Rip It Tribute Zero Sugar Energy Drink Review

Sporting a slightly spruced up metal transport, with mildly adjusted colors and visuals, the biggest difference to Rip It Tribute's diet cousin since we last saw it is the swap from "sugar free" to "zero sugar." I suppose the new term markets better, but it is too large, too stylized and too out of place with its font choice and angled text; for a can covered in camouflage, it sure sticks out like a sore thumb.

Rip It Tribute barrels out of the can and immediately dies an unceremonious death, mouthfuls are sporadically sour, for sure, but they lack any mouthfeel, cruising past the palate and down the hatch like a generic seltzer drinks when it is the only thing left to sip. The mandarin orange is the sweeter of the two fruits, but its reliance on sucralose and ace-k leaves things with a weightless texture and an artificial aftertaste; my tongue was never fooled into believing anything other than synthetic sweeteners were summoned. The lime is where the acidity lies and I wish the beverage leaned heavier into the tartness realm, if only to help it stand out. Carbonation is at least cocksure and helps the experience live a little, but this is sixteen ounces of missed opportunity to right a slight wrong committed to The Caffeine King on May 25, 2019. Instead, the world-renowned energy drink critic again suffers mildly.

Much like the can and taste, the buzz here is stuck in the potent potable past. With 160 milligrams of my namesake stimulant and a familiar blend of vitamins, taurine and others, the kick is a functional two hour long but entirely stock one. But do not get me wrong here, Rip It Tribute Zero Sugar is generic as hell, but it is cheap, drinkable and contains caffeine- that alone is worth something.

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Monster Orange Dreamsicle Energy Drink Review

With a smaller logo against a vague black backdrop, this is one imposing energy drink. It sat in my fridge for a few weeks, intimidating me from drinking it until, one day I decided I would intimidate it. But then it occurred to me- didn't this very same beverage appear under the sub-brand "Reserve?" I suppose the world will never know.

The flavor is outrageously orange, one that assaults your palate without mercy until it begs for something, anything, to help clear up its fruity intoxication. The can declares this as "wickedly creamy," and I would have to agree: not only are the thousands of tiny little bubbles soft like velvet, they seem almost vanilla flavored. This is the final piece of the creamsicle puzzle and it won me over after several sips of the brightly colored elixir; what it lacks in complexity, it makes up for with unbridled dedication to the simple sapors. Sugar and glucose sweeten without supervision, no acidity strong enough to counteract the caloric salvo that is forty six grams of carbohydrates. Sucralose is here too, I suppose to try and reign things in without a tart bodyguard, and for better or worse, but it has minimal impact on the tongue. Mouthfuls have a heavy mouth feel, a wonderful weight that works against the synthetic sugar implications. But at sixteen ounces, the underdeveloped and uncompromising citrus and spice makes for a lethargic experience, one that may have worked at a smaller dosage but is an absolute struggle in its current stature.

With a rather paltry 160 milligrams of caffeine, the buzz does not meet the standards of its wackadoodle taste, but I will survive. Lasting two hours, I wish there was more of my namesake stimulant, but I guess taurine, inositol and vitamins will just have to do.

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Bang Any Means Orange Energy Drink Review

Wait a second- a Bang that is an "Amp Exclusive?" Like the Pepsico energy drink? My "2025 bingo card" is wild.

Naw, it is just some popular interweb people that I have never heard of until I sat down at my keyboard for review here. The can is, fine, I suppose, but you see the words "bang" and "amp" and one would expect personality! Energy! Movement! But instead, this is the same old design I have criticized for nearly a decade.

Out pours an elixir so crystal clear that had it not been for the sixteen ounce can in my hand, you might think this where so common seltzer. The flavor is of course orange, but instead of taking the Sunkist route, Bang opens your freezer, digs around and pulls out a frozen orange creamsicle for inspiration. It is a great idea in theory, but the exclusive and overwhelming reliance on sucralose means mouthfuls have this hollow yet unrelenting influence on the experience: sips end up tasting more like those little yellow sachets on coffee shop tables more so than any fruit-based dairy-derived dessert. It crashes down on your palate without grace, a big ol' lump of ill-begotten ideas and mismanagement: take, for example, the brief window in this potent potable where your tongue detects some acidity. This could have helped give the citrus the impression its origins are from somewhere other than a lab, but no, sorry, your sourness is in another product. The diet sweetener kills it! The momentary mentions of vanilla are lost in this synthetic sea of sweetness, lacking the creamy goodness of the famous frozen refreshment; I cannot understate just how much of an issue this is, but then again what do I know? I ain't no popular interweb person.

I do love the 300 milligrams of caffeine here, and I am sure someone out there will appreciate all the amino acids and other supplements the back of the can lists out. The three hour long buzz is great but, after suffering through a flavor like this, I am not sure it was worth it.

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Monster Reserve Orange Dreamsicle Energy Drink Review

Orange is one of those flavors that seldom offers nuance: it either resembles juice or soda, with very little wiggle room. So Monster Reserve's "Orange Dreamsicle" is an exciting possibility, what could this taste like? But its can is just plain ol' business as usual, slight texture, minimal text and brand recognition in place of visual fidelity.

With thousands of reviews under my belt, I love to be surprised, and this does. There is a wonderful creaminess beneath an otherwise static orange profile, and if I close my eyes hard enough I can just picture that creamsicle melting to the subtle heat of my mouth, its bright colored exterior dripping sticky syrup to expose a milky white core. It has a most basic fruit flavor, offering nothing in way of complexity, and yeah, sixteen ounces is a lot to stomach. I mean, I am not a kid anymore, but the idea here is supremely executed and for a second, just a split-second, I was, in fact, a child standing outside the ice cream truck hoping my mom does not ask for her change back.

160 milligrams of caffeine is just an OK amount of my namesake chemical. The buzz is thusly just as adequate, lasting two hours, though my body did get a touch of a sugar rush thanks to twenty eight grams of the carbohydrate. Other ingredients include B vitamins, taurine, l-carnitine, inositol and others. In the end, Monster Reserve Orange Dreamsicle looks and kicks worse than its taste deserves.

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Rockstar Revolt Killer Citrus Energy Drink Review

Visually congruent to both Lime Freeze and Punched Citrus, Revolt Killer Citrus represents Rockstar again stepping on its own toes. Available exclusively at Speedway Stores, yes the same gas station who brought us Shock Wave, its camouflage colored can just has too many fonts, too similar colors, and too much text.

Diluted effervescence stunts the super sugary experience here, a completely stock citrus cocktail of lime, grapefruit, and orange. The former two are braided with one another, a fairly thoughtful blending shocked into dullness by each fruit's dimensionlessness and general blandness. The latter adds the only zest to any of the too many sixteen ounces, giving each imbibe some must needed intricacy on the tongue; saving every sip from the sixty four grams of saccharine syrupiness. Its only acidity is additionally found here, a lamentable omission from a potation that truly pines for a fun tartness.

Each can contains: caffeine (240 milligrams), taurine, inositol, ginseng, guarana, milk thistle, and B vitamins. The buzz is a blast, all of the bitter chemical and excess sugar really kick it old school; crash and all. But hey, that comes with the territory. All in all, Rockstar Revolt Killer Citrus is not quite as revolting as it could be, but this "killer" could not hurt a fly.

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Ryse Fuel Sunny D Energy Drink Review

Not Rise, like the coffee, or Rise, like the Mtn Dew (who ended up being sued by the former), here we have "Ryse Fuel," with an "y." See, it is completely different. And to make matters even worse, today's variety features the Sunny D license, which is of course a soft drink marketed to kids on a drink totally inappropriate for said kids. That is not to say adults cannot drink Sunny D, but who its target audience? The package is otherwise busy, with text of all different sizes and fonts flying in all sorts of different directions. 

As someone who was once a kid (and probably a kid still at heart), I have had Sunny D before: its distinct "not entirely juice but still not soda" flavor is so ingrained my person that when something like Ryse Fuel comes along and mucks up the classic profile, I notice. The first sin is being carbonated, so sips smack your palate with an incongruous texture, a sharp, almost spiky mouthfeel that would be more inline with an orange soda than its source material. The real stuff also contains some actual fruit nectar, something not present here, and it shows. Orange is the dominate flavor (duh), a potent impersonation of the same-colored produce, and it makes up a bulk of every sip. The front of the shrink-wrapped can shows images of what my eyes detect as lime, lemon and grapefruit, but only the lemon really shines through, chiefly in its sourness. This acidity is exactly what the experience needs to cut through the aggressive sweetness, as we have that old blend of sucralose and ace-k on the job, and they default to "more is more." This is a very saccharine product, but there is just enough of the license's spunk to keep this from being a total dud.

I appreciated the 200 milligrams of caffeine, with its resulting three hour long buzz, but I repeat: this is NOT for children! Yeah we also have taurine, vitamins, yada yada, but my point still stands. Is Ryse Fuel Sunny D bad? Not really, but its warmed-over name and oxymoron flavor are the only things memorable.

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Gatorade Fast Twitch Orange Energy Drink Review

Does it make sense for Gatorade to enter the energy drink market? I dunno, but it sure makes for one hell of a conversation piece, if you can find someone who cares. As for me, I cannot get past its lackluster packaging, from the ugly combination of orange and green that just sears the eyes with its ungainliness.

The flavor is fortunately far better than the brand's Cool Blue version, but that means little when you remember just how awful that potable was. The non-carbonated elixir bathes the tongue with a most stereotypical orange taste you can imagine, a saccharinity from sole sweetener sucralose that succumbs to the acidic insufficiency; the sourness so desperately needs a shot of excitement to shock this otherwise lifeless liquid into something worth sipping. I gulped ounce after ounce and wished it was almost anything else.

The brand's 200 milligrams of caffeine is a lifesaver when you realize just how unappetizing and ugly this is. Expect a buzz in the ballpark of three hours, but during that time you just sit there and think back to how much you had to suffer through to get that stimulant feeling flow throughout your body, and ask yourself: was it worth it?

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Carabao Mandarin Orange Energy Drink Review

Mandarin Orange is the flavor, so orange is the color. It all makes sense on this unremarkable looking drink, but it cuts out any unnecessary fluff and goes straight into telling you what it is and is not.

Your first sip tricks you; your tongue lulled into a false sense of familiarity of orange. It is overly sweet with just a hint of sourness, carbonated like any such soft drink would. Then only moments later into your imbibe, a secondary blast of citrus rocks your mouth, far more potent piece of produce with an earthy nuance that pierces your unprepared palate: it is the mandarin. Props to Carabao for actually showcasing the subtly between the two, at least in the realm of power potables. There is not one second here where the "flavoring" resembled anything found in the real world, but we get two very distinct tastes, and that is much appreciated. All this happens within the first handful of gulps, so by the time only a drip or two remains inside the aluminum walls, you have familiarized yourself with its tricks, so you reflect at a surprising but otherwise standard experience.

The interwebs inform me that each can contains 105 milligrams of caffeine, an amount OK considering its sub-sixteen ounce size and responsible for the few hours long buzz. Other ingredients include B vitamins, taurine and inositol. All in all, Carabao Mandarin Orange sipped with moderate finesse, and considering I bought a can on-sale for only a buck, I am not disappointed. 

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Mtn Dew Rise Orange Breeze Energy Drink

Mtn Dew and its associate AMP have been trying to get people to imbibe their sugary bubblies in the morning for years now; oh you do not believe me? Recall their 100% juice entry back in 2010. Then came their "Kickstart" phase a few years later in 2013, which remains on-sale today. Still unconvinced? Go back even further to the late eighties to "Pepsi AM," although that experiment is nothing more today than the answer to a trivia question.

What I am getting at here? This latest attempt "Mtn Dew Rise" is a full-blown energy drink, discarding their usual "AMP Energy" moniker but cannibalizing their own existing products while showing that they really have not learned anything. The naked aluminum coloring is relatively unique amongst competing caffeinated cocktails in the cooler, but it is uninteresting to look at and shows ungainly smudges thus making it difficult to photograph. The design is at least very clean, and the angled lion imagery is cool, because lions are cool.

The flavor is, well, it is another "five percent juice" creation consisting first of white grape and then of the anticipated citrus. This has the orange tasting dulled and diluted, losing its acidic edge in a pool of basic sweetness. It still does resemble tropical harvest, but in the way a generic can of orange soda does; in no way could any palate mistake this as a glass of freshly squeezed nectar. In addition to aspartame, sucralose and ace-k, we do have real sugar to work with. This side effect of its ingredients aid to alleviate any adverse aftertaste, as well as help manufacturer a slight toothsomeness. But the overall texture involves little else but carbonation, a failure to understand the pulpy mouthfeel one looks for from the produce; with so little fruit actually included here, your palate feels detached from what you are actually quaffing, and is ultimately disenfranchised by the time the last few drips fall from the can and onto your tongue.

I said before that the brand does not learn from their mistakes, but that is not entirely accurate; we have a whole 180 milligrams of caffeine, which is twice than what most of their comparable commodities contain. Vitamins, antioxidants, and a few others round out the supplement list, but we came here for the caffeine. Overall, Mtn Dew Rise Orange Breeze treads overly familiar ground and is unlikely to break coffee's morning monopoly, but it is not horrible, which is about all you really need to know.

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Sparkling Ice + Caffeine Triple Citrus Review

Seltzer energy drinks make a lot of sense, although today's featured presentation does not call itself an energy drink. Why not? Contains caffeine? Check. Vitamins present? Check. Comes in a sixteen ounce can? Check. Upon first glace, this is an energy drink, but it does not market itself as such. Perhaps they are trying to avoid the baggage that comes with the soft drink genre, but who knows?

The flavor is full-on seltzer, an experience instantly familiar to anyone who has grabbed a can of the hip new drink. "Triple Citrus" reads of the can and it is not a lie- lemon, lime, and orange are all tasted right away. This triple-threat of neon colored fruits commit to a balance that allows for each individual plenty of time on the tongue to persuade it its way. This impersonation of depth is enough to carry the entire sixteen ounces through completion, aided by an acidity that could have been a touch tougher, but hey, at least we have some sourness. Sucralose is in charge of sweetness, the lone synthetic sugar benefiting from the inherit coarseness of its sparkling origin- there is only a most mild aftertaste blended into the crass carbonation.

There is only seventy milligrams of caffeine per can, a suspiciously low amount for a beverage of this size. The buzz is not spectacular, in fact, it is pretty tame experience. Lasting only an hour, energy drink junkies will not be pleased. Overall, Sparkling Ice + Caffeine Triple Citrus is a pretty decent time, but it struggles with its own identity.

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Swagger Chupacabra Orange Mango Energy Drink Review

The can here is decent; the vertical orange stripe is slimming and looks pretty sharp so bright against all the black. And the little guy there, the chupacabra, shows both innocence and an edge in its simplicity. The fonts are another story, however, the word "Swagger" typed in generic gangster font. "Put a little swagger in you?" How about not?

The flavor is fantastic! Real sugar has every foudroyant sip sporting real weight and depth, harmony and pleasure from the modest nineteen grams of the sweet stuff per serving. Orange and mango take the show here, a brilliant braid with superb tartness and preeminent verisimilitude. Nuance of pineapple and grapefruit saturate each imbibe, themselves genuine and escalating the experience from great to greater. The mouthfeel is inspired and interesting despite there being no actual juice, each splash of this translucent cooler grainy, thick and never syrupy. Flaccid creativity carelessly replaced by stoic vividness and potency, this is nothing we have not tasted dozens of times before. But every passionate swig has us reminded why this experience gets parodied so frequently. There are thousands of energy drinks sitting on store shelves, but this is one instance when that store should not have been Job Lots. This taste deserves better.

Each can contains: carnitine, guarana, taurine, caffeine, and B vitamins, among others. The buzz proves to be this beverage's weak spot, more so than its stock aluminum transport, a kick lasting two and a half hours. In the end, Swagger Chupacabra Orange Mango drinks better than it performs or looks. But for the handful of change it ran me, I will take it.

EBOOST Sparkling Orange Mango Energy Drink Review

There is a great idea somewhere in EBOOST's appearance, but I doubt we will ever find it. The biggest knock against it is the shrink-wrapped label, which is so poorly adhering to the can that you can see and feel gaps of air and thick creases, in addition to gripping the aluminum at a slant- it is a messy looking hunk of hollow metal. Text is inconsistently sized, including the branding being smaller than its slogan "your kick in a can," and there is little in the way of visuals to relieve your eyes of all the reading.

The flavor, on the other hand, is good, almost wonderful. Benefiting grandly from a four percentage of orange juice concentrate, each sip has a bit of an earthy bite to it, a sort of homey acidity amplified by the use of honey, a rare sweetener in the world of energy drinks. This mild punch plays harmoniously with the sparkling nature, a coarse carbonation so happy to have some other funky feature to play with. But it is not all perfect in the home of EBOOST; with a marketed flavor of "orange mango," your tongue tastes nothing of the latter. Every gulp washes over your palate with nothing but the citrus, and you feel cheated with each passing imbibe. 'Tis a shame, really, as what we do end up tasting is pretty great.

This is no doubt an energy drink, with over a dozen different supplements lurking inside. From caffeine (110 milligrams), B vitamins and electrolytes to huperzia serrata extract, 5-htp and hovenia dulcis, they obviously tossed in everything but the kitchen sink to make their two hour long buzz. Overall, EBOOST Sparkling Orange Mango is a winded, wacko and distracted experience, but more importantly, not a bad one.

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Alani Nu Mimosa Energy Drink Review

Alani Nu is a peculiar energy drink, but not exactly for the best, or most conventional, reasons. A denizen to the local Big Lots, this is not your typical discount discovery; this ran me $2.60 a can, and was found at the checkout line, instead of in the food aisle with my other finds.

This is all before we even talk about the drink itself, which is diet and comes in a cheap shrink-wrapped can. But that is not all- the alleged flavor is mimosa, a first for the Caffeine King and ranks it among the most unusual for any energy product. Does it look good? Does it look bad? Does it matter? No, my eyes and mind were too preoccupied to offer even a fleeting opinion.

The flavor is not exactly a "mimosa," falling under the generic ranks of any orange soda available. That does not make it unpleasant, but Alani Nu had its work cut out for them when they crafted and marketed a product based on an adult aperitif but without the booze, and it is not entirely successful. The present orange taste makes use of a solid sourness to distract the sorely craved sugar (and alcohol), an acidity that bites the back of your tongue with more force than some actual fruit nectar could ever dream of. Erythritol, sucralose, and ace-k are in charge of the sweetness, a saccharinity that never resembles honest sugar, but seldom tastes fake. Your tongue and its penchant for full-bodied mouthfeel is the only part crestfallen by the current cocktail of non-caloric honeys, but it will get over it. Effervescence is another mixed bag, the coveted carbonated curtness is nowhere to be experienced, a bubbliness that simply keeps sips from feeling flat; this is oh-so obviously not made with champagne (or even a cheap sparkling wine).

The buzz is pretty good, with 200 milligrams of caffeine causing a cool 3 hour long buzz. Other ingredients include: B vitamins, taurine, ginseng, inositol, and guarana. In the end, Alani Nu Mimosa is an energy drink that just "went for it." Whether or not it succeeded is irrelevant, this potable has guts, and for it, I have admiration.

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Rockstar Juiced Pineapple-Orange-Guava Energy Drink Review

Rockstar is back at it again, this time with their new iterations of the of "Juiced" brand. Now with no added sugar and sparkling effervescence, the company is cannibalizing its own history by cramming previously separate ideas into one drink. The can suffers no doubt- oh it may get its point across, but it is a distracted mess of a design! The front is practically one large layer of text that is a slog to read through.

The flavor is absolutely nothing to write home about- honestly it is so boring it lays on the cusp of being unpleasant. Labeled "sparkling," the actual carbonation is is hopelessly dull, a muted texture that splashes your mouth without any sense of urgency or fervor. The trilogy of pictured produce barely shake hands with your palate before hurriedly waning into a weak sap your tastebuds show little interest returning to. With a sad eight percent of juice (apple, guava, pineapple and orange), the actual nectars have zero verisimilitude, limping across the tongue as an indistinguible, unharmonious hodgepodge of bad ideas. Sucralose and ace-k are in charge of sweetening, working with the four grams of true sugars administered by the aforesaid purees, but it is a dispassioned saccharinity that feels aggressively synthetic. A most critical disappointment is the utter lack of acidity- these fruits desperately declare for some sourness, I mean, they are fruits! But their calls go unanswered and gulp after gulp you find your mind wandering, wondering what they could be enjoying had they picked anything else in the store's ice box.

The buzz is another average cog in this disillusioned drink, lasting your standard two and a half hours. Each can contains caffeine (160 milligrams), B vitamins, taurine, inositol, ginseng, milk thistle, and guarana. In the end, Rockstar Juiced Pineapple-Orange-Guava is a miserable little excuse of an energy drink, and is not the way to start off 2020.

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Mtn Dew AMP Game Fuel Charged Orange Strike Review

Mtn Dew AMP Game Fuel Charged Orange Strike is such a long, stupid, tedious name, further cluttering its can into a disorganized mess of different fonts and colors; this design is an absolute disaster! Is it an energy drink? Is it a hyper sweet soda? Is it a promotion of the latest Call of Duty video game? Who cares?!

Before we even start here, let us take a guess- this newest in the line of crossovers between Pepsi brands will be a riff of Mtn Dew Live Wire. And after my first sip well, let us just say I wished I had bet money. We have a pathetic five percentage of juice, concentrates firstly from white grape juice but also from some actual orange juice, but their influence in the experience goes practically unnoticed. Twenty three grams of total sugars, from high fructose corn syrup, juice, ace-k and sucralose, preform awkwardly on the palate. Things are syrupy, grainy, and slightly synthetic, all at once, never sitting satisfyingly on your tongue. But the biggest problem here is the flavor, which is hardly what you would imagine an "orange" tasting like ripe from the tree. It tastes overly false, like a melted orange popsicle pumped full of carbonation. Overall, this is not a bad drink per se, but golly does it have its problems.

We get ninety one milligrams caffeine, several vitamins, ginseng, and yerba mate. That ingredient list is pathetic, resulting in a kick lasting just an hour or so, though there fortunately is not much in the form of a crash. To end, Mtn Dew AMP Game Fuel Charged Orange Strike is a mediocre misfire.

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Rip It Tribute C.Y.P-X Energy Drink Review

The latest in the Rip It line, and the third in the "Tribute" sub-brand, the name C.Y.P.-X means absolutely nothing, or at least to a civilian line me. The can, on the other hand, is a fun little diversion, its bright titian camouflage pattern and charcoal chevrons are a great update to the tried and true Rip It design.

Though your first sip is obviously citrus based, there is minimal resemblance to the Citrus X variety. There is an avalanche of vanilla with every imbibe, a fiddle of equal strength to the acidic orange taste. It is a creamy pairing, an almost lucious cocktail that rivals some energy coffees in terms of dairy prestige. I wish there was more tartness however, as gulps evolve into creamy exercises in excessive saccharinity, and by the time the last few ounces occupy the bottom of the can all you taste is corn syrup. An orange creamsicle experience through and through, an ultimately nostalgic ride through mediocrity.

Each can contains a cool 160 milligrams of caffeine, which gives drinkers a completely average two hour long kick. Other ingredients include: B vitamins, vitamin C, taurine, guarana, and inositol. On the whole, Rip It Tribute C.Y.P.-X is a messy myriad of ideas what ultimately ends up tasting like sugar.

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AMP Organic Tropical Burst Energy Drink Review

AMP just keeps the organic drinks coming, this time it is Tropical Burst. Its name gets the point across, but the design suffers from everything it is trying to say- how is it necessary to say "organic" three times right on the front of the can?!

The flavor fails to get off on the right foot, despite its seemingly simple cocktail of tastes. The fruits individually are replicated fairly well, that little description on the can- you see it? Where it lists "orange," "mango" and "passion fruit?" Well, that is about as complex as the experience gets, I'm afraid, but a simple interpretation is not the issue here. The problem is the sweetness- sure, there is forty four grams of cane sugar, but it never tastes like enough. Every sip is clouded in an abrasiveness, a slight bitterness when the fruits instead call for saccharinity. Another problem lies in the lack of acid; the flavors themselves are fine, but the tartness was lost in translation. 'Tis a shame.

Potency has never been the brand's strongest aspect, but this spinoff of the parent drinks fares even worse. The kick lasts an hour, jitter free, but impotent. Having really only 120 milligrams of caffeine does not help either. To end, AMP Organic Tropical Burst is commendable for its restricted use of ingredients (containing only five is impressive), but the can, taste and buzz just do not come together.

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UpTime Energy Drink Review

This tall black can is formidable, a heft that feels great in your palm with a pleasant matte finish. It beats around the bush calling itself an energy drink, because that is what it is, instead saying silly things like "energy supplement" instead of the more traditional declaration, but with a design as unique as this, I will let it slide.

UpTime is a citrus cocktail at heart, a traditional tasting blend of orange, lemon and lime, something that the can claims and my tongue verifies. It is a wholly generic trilogy of fruits, but there is a reason why this blend is bottled so often- it tastes good. Thirty nine grams of cane sugar does the sugaring and it does its job fairly well, slightly grainy but a texture welcoming against the syrupy nature of most drinks. Most enjoyable here is the tartness, an acidity that is almost puckering and balances out the cogent saccharinity. I have experienced this drink in others too many times, and so have you most likely, but it reaches the heights of its low expectations.

Each can contains: caffeine (142 milligrams), taurine, ginseng, ginkgo, among some others. The kick is weakest aspect of UpTime, not as devoted as its can and far more familiar than its flavor is, but it gets the job done. Just do not go expecting much aside from a two hour long buzz.

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Reize Energy Drink Review

This black little sachet comes in a tiny box of six, only a tad larger than a pack of cigarettes. The packaging is clean, with text of course, but nothing superfluous, aside from the obligatory puffery ("pocketful of energy," etc.). The tiny rocket blasting off of the "i" in the title is clever, but I would love to have a flavor indicator somewhere.

The pouch took a bit of persuasion to open, though it was not too significant a struggle. The grains inside stain the 250 ml of water a cloudy gold, with granular matter not yet disintegrated in the aqua floating like pollen in the air. Once the particles settle into their new serous home, sips discover the savor to be sharp but indistinguishable, a super sour and approaches tasting excessively sweet, a blend of aspartame and ace-k. There are far too few sips offered by the small amount for things to become grossly over-sweet, but those reaching for their second packet may want to reconsider. Very smooth despite its powder origins, the texture is surprisingly silky, never gritty and in no one sip does the powder taste individual from the taste of water. The flavor is mostly apple, orange and passion fruit, but it is a blend blandly blended; no one fruit stands tall away from the others, a cocktail so muted your tongue searches each particle for an individual flavor to notice. Not inherently a bad thing, but if the brand ever wants to branch out into other taste territories, they need a strong flavor-profile for consumers to identify.

Each pack contains B vitamins, taurine, ginseng, inositol, and fifty milligrams of caffeine. The kick is disappointing, lasting an hour, but I will take a weaker buzz over a bitter flavor. On the whole, Reize is an interesting energy powder, but a nip here and a tuck there would send it blasting off and over the moon.

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Full Throttle Orange Energy Drink Review

Full Throttle Orange appears to be a remake of the company's ancient "Fury" variety, though its design is a massive improvement since the last time we have heard from the company. The large bird crest provides the perfect level of detail without cluttering the can, and the lack of any superfluous text is a breath of fresh air in the market.

The flavor is a marvelously simple one, tasting like orange, plain and simple. It is powdery on the tongue, super sugary with a tartness that is bright and energetic. But there is more beneath the surface of the citrus than what meets the tongue, heavy undertones of blood orange and mandarin varieties round out an otherwise elementary flavor. It has zero influence from other fruits, remaining true to its citrus core, and its unbridled concentration is admirable and well done. Sweetness is refreshingly old-school, a gritty, slightly syrupy one, all from high fructose corn syrup and sucralose, but it never overwhelms the palate with the sweetener's usual gumminess.

Each can contains: taurine, B vitamins, and 160 milligrams of caffeine. Potency is without a doubt the biggest drawback here, a kick that settles for a mediocre resurrection of antiquated energy. In the end, Full Throttle Orange is arguably the best in the line, and an overall decent orange energy drink.

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