doing great things. Because we all need a little extra something that pushes us over the top.

Perhaps, we hope, Okana Coffee Alternative will be the extra push that you need to feel and perform your best. So get thinking, get innovating, get creating… and get drinking. 

And stay tuned for more interviews in the future!

We know what you're thinking: “What the heck does a Coffee Alternative company have to do with a guy building electric motorcycles?”... It's a fair question. But also an easy one to explain. 

Our Chat with Taras of Tarform Motorcycles

Excel

Exercise Your Right to Okana

Why Excel?

Our Chat with Taras of Tarform Motorcycles