Humans take caffeine with them. Coffee, tea (camellia or mate/ilex), cocoa, and kola have been enjoyed for hundreds or thousands of years1. However, outside the tropics, there are few native plants that biosynthesize it. Caffeine’s high soluability in water means that, in North America, you can track human activity through caffeine2.

Caffeinated fish, then, tell a story. Of meaningful signals in noisy environments, of the want and need to do more, of humanity’s capability to cause impact. A reminder that actions have outcomes, intended or not, desired or not. We must design with care and intention as one half of the battle. Then we must test and observe. Is it working? Is it good?

  1. Walsh, C. ; Pollan, M. How caffeine changed the world. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/author-michael-pollan-discusses-how-caffeine-changed-the-world/ (accessed 2026-07-24) ↩

  2. Busse, L. ; Nagoda, C. Detection of Caffeine in the Streams and Rivers within the San Diego Region Pilot Study. https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sandiego/water_issues/programs/swamp/docs/Caffeine_FINAL_22Dec2015.pdf (accessed 2026-07-24). ↩