Wired is a way of life. Stressed-out students have become dependent on energy drinks and coffee to get them through the day. Overworked and under-rested, students are now more than ever in need of something to help them chill out.

Max Baumann is a City College student who is familiar with managing all the pressures and anxiety that come with being a college student. Upon beginning college, he said he found himself swamped with schoolwork, extensive extra-curricular activities, and a relentless social life. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed surfer said he was dependent on caffeine to keep him alert, until he invented a focus drink like nothing the world had sipped before. He called his concoction “Just Chill.”

Baumann said he understands that people’s bodies aren’t made to run on caffeine and sugar. We need vitamins and nutrients in order to function properly.

Baumann had been surfing since he was ten-years-old, and dreamed of becoming a professional surfer. He said he soon realized there are so many “naturally talented freaks” in the world, and while surfing was his passion, he needed a backup plan. He eventually became co-captain of the UCSB surf team, and said his experience competing on the team is what inspired his idea.

“We all used to drink energy drinks before competing, but it only made us more unfocused and nervous,” Baumann said.

The team of surfers soon realized that this “jitter-juice,” as they called it, was only hurting their ability to perform in the water.

Seven long months after his idea came to be, Baumann said he was finally ready to give tense consumers a taste of tranquility.

The blue and white container resembles the shape and size of a Red Bull, but the difference is what’s inside.

Something all potential Chill fans must know is that Just Chill is not an energy drink, but a “unique-function” drink, Baumann said. It’s designed to reduce stress while increasing focus without causing the nervous, jittery feeling one gets with popular energy drinks.

With only 50 calories per can, the focus drink is a combination of all-natural fruit juice mixed with all-natural ingredients, such as lemongrass extract, ginkgo biloba, and ginseng. The fizzy and fruity beverage is also full of rich minerals like vitamin C, vitamin B, magnesium, and zinc. What gives Just Chill its unique punch is the L-theanine, which increases vigilance and focus while decreasing stress and anxiety, Baumann said.

The cans are manufactured in New York by the Ball Company, then sent to Minnesota to be filled and sealed by Cold Springs Brewing Company.

“I drink it every day. I’m a product of my product,” Baumann said. “It makes me more relaxed and easygoing.”

The 21-year-old CEO is currently majoring in Marketing at City College. Although Baumann is not enrolled at City College full-time, he enjoys taking business and marketing courses to learn how he can build his Just Chill Empire, he said.

“What I remembered most when he shared his ideas for Just Chill, he wanted all his fellow students to know that they too could do anything with their own products if they just believed in what they created and wanted to share it with others,” Julie Brown said, Baumann’s Marketing professor. “Max continues to be innovative and encouraging to those around him both personally and professionally in his SBCC academic environment.”

Just Chill currently sponsors the UCSB surf team, and Baumann said he has big plans for giving back in the future. Baumann said a portion of Just Chill’s proceeds are to go to the “Chill-dren” of the world in hopes of helping them to become successful without living with angst.

Just Chill is available for purchase online, and is sold in local liquor stores like SOS Liquor and Keg N Bottle in Isla Vista. A couple of the local Cold Stone ice cream stores, as well as Sam’s To Go, also carry Baumann’s drink.

For all the world’s caffeine consumers, Baumann advises a preparation for “global chilling,” because Just Chill will help everyone become less stressed-out and more carefree, he said.