Sol mate' Sparkling Yerba Mate' Original

Shopping through my local Big Lots brought me a surprise, Sol mate Sparkling Yerba Mate' Original. Sol mate Original is made by the, Sol Mate' Beverage company and is the first energy drink that I've reviewed that comes in a glass bottle, the way all carbonated drinks should come in. Sol mate' Original, the name, leaves me to believe that its going to be a Red Bull clone, but for some reason, I feel that Sol mate is too premium to use such an over used flavour. On other note, the check out lady at Big Lots recommended me this and told me not to consume any other caffeinated drinks afterwords. Now, while I did buy the drink after her recommendation, I WILL drink more caffeinated drinks through out the day because no body tells the Caffeine King what to do...

FIRST IMPRESSION: The bottle of Sol mate' Original is very basic, with only a sun, and some writing. The colour of the drink is piss yellow, which is not a very appealing colour. And the slogan, "Just Energy No Jitters" doesn't really excite me. Overall, I don't like the bottle. If Sol mate wants to sell more drinks, they're gonna have to change the colour to something less piss-like(or tint the bottle), and spice up the bottle a little bit. But I do like the fact that it comes in a glass bottle, but the positives don't outweigh the negatives.

TASTE: After struggling to pop the cap off, I finally opened the bottle and took a sip. The flavour really surprised me. It starts off with a light tea flavour, lightly sweetened, then it fades away with a milk-diluted coffee taste similar to coffee ice cream. There is some underlying bitterness to the drink that I think comes from the coffee flavour. Overall, I don't like the taste of Sol mate' Original, as it try's and it try's hard, but it never really succeeds. It try's to be two completely different flavours at once, which should come to no surprise that it doesn't do well. Its also a real chore to finish drinking. I haven't had a drink that's so difficult to finish since Vital Lifestyle Water Energize Dragon Fruit.

KICK: Each bottle contains: sixty mg of caffeine, Mate' extract, organic can sugar, and citric acid. This "blend" of ingredients gave me one of the weakest kicks since the debut of this web log. Just like the slogan claimed, I got no jitters, but I also got no energy. The caffeine content is similar to a twelve oz. can of Vault, and so is the kick. Overall, a weak buzz that makes even FreeFall seem like Jolt.

FINAL WORD: Overall, I feel that Sol mate' Sparkling Yerba Mate' Original is one of the most disappointing energy drinks I've had in quite some time. Though my expectations where pretty low, what is disappointing is that the drink didn't even meet them. Though I like the fact that more companies are releasing premium energy drinks, with real sugar, glass bottles, and more vitamins, but Sol mate' is not a good example of these. In fact, Sol mate' is a perfect example of how not to make an all-natural energy drink...2/5

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