No, there is no cocaine in Celsius energy drinks. The rumor linking Celsius to cocaine stems from a 2024 social media claim that the drink could trigger a positive cocaine result on drug tests, but toxicology experts and the company itself have firmly debunked this. Celsius contains caffeine, green tea extract, and other common stimulants, none of which are related to cocaine.
Where the Rumor Started
In June 2024, a baseball reporter posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Major League Baseball players were being told to avoid Celsius because it had “been known to flag as cocaine in MLB drug testing.” The claim spread quickly, and a separate report from Credihealth suggested Celsius could cause failed drug tests under the NCAA’s testing program if “consumed irresponsibly.”
Both MLB and the MLB Players Association responded directly, telling Front Office Sports they were “not aware of any specific ingredient in Celsius that would cause a positive test result” and had never communicated any such warning to teams or players. Celsius called the claim a “spurious second-hand claim” and said allegations about failed drug tests “have been proven false.”
What Toxicologists Say
Dr. Peter Chai, an associate professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, reviewed the Celsius ingredient list and was blunt: “I don’t really know what would cause a positive cocaine screening from drinking that energy drink, unless you were also drinking cocaine.” He confirmed that nothing in the formula would trigger a urine drug screen for cocaine or other illicit substances.
A reporter at Front Office Sports even ran a simple self-experiment: he drank a 12-ounce sparkling orange Celsius (200 milligrams of caffeine) and took a standard drug test panel. The result came back negative for cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, marijuana, methamphetamine, opiates, and PCP.
What Celsius Actually Contains
The stimulant kick in Celsius comes from its MetaPlus proprietary blend, which includes green tea extract, caffeine, guarana seed extract, taurine, and ginger root extract. A standard 12-ounce can has 200 milligrams of caffeine, while the larger 16-ounce Celsius Essentials line packs 270 milligrams. For comparison, a typical 8-ounce cup of coffee has around 95 milligrams.
Guarana, one of the blend’s key ingredients, is a plant from the Amazon that contains its own natural caffeine. It’s commonly used in energy products as a stimulant and fatigue reducer. Combined with the caffeine already in the drink and the caffeine in the green tea extract, Celsius delivers a significant stimulant load, but all of it comes from legal, widely available compounds. None of these ingredients share a chemical structure with cocaine or its metabolites, which is why they don’t cross-react on drug screening panels.
Third-Party Testing Confirms No Banned Substances
Many Celsius products carry NSF Certified for Sport certification, a rigorous third-party testing program designed to verify that products are free of banned substances. NSF tests for over 280 substances prohibited by major sports organizations, including cocaine and other stimulants on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list. More than 30 Celsius flavors across the Sparkling and Fizz Free lines currently hold this certification, covering lots with expiration dates of August 2027 or later.
Both MLB and the players’ union told reporters they only recommend and provide drinks to players that carry the NSF Certified for Sport label. The fact that Celsius holds this certification across dozens of products is strong independent evidence that the drinks do not contain cocaine or any substance that mimics it on a drug test.
Why the Rumor Gained Traction
Energy drinks sit in a gray area of public perception. They contain high levels of stimulants, they’re marketed with aggressive branding, and most people don’t recognize ingredient names like guarana or taurine. When someone hears “stimulant that could flag on a drug test,” the leap to “must contain something illegal” feels intuitive even when it’s wrong.
The confusion may also stem from the fact that coca leaf extract (a non-narcotic derivative of the same plant that produces cocaine) was historically used in some beverages, most famously early Coca-Cola formulations over a century ago. But Celsius has no connection to coca products whatsoever. Its stimulant profile is built entirely on caffeine from multiple sources, which is the same compound in your morning coffee, just in a higher dose.