All other things equal, does the “source” of caffeine intake make any meaningful difference or effect? For example, consuming 200mg of caffeine via 1) coffee, 2) tea, 3) pills — would the overall ergogenic effect be equal between them? I ask because I’ve switched from traditional energy drinks to a yerba mate drink, hoping that it may provide a smoother effect of some kind, but perhaps I’m just falling victim to the naturalistic fallacy. I do understand that there are other unique health promoting effects from coffee and tea, but this question is mostly aimed at the caffeine by itself.
Save for potentially different times to peak caffeine blood levels (and its effect on performance), the source matters relatively little in this context.