Mt. Dew (and other sodas), uncovered!

Remember a while back when I posted that Mt. Dew (one of my worst guilty pleasures) was rare here but that we found something called "Mt. Dew Energized?" The drink seemed a bit odd because it said "with caffeine" on the bottle/can and I wasn't sure why. I think I figured it out! I've done some reading and it turns out that many (maybe most or all) non-energy drinks (including Mt. Dew) were not allowed to have caffeine. Somehow soda drinks (like coca cola) but not soft drinks (like Pepsi and Mt. Dew; don't really understand the difference) are allowed to have minimal caffeine. This explains a nasty and useless Pepsi I had the other day as well. Thus, it appears that these new Mt. Dew Energized are the first Mt. Dew's to have caffeine here in Australia. People are really posting about it. A little hunting on forums showed me that apparently this is common in other countries as well. In fact, it appears that the US is one of the only (or the only) country to have such liberal caffeine regulations. The fact that I don't really enjoy tea, and can't stand coffee, have made early mornings and long days a struggle and now I know I can't turn to sodas either - although it's probably better. My next plan is to make a chai tea powder concoction similar to that sold by a local coffee shop from back home. Hopefully that will help...