totally addicted to caffeine and energy drinks. Packaging, buzz and nutrition reviews

Deep within the cooler of a local Circle K store I found a bottle of this purple stuff that looks like it came out of a telemarketers' van. Not that it looked shady, but it looked... scammy. I feel like somewhere there is a guy like Professor Harold Hill from the Music Man who is trying to sell this from the back of his van. I have not heard of Genesis Today, but it seems they are big in the Super-Fruits category, selling mass amount sof super-fruity to ultra-healthy woo science lovers while advertising their wares of Dr. Oz and other pseudo medical channels. I feel like after I drink this I should feel more alive, younger, more healthy and be able to glow rainbows.

Alas, I am still rainbowless. I don't mind a nice Juice every now and then, but the whole thing where you have to eat foods rich in Amazonian goodness to get their ultra-healing powers is just bunk, and frustrates me a little when a drink decides to sell its wares on the backs of the gullible and the Third World Population that unwittingly gives it up. If you look at foods that are the most high in anti-oxidant goodness, you will find just as much good stuff in just about anything you eat on any normal day. Plums, nuts, refried beans, apples, and about a thousand other foods. I like this juice, but it is really just that - tasty grape juice with some caffeine in it.

I don't know exactly why, but it feels like this bottle is from a MLM home shopping club, like Young Living or Avon. One of the reasons this just feels weird is because the expiration date was very close to when I bought it (which means it might have been sitting on the shelf of the local Circle K for a very long time), and it certainly does not help that it seems the company does not even make this product anymore. They make something like it, called Wake Me instead, but that one is not sold anywhere in Colorado either (At least according to their product locator on their website). After a little digging on their site, it appears there is an MLM aspect to their business, But they might be found elsewhere too - hopefully not just out of the backs of vans.

Packaging:7
Energize Me comes in a nice clear shrink wrapped pet bottle. There is really nothing wrong with this bottle, but there is nothing particularly exciting about it either, The biggest part of the drink is the brand name, which unfortunately comes off like a MLM product than an actual bona-fide juice company. Also, it comes in a orangey red bottle, which is not really the color I see for an energy juice. There are some very cartoony lightning bolts on it, but they completely blend into the reddish background.

Functionally, the package is decent. They very helpfully list te caffeine, as well as all the other nutrition clearly. I like the PET bottle it comes in, and it works well with their healthy image. While it does not really have much going on, it does what it does decently enough.

Taste:6
Are you a fan of the concord grape? Have you ever chugged down Kosher wine? If so then you will really get into Energize Me juice, which tastes mostly like the Maneshewitz.THis is not a bad thing, although it is a little disappointing. After all, the cheapest juices to produce are apple and grape, which is why they are a filler to most juice blends. THat is also why straight pomegranate juice or acai is so expensive - because of the lack of apple or grape fillers.

In this case, the drink is mainly about filler, with just enough juice to make their claims fo being All Juice. While I liked the drink and I liked the flavor, I do think it is pretty misleading. The package says this is Pomegraate Berry. While I can taste a little pomegranate, there was little berry to be found. instead you have ruby red kosher grape juice, which is tasty enough, but probably no what they were going for.

Since it was all juice, I thought the best thing would be to un-healthy this a bit and make it into a screwdriver of sorts. Unfortunately, it did not turn out well. The grape in here is powerful enough that this turned into something akin to Roses Irish Red Wine, and that is not a very good thing. This definitely does not make for a good mixer, unless you could find a few other flavors, like lime juice, to help balance it out.

Buzz:3
I knew I was in trouble when the front page of their website asked:

Does this product contain Svetol®? YES!
Does this product contain 45% or more Chlorogenic Acids? YES!
Is this product free of excipients, fillers and binders? YES!
Does this product contain green coffee antioxidants "GCAs"? YES!

I dare ask, how many of you out there have ever heard of Svetol, Cholorogenic Acid, excipients or GCAs? I know that I have reviewed near a thousand drinks and have never heard of Svetol. I guess this is due to the fact that I am not really up on my diet-fad pills, and this is akin to the Hoodia of the 90s. There have been studies and all sorts of infomercials on how you can lose up to 80 pounds in 3 days only by taking these pills or something like that.

My only real problem is that if this drink is trying to market itself as a weight loss supplement, maybe it should have less than the 200 calories in a bottle. Just sayin', even 200 calories that are packed full of fruit juice is still almost the same or more than the calories in any soda made by Coca Cola. My point is even healthy, organic and life affirming sugar calories are still sugar calories - and probably no amount of magic slimming ingredients will offset it.

This also contains more proprietary health formulas, namely, ResVida Reservatrol. I have seen reservatrol in a number of energy drinks before, such as Monster's UberMonster, Bios Life Matcha tea, Solstic energy mix, and the delicious Black Grape Energy drink. This is special Brand Name reservatrol though. According to their website, the makers of Resvita, DSM, report that their reservatrol is the purest available on the market, and I don't know about you but I really hate all that off-brand reservatrol.

The biggest reason people would pick this up for any reason is the energy, right? After all, it is called Energize Me. However, the energy in this bottl is pretty low - low enough to almost not count for a review. There is a whopping 50mg per 8 ounces of caffeine in here, or a little more than a Mountain Dew. Still for an energizing drink this did not have any real energy.

It is not a bad thing Genesis Today has passed on making more of these. While the mix is OK, there really is not enough of energy, taste or cool to warrant picking this up over the many other caffeinated juice drinks on the market today

Madrinas is a Hispanic themed canned coffee drink with big ambitions. Yeah - you are wondering how a coffee drink can be themed Hispanic, but if you have ever had the pleasure of visiting Casa Bonita ( or saw the episode featuring it on South Park), you know that all you need is a sombrero, a little Ranchera music and a fake mustache for an authentic Mexican good time. Madrinas is crafted by the fine folk of Citrus Springs, a juice company stationed in Chesterfield Missouri. While I have only driven through the state, I can not imagine it is very easy to get hold of a bowl of Green Chile Stew or Posole on a Sunday Morning in downtown Chesterfield.

Nevertheless, even in Denver with a hispanic population of over 150 times the amount in Chesterfield, I have only seen Madrinas one time, hanging out at a tiny mountain town Kum and Go on my way to a concert festival. Now, I have no shortage of Mexican foods near me in Denver, as I have 5 panadrias, 6 taquerias, and no less than 18 mexican food stores within a 1 mile radius of my house. We can literally swim in Aguas Frescas here. I admit, that was even one of the reasons I was attracted to Madrinas in the first place. Even though this drink would have a lot more cred if it was found in a Mexican Grocery store, I had to pick up at least one to try out for the long drive.

Of course Madrinas comes in the three flavors that RTD coffees only come in, Vanilla, Chocolate (Mocha) and regular. No matter what RTD coffee brand you turn to- from Half Gallon Jugs of International Delight to Starbucks, they only offer their RTD coffee in those three flavors.

Packaging:6
Color and layout-wise, I get the Mexican theme - but the bright lime on brown just does not work. According to color theory all all that is design holy, these colors should not work together. And they don't. Ew.
That being said, functionaly, the drink does what it needs to do. There is a Mexican style lettering on the can - something They list off the ingredients and do so without cluttering the drink up with useless paragraphs about how this is the best drink ever. It is just a decent looking product, except for one big mistake.

I know it is hard when you are dealing with coffee to list the caffeine in your can, but when your website states"This naturally-sweetened and perfectly chilled Café con Leche delivers that caffeine in a delicious blend of coffee and milk", and you have the coffee so low on the ingredients list it is near impossible to see how this could have much buzz. A listing of at least around how much caffeine a person should expect would be very helpful.

I even called the company twice to find out how much caffeine was in their drink. Leaving a message did no good. The second time, the secretary who answered the phone said she did not know the caffeine content (or the history of the drink, or where I could find out where it is sold, or find out anything at all about their parent company - she said she was a new employee?) I was told she left a message for the one in charge, who did not bother to return my calls.

Taste:2
My first thought on opening the can was that it smelled just like old horchata. Living where I am, I have gotten to be quite the coinessuer of the icy beverage, and can usually know where to get the real stuff from the gross powdered versions you can find in next to the Klass punch mixes. For those who have not heard of Horchata before, it is time to find some - as it is one of the greatest drinks on earth! Usually, it is made by using ground rice or rice milk, and mixing in a combination of sugar and cinnamon and vanilla until it becomes one of the bestest cold drinks ever. A few places near me use almonds in it too, and give it this cool dark brown color and creamy nutty texture.

However, horchata has become popular enough that you can buy packets of the stuff like Kool Aid in the aisles of Mexican food stores. It is usually as bad as you can imagine, substituting rice milk and vanilla for Casium Phosphate and synthetic vanillin. Madrinas smelled like the latter one. It makes sense too, as they are also the ones behind a ready-to-drink horchata also found in coolers across the US. Though, if this is going to be your only connection to horchata, it is like the difference between a taco plate from a taqueria, with their doubled corn tortillas and lime and cucmber/onion mix to a Big Beef Doritos Taco Bell Taco.

However, Madrinas was a complete mess inside. Taking a drink it was a slightly sour mix of fake coffee creamer, water + oil, heavy sweetness and bitter instant coffee. It was far too creamy to be considered anything other than a bitter creamy milk-esque drink with coffee flavor, and not really close to anything related to the stuff you brew with actual beans.

I thought this might work best as some sort of coffee creamer in andd of iteslf, but it is really too weak for that too. Coffee Creamer is usually thick enough in viscosity and powerful enough in that fake yummy creamines to hold up in a big mug of bad coffee, but When I used this in my coffee things just got bad. The bitterness of the oils, preservatives and the coffee flavor overwhelmed my already ba convenience store coffee to the point of it going from tolerable to almost underinkable (most people would have said completely undrinkable, but who am I to waste coffee...).

Buzz: 0
So if you look Waaaaay down on the ingredients list, you can find the coffee. As a matter of fact, there is more artificial coffee flaovr in here than coffee itself! You just have to make it past the other more important igredients to find the coffee. Sugar is listed twice, as well as water, nonfat dried milk, coconut oil, corn syrup solids, potassium caseinate, dipotassium phosphate, mono diglycerides, salt, sodium stearoyl lactlate, carageenan (seaweed), ARTIFICIAL FlAVOR, annato and tumeric, maltodextrin.....then coffee (followed by more preservatives and a second helping of carageenan for good measure)! That is right, there is more tumeric in here than coffee, so how could you possibly expect this to be much more energetic than a Twinkie. Actually, a Twinkie might have less chemicals in it, and probably have less than the 300 calorie packed in this can too.

Even more importantly than having absolutely no energy, it actually is heavy enough to leave me feeling tired and a little lethargic afterwards. A real Cafe Con Leche is supposed to be one part coffee to one part milk, and then sweetened. This is fake milk, dried milk and milk derivatives, oils, preservatives and artificial flavors mixed with a tiny tiny tiny bit of real coffee (which is most likely instant coffee to boot). It is pretty easy to see why they would start rolling this stuff out in areas where there is even a smaller population of Latinos than in Missouri - they would get laughed out of any

This is my second time I have managed to get to go into a Kum and Go, and it has not made me giggle any less the second time. Happily, Kumming in their store made me squeal a little inside as I was able to find energy drinks and shots that I have never seen before too. Kum and Go stores are rarely in big cities, but seem to live on the outskirts of bigger populations. Nuclear energy is their own store brand, and as it goes they are much tastier than the Circle K, Diamond Shamrock and many other gas station's private label energy drink offerings.

Packaging:5
I really like the look of their Nuclear line too. It seems that all their flavors are low calorie and low sugar offerings too, which I think is particularly awesome. It is also unexpected as most energy drinks go for a white or bare aluminum can for their diet offerings. This one keeps thinks sharp by using a black and purple, only having their name in the bare aluminum to give a shiny look to their product.

I love the purple and white outline and their ingredients list is very easy to read - which is kinda hard as black tends to run on aluminum. They have two missteps on here though, They did ot bother to list the caffeine content on the label, but the other problem is something they should really know about.
Convenience store workers spend all their days doing mostly four things. They take money, they restock product, they clean, and whenever they have a second, the are supposed to "face" the product. Facing is where they bring all the items they sell to the fron of the shelf so they are not hiding in the back, and they have to turn all the products so the brand name is facing out. You know when you look at that grocery shelf and you can make out all the brand names on first glance? That is because someone had to line them up so you could see them that way! A smart drink company will double label their drinks, so the stocker will not have to worry about which direction their drinks are facing. For a company who has their workers spend their time facing products, not making it easier for their own workers is uncool.

Taste:6
I liked the last flavor I tried of Nuclear energy, and so I was pretty excited to have this one. Unfortunately, it was not quite as good as the Mango. The Pom Berry tasted very fake, like their other flavor, but it was more bitter and less exotic. Many energy drinks have come out with a Pom Berry flavor, and this was not one of the better offerings. It was a little bitter, and the energy ingredients came through their fake berry more than their mango was able to hide it. Nuclear Pom Berry is not bad, it is just not nearly as good as their other flavor. This still has a very strong fake berry soda profile, but for the price it is as decent as an Amp/ Full Throttle .

Buzz:7
Nuclear Energy is a diet energy drink, and one made in a big lab. If you are expecting anything healthy or nutritious, look elsewhere. This is a diet energy drink found at a Kum and Go, so it is no surprise this is made up of chemicals, vitamins, minearls and some more chemicals. I don't mind - I like the work of dudes in lab coats if it turns into tasty caffeinated substances.

I was pleased to find a decent buzz in here, although nothing over the top. My guess is there is a standard 150-80mg of caffeine in here, enough to give you the normal burst of energy for about 2-3 hours. Thanks to the help of inositol, glucurolactone, and taurine and caffeine. Lie most diet energy drinks, this is sweetened with sucralose and Ace-k, although I think they should have added even more of it.

Sometimes I feel blessed by my kids - especially hen they bring me home energy drinks! You know ou have reached new lows of your addiction when your own children are scouring the aisles convenience stores to bring you back presents. On a trip to BFE suburbia, my son calls me from a Murphys Gas station to ask me if I have ever heard of Quick Strike. Seeing as Quick Strike energy drink is the private label of Murphys, and there is only one of those in all of Colorado, I jumped at the chance! There are over a thousand Murpheys gas stations over the US, and so far I had not been able to come across one. Of course I have reached a new low in my parenting, but it seems a small price to pay for my sweet sweet caffeine.

This brand was made for them by Cott, the ones behind many Value and private label drinks, like Red Rain, Throwdown, Mad Croc, 7-11s old discontinued brand name drink, Inked and even partnered with New Age beverages to make the Xing tea line - including Xing energy tea. So yeah, I am pretty familiar with their brand of drinks. Unfortunately, the flavors have been really hit or miss - mostly ranging towards the miss. Still, I appreciate that Murphys completely owns this even coming up with Energy Drink Hottie girls and cheesy Youtube videos for it and everything.

Packaging:8
This is really not bad for a private label drink. Cott usually does the packaging nicely, and this is a pretty cool design. It looks like a superhero drink, wit very bold gothic designs of a city, and cool block lettering. If Batman were to come out with his own drink, I would get these designers to do it.
Functionally, this drink is allright.

Although they do list the caffeine - for which I really appreciate - they do not double face the can, making it harder on their own stockers from facing the drinks correctly on the shelf. I would think they would know about stocking their product, since that is what their workers spend a great percentage of their time doing. Still, score one for the can design team coming up with something original that would make me want to give it a try.

Taste:5
For all intents and purposes, Quick Strike tastes like cheap energy drink. I do not think Cott can not come out with an original energy drink - I just dont think they want to. Once they crafted their energy drink flavor back in the late 2000s, they really have not updated this flavor. That would be find if it were tasty, but it really is not very good.

Quick Strike does not taste horrid, but there is just nothing special goin' on here - nothing unique or original either. If you are into the taste of cheap Red Bull clone and just ned your caffeine fix this will do the trick in a pinch, but it is nothing to go out of the way for.

My problem with this is that Quick Strike costs as much as - if not a little more than the Rockstars, Amps and Monsters on the shelf. My son had to fork out $2.50 for this can - which is too much for a value drink. I mean, people don't smoke Ligetts and Pyramids for the taste - they do it for the cheapo fix. If you are going to spend 2.50 on a can of energy, you will go for the good stuff - not the store brand knock off. This should be the inexpensive choice when you don't want to for over all that money for the good stuff.

Buzz:5
This is a perfectly adequate drink that gives you exactly what you are expecting and nothing else. You looking for a drink with a nominal energy boost akin to what you would find in a regular energy drink? Look no further! This has all the taurine, caffeine, guarana and preservatives of every other bland energy drink on the market!

If I were to guess at what a standard generic energy drink would contain, it would have exactly what this one does. Loaded with artificial preservatives and food dyes? Of course. Inositol? Check. D-Glucurolactone? Sure. Taurine? By the bucketload! There is a slightly less than average 154mg of caffeine, but that is very close to exactly what you would find in all the generic energy drinks too. I dont really mind this buzz, but it could be so much more.

The problem is that rather than go for something unique, Murphys decided that their product would be just another energy drink clone - just like a Red Bull or what have you, and charge full price.

Sorry, but this just can not compare to other Convenience store brand drinks either. Talon did a Blood Punch that was killer and Diamond Shamrock did theirs in interesting flavors. There is no reason for this to be up on the shelves competing with the Big Boys. This should either have a lower price point, or give the consumer something more interesting to choose from.

I love a good energy juice. I like the big yummy ones that taste best in the mornings with bagels or at nights with vodka. Really, there is nothing quite like starting out the morning fully caffeinated and pumped up on sugar and vitamins to get you moving for the day. Unfortunately, I did not get that from Tropical Blast Acute Fruit juice and active mix. There is a whole lot going for this juicy concoction, it is just too small minded to really make a really great energy juice drink.

I owned a Volkswagon bus once. It was the cutest car I ever had - and was too awesome. It also had only 2 cylinders, so it died going up inclines (you could forget about going up hills). Things are much the same here. It is a good looking drink with a whole lot going for it. However, it is really freakin hard to get where you need to when you dont have enough oomph to get you out of your driveway.

Packaging:4
Part of the problem with Acute Fruit is it is just so darn small. I know they make other Acute Fruit flavors in big 16 ounce cans, but I have yet to see one of those around. Instead, I have seen a couple coolers filled with these little dark red eight ounce cans - and there is really not big enough to do much power. I know that Red Bull and a couple other energy drinks still comes in this size, but for a juice drink this is just too small to do a whole lot of good.

There is also the issue of a whole lot of words - and none of them are about caffeine content. On the front of the can you are told that this is a Non Carbonated-Powered Drink-Sin Gas. Underneath that, we have the full name of the beverage, Tropical Blast Acute Fruit Fruit Juice and Active Mix. You then get the vitamin alphabet, along with a callout for taurine + anti-oxidants as well as reduced calories. With all those words on just the front of the can, any message is going to get lost.

They also put a whole lot of stock in selling this drink in Central and South America, and the packaging is littered with enough spanish to make that work. If they really want to go international though, they really aught to list the caffeine, and I would have liked to know the content as well.

Taste:9
I dont put a whole lot of stock in the taste in diet juice energy drinks, as they usually taste mike a bad mix of Vitamin Water and Grape Juice. Acute does a very decent job of it though, comin out with a fruity drink that actually tastes fruity - all while keeping the calories down. This drink is not flavored Tropical at all - but it is pretty darn tasty anyways. It tastes just like the ingredients read - like they blended apple juice, orange juice and water - then used maltodextrin - a low calories sweetener - to make things refreshing. I dont think I have ever tried miing apple and orange juice together, but it seems to work very well!

Buzz:6
I think the energy in here s a second thought - and what they were really concerned with was the vitamins and the flavor. The energy blend of taurine, glucurolactone choline and inositol really offers nothing new, and is really nothing special. There is a small bit of caffeine in here too, using lab caffeine, guarana and yerba mate. It is a good mix of energy drinks, but there is not a whole lot of it in here. I got a very mild energy boost - about the same as a small coffee. I would expect this to have about 55-75mg of caffeine from all those sources. It is not bad, but it just is too small and weak to really do much.

Vitamin-wise, I did like their blend. Even though it is just 50% juice, they still provide 100% of vitamin C, 50% RDA of Vitamin A, a big of vitamin A and E, and did not feel the need to completely overdose you on vitamin B complex like most energy drinks do. I really like how they made a nice juicy drink and kept the calories and sugars down too.

While I am not very impressed by Acute Fruit's ability to give any energy, for a juice drink this rules. For taste and nutrition Acute Rules - but don't expect much else.

A short time ago I discovered what I thought to be the best caffeinated mints in the world. These mints had a cool name and combined both the fun of menthol with the buzz of Guarana and called it a really cool name too - Dragon Soul. I did not think I would ever find anything quite as tasty, until now.

These new mints have an equally cool name of Dry Hard, come in a cool credit card-esque design, and are just as powerful as the Drgon Soul mints - although they seem to be even stronger. It seems much of Asia is already hooked on these little tasty bits of uber-freshness, created by Asahi, the beer giant. While Asahi is most known for their beer (they are the second biggest brewer in Japan), they are also producing sweets, freeze dried foods and baby formulas too. However, in all their products, Dry Hard seems to be the only one that is caffeinated - and certainly packs a punch! According to their website using Google Translate, their description of this product is : Super strong mint tablet for heavy users of caffeine capsule formulation. This is the sense of taste will be painful stimulus habit.

That about fits the description too. Even besides the caffeine, these little mints are very habit forming. While it might take a while for me to work through a pack of regular mints - even if they are tasty, I ate through a 50 pack of these little devils in about 3 days. I would have run out and gotten more if it did not take 2 weeks for someone on ebay to send me a pack.

Packaging:8
Mintia Dry Hard comes in cool plastic case that is slightly larger than a credit card. Carrying a pack of this around reminds me of carrying an extra cell phone battery. The pack is virtually indestructable and neatly slipped into my pocket. It also has this handy clicky opening that you could play with when you are bored, and does a great job of keeping all the minds from sliding into my pocket. Sometimes it was hard just getting one mint to slide out rather instead of three or four, but that was pretty minor.

The design of Mintia Super Hard looked very cool too. It comes in a black case with shiny writing and looks like something only cool people get to eat. The one problem is that they failed to list the caffeine content anywhere on the label. Yes - their label is in Japanese, but even in Japanese they don't bother with it. Nowhere on line or on their site do they talk about how much caffeine they have.

Taste:
It is like a super tiny peppermint midget punched me in the back of my throat! Imagine taking an Altoid and condensing it down to a quarter of the size. These things are so tiny that it is hard to think that they would carry such a lovely wallop of mintiness.

There is something else to them too - like they fill these little candies with tiny bits of crack - something to make you eat more and more and more. 1 little mint is just enough to get you hooked on the rest.

Buzz :8
You would never think that such a little mint would pack much of a punch, but it feels like there is about 20 mg or so in each little pill. Since these are so addictive, it is far too easy to down a couple hundred milligrams without effort.

The ingredients are in Japanese, of course, but their website helpfully has an English version that lists it out. Unfortunately, Mintia uses gelatin, So these who keep kosher or are vegetarians should be wary. There is lots of non nutrative sweeteners in here including sorbitol, aspartame compound and L-phenylalanine. No, it is Not terrible beautiful, but when something tastes this good I could really care less.

I can feel in that Autumn ( my favorite season) is here when I get cravings for hot chocolate. You know have gotten the beverage addict tick when you start measuring the holidays by drink specials (Monster Slurpees in June, Kosher Coca Cola in April, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks for Halloween). For me, fall alwas means stocking up on hot chocolate. The one drawback to hot chocolate is the lack of caffeine most contain. This all changed the day I found out Swiss Miss has been holding back on me. For a short time, ConAgra foods did something spectacular - coming out with the first commercially available caffeine-added hot cocoa on the market.

Of course, this was discontinued in early 2010, leaving chocolate lovers everywhere no place to go for their chocolate caffeine fix. There is one other brand doing caffeinated hot chocolate, but so far they seem to be relegated to online purchases only, through outlets like Thinkgeek.com. My sample also came only online, where I paid an exorbitant fee to try someone's back-stock supply, gouging poor chocolate lovers who just need their fix. People online seem to be flooding boards, ConAgra phone lines, and even talk of signing petitions to get it back into stores. Now the two-dollar boxes are going upwards of Ten Bucks a Box.

And after trying a couple envelopes of this stuff, it is totally and completely worth it.

Packaging:9
These hot chocolate envelopes have been coming out in pretty much the same thing for decades - certainly since I have had them as a kid. The only difference here is I can not afford the whole box auction, and ended up getting just two plain envelopes in a packing envelope. Fortunately it made the journey safely, not ripping the little metallic lined pouch it came in.

I like the idea behind these swiss miss boxes - labeling all their products clearly on the front and color coding them. It made it easy for me to scan the shelves of all the stores I went into to try and find the stuff before I learned they are no more. They graciously listed the caffeine content as well as all the other nutrition on the little packet too - almost like they knew this was going to become a hot commodity and split up into smaller bits to be sold on the brown mocha market ( they sell sweets you cant find anymore, like Count Chocula in March and Butterfingers Buzz bars). There might be a conspiracy here - like The McDonalds Shamrock Shake. Maybe this time we can see it coming back with the help of the Swiss Miss Girl's crazy hyped up cousin, like Grimace's green Uncle O'Grimacy did for the green McD shake.

Taste:10
I love the taste of powdered hot chocolate, and Swiss Miss is one of the best. I hate the Nestle variety, and I don't have the wherewithal to spend serious money on hot chocolate - especially when I have three kids with child taste buds in the house. If ever I go outside of the store brand, Swiss Miss is the way to go - and the Pick Me Up flavor does not disappoint! It is true at mere mention of powdered hot chocolate King Charles V is screaming in his grave, but for what it is, and the memories it brings back Pick-Me-Up rocks!

There is absolutely no trace of caffeine bitterness or anything other than delicious powdered hot chocolate in here, especially if you use two packets and a bit of milk to make things extra creamy. Since I only had two packages, I had to make it count and use a full 10 ounce mug of milk for both packages, since I am physically incapable of using just one packet for hot chocolate. There is really nothing else out there for those who like the chocolate but not the coffee - although I think those people are crazy. For those people who like a warm drink to get moving but prefer not to have to drink the deliciousess of java, this stuff it absolutely perfect (Sorry to rub it in).

Buzz:7
For most people, a mug of Swiss Miss Mick-Me-Up will have 134mg of caffeine, about as much as a cup of similar sized drip coffee. Of course it is still powdered hot chocolate, which has been a unhealthy treat full of chemicals and processed junk since it was made by the Sanna Dairies back in the early 60s. Now it is even more processed - enough that I was actually a little surprised there was real cocoa in here - along with all the chemicals.

As it proudly states on the package, this also contains 30% RDA Calcium and 25% RDA Vitamin D, as if that makes things better. A cup of coffee has ZERO calories compared to the 110 calories, or 220 calories respectively, per serving. Of course, I could really care less as I am drinking this - full of sweet creamy deliciousness. Maybe they will bring this back to the public in regular and diet formulas - doing a No Sugar Added version of it too! Until then, I guess we will just have to stick to boring hot chocolate, and just melt some Foosh Mints in the cup.

I have a problem with Neuro drinks, and not much of it is related to the drinks themselves, but the fact that the company slighted me in the past. I really don't mind when companies don't want me samples, but Neuro wrote me back that they took a look at my reviews, and thought they would pass. So after being spurned, hurt and a little offended, I really want to dislike Neuro Sleep.

But I cant.

I like Neuro Sleep so much I am afraid of this turning into a long term passive-aggressive relationship. Neuro Sleep does pretty much exactly what relaxation drinks should do: It provides a nice dose of sleepy chemicals to help you mellow and pass out, it tastes pretty damn good and it it is light on preservatives and calories. Not only does it not use obnoxious packaging, but even comes in its own cooland unique bottle. As much as I want to talk crap about this drink, I love it way too much.

Packaging:10
Like all Neuro drinks, this comes in their very unique and award winning bottle - something that not only stands out on the cooler shelf, but also is fun to hold. It looks a bit like a lava lamp version of a rocket ship - and it really unlike any other bottle out there. It has a unique cap which works like a regular bottle cap but looks way cooler. I know someone at instructables.com is going to make one into a lava lamp - it is just a matter of time.

Functionally, the bottle has all the stuff it should have. It lists all the ingredients nicely, along with all its sleep chemicals. Everything form the design to the layout is done in exemplary fashion. All around this is a job well done.

Taste:8
I loved the flavor if Neuro Sleep too, as much as I wanted it to taste like garbage. It is not blow-you-away amazing, but I caught the flavor right off - this tastes like a Mandarin Orange Sunny D. While that might not sound delicious, it really works. It is easy to drink, which is good because the bottle is not that small. I have heard of people who after crashing for the night ended up having to wake up a couple hours later having to pee. It would make sense, really, for a sleep drink maybe a giant bottle is not such a good idea.

Still, drinking it is very easy, and the flavor is light and fruity, if not a little chemical.

Anti-Buzz:9
this is the part of Neuro I completely expected to fail. While they do have a nice blend of sleep ingredients in here, there just did not seem like there was enough of them to really do the trick. They put Theanine in here, which is great to help you concentrate, but not really a relaxing compound. Same thing with Taurine and magnesium. However, maybe they are onto something when all of these are compounded with the main sleep agent - melatonin, to give it that boost. I ama big fan of melatonin, and it usually does not fail to drop me like I'm hot. What I can tell you is this works - and works very well.

I took my bottle on a particularly stressful night - a night in which my work did not allow my brain to turn off. I was doing calculations when I was closing my eyes, missing much sleep for days trying to finish a project, and needing to take a break. I downed the drink n no time - and did not expect to be feeling tired anytime soon. That opinion changed when I found myself asleep on my floor short time later, trying to make it downstairs to turn of lights and such. My wife had to finish the tasks as just crawling into bed was a herculean task. As much as I don't like the brand, I can't argue with the results.

Immunotec is a science company that is unlike many others. Usually, when I hear the word Science, I think of men in lab coats performing experiments or the old Thomas Dolby song. The thought of businessmen hocking their wares via MLM marketing does not really cross my mind. This is exactly what Immunotec does though - selling their dozen odd products through network marketing, where they promise home based salesmen to get rich from selling off their health goods to unsuspecting friends and family for a profit.

I have tried Immuotec's e-motion Gel and Shots, and really like what they have to offer, but the whole idea of selling energy based products by MLM leaves a bad taste in my mouth (but not as bad as the taste of this drink). There are quite a few drink companies out there who have decent products who do this. Verve was a great energy drink, as well as MonaVie's and even Amway's XS line has a number of tasty beverages.

The only thing I really find offensive about selling Xtra Sharp by network is that since people are allowed to advertise this product as they see fit, they also put out misinformation. I found at least 3 websites that advertise this Xtra Sharp has no caffeine - when it obviously does have quite a lot. Just because this has guarana does not mean this is safe for people who are caffeine sensitive - and letting their salespeople put out marketing saying this is caffeine free is just wrong and dangerous.

Packaging:4
Have you ever thought to yourself that the 5 Hour Energy bottle would be better if it were 1000 times the size? Xtra Sharp has recreated the 5 hour energy shot in ginormous size, including the Runner in sillouette, the cartoon berries - everything that stands out as a 5 Hour product. When it does deviate from the original, it becomes a very medicinal product. Xtra Sharp is a product that would feel at home in your local pharmacy more than anywhere else. I think this 17 ounce bottle is really molded from old medicine bottles - down to its spill-proof lid on top. What makes it worse is that the serving size is 1 tablespoon. So not only does this look like medicine, but you are supposed to take it like medicine too. Really, this stuff is nasty enough without coating your tablespoon in think brown sludge first.

The backside has a printout of the ingredients list, but it is barely readable. Rather than just list their functional ingredients, they feel the need to complicate things with the scientific name and the genus too. So instead of reading, "Guarana" you see "Guarana (paulinia cupana H.B.K.) [seed]", and that is for EVERY ingredient. What makes matters worse is there is no real listing as to how much of whatever you are taking is in here - so who knows how much Guarana or Horehound you are actually ingesting.

Taste:0
I don't see how anyone could possibly think this product tasted good enough to come to market with it. Sometimes different reviewers have good or bad opinons about a particular flavor, but that is just not true for this stuff - it tastes so revoltingly shockingly awful, the first jolt of energy you get is your sprint to the closest sink or toilet while your body decides on whether or not you just tried poisoning yourself. Immunotech's Xtra Sharp doesn't taste just bad, but absolutely revolting - to the point of dreading the mornings where I tried to stomach my early doses I was giving myself before going to the gym.

I can not even pinpoint where this bottle of evil goes wrong. The initial odor when opening up the cap is one of Maalox and Prune Juice. It is supposedly berry flavored, but only if you let the berries come in contact with some noxious medicine and left to rot, then dumped inside some Milk Of Magnesia. And the experience goes downhill from there. This pours out onto your tablespoon thick - and coats the mouth in a harsh chalky film after you are done. If you manage to stomach this vomit-worthy drink and keep it down, you get the extra pleasant nasty harsh aftertaste to deal with lingering in your mouth for a long time after.

Buzz:10
It is hard to argue with a product that works so well, although I am trying my best. The effect is so good that it is almost worth the pain of taking it - so every horrid noxious sip actually makes you feel great after. I have taken this before going to the gym and every workout has been kick-ass. I have felt more alive, alert and functioning once I can get that disgusting taste out of my mouth, and while I don't get jittery, I do get very buzzy and happy for hours later.

When I take this just during the day, I feel like I am more alert, more with-it and generally have a feeling of more upbeat energetic wellness. Just about every day I get the urge to toss this into the trash. It just tastes so evil I feel like I am the parent in Time Bandits. But every time It comes out of the fridge to get tossed, I find myself taking another small swig in horror and put it back in the fridge. It tastes soo bad but makes me feel soo good.

Besides that, it is filled with the most interesting energy mix I have ever seen. While they do have the ginseng and caffeine from guarana, that is about This has calcium, iron , and magnesium, along with a crazy roll-call of herbs. They list Glycerophosphate Minerals, alfalfa, dandelion and sasparilla as ingreidents, along with Polygala (a chinese herb), iron, calcium, licorice, horehound, milk thistle, Gentian, Senega, celery, grape seed, Thyme, Angelica, Passion flower, ginko biloba, Saw palmetto, damiana, echinacea and Spirulina.

As strange as it seems, I have never reviewed NOS sugar free, or even the original flavor before, which is extra weird because I have had them in my regular staple of energy drinks for years. I have loved NOS drink since I have talked about their short-lived energy shot and their fruit punch flavor before, but somehow I missed both this flavor and one of my favorites - the original in the shape of a NOS canister.

The original NOS, a brand of nitrous used in car racing is still being made by Holley, and this drink was born out of natural extension. FUZE used to be behind this drink when it started years ago, the same Fuze that makes fruit drinks and vitamin-enriched waters today. Now, whole FUZE product line is sucked into Coke's product line, competing with other Coke energy drinks like Full Throttle.

Packaging:8
The reason NOS is cool is because it has an intense rush and it comes in NOS bottles that look like the real thing. Slowly, NOS worked it into 16 ounce bottles that looked kinda like NOS canisters - and then finally it made its way into boring old cans. I have only ever seen the Sugar Free variety in these plain looking bare-aluminum cans, which just don't have the same WOW factor that the old cool bottles do. It is decent enough, but certainly have lost some of their unique edge.

Functionally, NOS does just fine - as any drink by Coca Cola should be. They list caffeine content plus any warnings for stupid people or those with heart conditions, and list all other ingredient amounts too. There is double facing on the can and all the nutrient amounts you would hope to find.

Taste:7
I really like the original Nos - tasting like a thick syrupy orange drink - so sugary that I feel like it leaves sugar crystals on your tongue. I knew that the diet version would not contain the same sugary punch, as there is all non-nutritive sweeteners in here instead. NOS sugar free tastes fine. It is not bad - not bitter or sour or anything else, just a decent citrusy flavor that was reminiscent of citrus berries. It is easy to drink, and definitely chuggable. I am not sure I would ever go out of my way to drink NOS for its taste, but that isn't why this drink has stayed around as long as it has.

BUZZ: 9
Like the other flavors of 16 ounce NOS, there is a formidable 260mg of caffeine in it, as well as 2000mg of taurine - so it provides a TON of caffeine. I cetainly would never have expected a Coca-Cola drink to still contain more caffeine than most other energy drinks out there, but NOS still provides a serious amount of energy - enough so that I almost felt the jitters. It was so close to bringing me to the extra over-jittered state that I enjoy so much that I just needed a can of Diet Coke to push me over the edge into WIRED.

Because they were nice enough to list the caffeine content along the side, it was nice knowing that I was able to slam the full 16 ounces without many calories, and still loading me up with Vitamins B and C. The caffeine rush was helped out by D-Ribose, L-Carnitine and Panax Ginseng, and the buzz lasted for a good 3-4 hours too, keeping my energy level peaked while I finished my day's errands without slowing down. What I found most interesting is a new additive, something they did not have in the original formula. NOS now contains Theanine - which helps with concentration and focus. There is a reason I have turned to Nos Sugar Free for the last 6 years when I needed a good boost of energy - More than a Red Bull or Monster could ever provide.

While I still wish these came in that cool NOS bottle the originals did, for a quick pick-me-up this really does the trick.

I find it kinda funny that they specifically said that they did not fill up their can all the way so there would be room to shake the liquid all up.

Kahlua is the first alcoholic coffee drink I have seen hit the market that has really embraced both the alcohol and the coffee. Yes, there have been a few other drinks which have been flirting, but this is a fantastic treat for canned coffee lovers like myself. Kahlua's coffee is made form real fresh tasty coffee, not ground instant garbage. Even more exciting is they veered from the traditional RTD coffee flavors of Espresso, mocha and vanilla. They dumped the vanilla one for a cinnamon, and it is a really tasty one too.

Packaging:8
The cans of Kahlua really popped out on the liquor store shelf as something unique. Yes - they have had premixed drinks before, but this looked much more like a coffee drink than an alcoholic drink. It looks close enough to other canned coffees that I would not be surprised if someone could take them to work an such like they would an ordinary iced canned coffee. There is a dark brown brilliance, although it definitely has that trendy, hipster edge to it. Regardless, there is a lot to be admired in this little 7 ounce can.

Functionally, there is a whole lot to be desired, like any alcoholic caffeine drink. There does not need to be a nutrition label on here - or even an ingredients list - so there is no way of really knowing what is in here. I am sure this is for the best both legally and because I enjoyed it better not knowing that my Kahlua Iced Coffee binge was not equivalent to my entire daily calorie intake levels.

Kahlua Iced Espresso 5:
According to literature, Kahlua uses the same beans they get for making their signature liquor for making this coffee drink too.

That being said, I did not find this one appealing at all. The coffee was pretty mild, but it had far too many sour notes - like unripe berries or lemons to really enjoy. Unfortunately the coffee preservatives in here gave it that metallic finish that many canned coffee drinks seem to have. This flavor did not have the tang of fake non-dairy creamer, which is good, but the signature Kahlua flavoe was also not very strong. It did not have enough punch to it to be drinkable in anything larger than these little cans.

Fortunately, after the first two cans of this flavor, it grew on me. I found drining down the last two of them was infinitely easier than drinking the first two. If you are looking for a serious buzz an a nice little caffeine rush, I might suggest picking up a couple packs.

Kahlua Iced Coffee with Cinnamon Spice : 6
For a mixed cocktail, this one was much happier to my senses. It reminded me of a complex Starbucks drink - like something that I could not make on my own. This one was strong enough in spice and sugar to pretty much override all the other flavors in here. It still tasted like coffee, or maybe tea - or a little like Chai. Either way, if you are the kind of person who likes your coffee so full of glack that you have no idea what the hell you are drinking then you will love this.

Kahlua Iced Mocha: 8
This is definitely the best of the bunch. You can taste the coffee through the chocolate, but both are strong rich and sweet. This is what Kahlua is supposed to be paired with - something that ends up being decadent and satisfyingly full of flavor. If you were to pick up any of these in a four-pack, this in the one to try.

Buzz:4
Normally, Kahlua does not have a whole lot of caffeine in it. There is approximately 4.85 mg in each 1.5 oz drink of normal Kahlua - which is almost negligible. Of course, these grab-and-go cocktails are when the Kahlua is mixed in with 100% arabica coffee, so the caffeine content is unmistakably higher.

I drank all three cans in a very short time, and waited to see how I felt. I did get a light buzz from downing the three cans, bus seeing as they only had 5% alcohol, drinking all three is akin to drinking one and a half beers. The caffeine I felt was much stronger than that though - Finishing all three was akin to drinking a large coffee. It is nice knowing they used regular coffee in here - and a decent coffee as well.

Another time I just bought a four pack of their Espresso blend and I am happy to report that knocking down all of them was not only a very pleasant task, but a fulfilling one too. I felt like I just ate two Big Macs in a row from all the calories I just consumed, but it was for a great purpose. From drinking the four pack, I probably got a good couple hours energy as well as a nice buzzy head for my efforts too.

I used to feel very proud of the fact that I read every stephen King book out there. I enjoyed the good ones and suffered through the bland ones. I feel exactly the same about new hanses drinks, as they seem to come out with new versions of their old drinks every quarter. I would not mind all this new innovation is it actually made a difference, but it seems like all they are doing is trying to cover the shelf spaces in convenience stores with a hundred versions of their products.

This is all the more true when you are talking of yet another diet drink. Now, adding to their Monster Blue Sugar Free version, there is Monster Absolutely Zero, Monster Imported Light and now Monster Zero Ultra. They have moved away from their normal bluish diet color to a completely white version this time - and I was ready for a carbon copy of their drink for a fourth time.

But then something very surprising happened - it looks and tastes unlike any other Monster out there - this is more than just a reissue of a not-yet-out-of-print energy drink but a hole new one. And I like it a whole hell of a lot!

Packaging:7

More than just a new facelift, Monster went back tot eh drawing board on this one. Like the new Rockstar drinks, the can itself is mottled and raised, something I have not seen in energy drinks before. Now even more than just looks, this energy drink can has texture - and a cool one too. THis fees more expensive and classier than previous Monsters, alluding somewhat to the design they picked, off a Art Deco poster full of filigrees and swirls. They even made their usual asinine Xtreme paragraph that is usually full of info about how they were getting trashed in hotel rooms in Vegas has been replaced by a only-slightly-obnoxious paragraph about how this drink is less sweet and made because their hard riding Monster riders and Monster girls have been dropping hints. It is still trite and ridiculous crap spewed forth by 50 year olds trying to be cool to 15 year olds, but I have seen much worse.

Like every Monster, they refuse to list their caffeine content clearly, which sooner or later is going to bite them in the ass. They say there is their proprietary 1400mg energy blend, but that could mean all sorts of caffeine content. In this day and age, it is ridiculous not to list it. They still double face their cans and make special tabs and have a perfect printing job with easy to read text - although it would be cooler if they would point their lids in the correct direction so the logo would face outward while drinking it, but it is pretty enough to make up for many shortcomings.

Taste:10

I fully expected this to be just another Monster clone of a Monster clone - yet another version of a low-carb sugar-fee diet Monster. What I get instead is a grapefruit juicy drink that is strong on flavor - and none of the classic Monster Citrus Berry flavor. The closest thing I could place this is a fresco, as there is a whole lot of grapefruit in here. But it is not just grapefruit, there is a heavy dose of pear flavor as well to really fill out the taste and makes for a very couple and juicy sweet drink. This is one of the strongest flavors Monster has in its repertoire, and hopefully will be around for a long time.

Buzz:7

This is exactly what you would expect from your Monster drink. There is the very usual buzz that you get from downing a mMonster - with my guess of 160-180mg of caffeine. The lack of calories did not inhibit the taste or the buzz, as it gives a good couple hours of solid energy with a big dose of taurine, ginseng,glucuronolactone and inositol. In terms of caffeine this has some lab caffeine as well as natural caffeine from guarana. There is the usual overdose of B Vitamins you would expect from a mainstream energy drink. and the overall mixture works well enough.

If you are down with Monster drinks, this is a good one to try, and probably the best of their low-calorie line.

Red Rain is just one of the many drinks which is made by super-soda-maker Cott. Cott is the ones behind hundreds of energy drink and soda brands, inluding Quick Strike for Murphys gas stations, Red Rain, Throwdown energy, Mad Croc and a number of others. The Red Rain line is mainly found in dollar stores, like this one - sitting behind the paper plates in the back of an unforgotten shelf for what looks like many years. Fortunately for me, it does not look like this one expires for another couple months - so I am good to go!

I did not expect much from Red Rain Precipitation. Although I have had some dollar energy drinks that kicked ass (Knockout Energy and Slap energy, for one), Red Rain is just not the same caliber. This is a decently tasting super syrupy cheapo energy drink without very much going for it - unless you are a huge fan of Watermelon Jolly Rancher hard candy or are in need of a very cheap fix.

Packaging:6
The good news is that Red Rain is functionally cool. They double face their product name so it does not get lont. They printout all their ingredients easily to read and have a website and phone number in case you have more questions. They list the caffeine content along with warnings in a nice easy to read format, but that is about as good as it gets.

Red Rain Watermelon looks awful, the fonts are embarrassing and the whole thing does not make much sense. Firstly, we have the name of the brand. When I think of Red Rain, I think of Evil, or at least a Peter Gabriel song. When he sang about Red Rain, he was taling of a dream he had where he swam in his pool drinking cold red wine. Another version of the dream had bottles falling from a cliff, and the bottles were in the shape of people. When they were smashed on the ground, the people-shaped bottles had red liquid coming out, and then it began to rain the same red liquid. Either way, not really the imagery I would be thinking of when drinking their drink.

I get the green bottle - because it is watermelon, but the drink itself was plain energy-drink-colored. The "Precipitation" font for some reason is in a cartoon font, and there is nothing about their blue on green design that makes me feel particularly energetic.

Taste:5
I am not sure what the precipitation in here is supposed to mean. I caught the watermelon, but not sure if it was supposed to be sweaty, or if it is a play on the Rain in their name. Online, I figured it out - they name all their flavors after kinds of rain - like Storm Surge and Downpour. On cracking it open, I definitely smelled fake watermelon - almost overpowering in the strong candy watermelon-ness.

I poured it in the glass in the hopes that Cott made this drink in the Green of watermelon rind or the red fruit, but it just came out a dull light brown. Bummer. The flavor was as it smelled - like a melted watermelon Jolly Rancher. It was thick and rich and syrupy, so much so it was hard to drink all of it.

Buzz:
This is just about what you would expect from an energy drink that costs a buck at a dollar store. The sweetness comes from High Fructose Corn Syrup and it is packed with preservatives like Sodium Citrate, Potassium Benzoate food dye and artificial flavors. It really is like a melted candy - with about 240 calories a can.

Energy-wise, there is the usual cast of characters - Taurine, Caffeine, Inositol and the Vitamin B Complex team. Not a big buzz to be found - exactly that of a Red Bull (78mg per 8 ounce serving). If you find yourself dragging next to a dollar store, this might get you home, but there are quite a few tastier and more potent ways to get your caffeine fix.

Seeing as I now live in the state where Pot has just become legal, I thought it would be an appropriate time to spark up the Hypnotic Chronic energy drink. As of a few hours ago, Colorado has become one of the coolest places in the United States. While Pot use has already been decriminalized in small amounts in Denver, the whole state is now the first to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use. "To put this into historical context, there is no historical context," said Tom Angell, spokesperson for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. "It's the first time any state has ever voted to legalize marijuana - and for the first time in a very long time, I am feeling downright Patriotic and State Proud.

Unfortunately, I also work for a giant monolithic corporation that would fire me on the spot if I my random UA came back with a hint of the newly legal herb, so for now I am celebrating with The Hypnotic Chronic Energy drink (THC energy - geddit?) which could not have arrived on my doorstep at a more auspicious occasion!

Packaging:8
Hypnotic Chronic is really quite impressive. The fonts are awesome. The design is awesome - all around this can is beautiful and really gets the point across. If I did not know better - I would assume there was actual THC in the drink - which would make this Completely Legal in Colorado (sorry to rub it in)!   That being said - it lists all the important features, like pointing out the important parts of the drink clearly (no sugar - cures cottonmouth - zero grams) as well as a timeline of important marijuana facts and even lists the caffeine content!

There are only two bummers about this delightful can. Firstly, it is pretty small. It is hard o really enjoy a small 8 ounce energy drink anymore - needing at least two to really get my mojo working. This design is cool enough that I wish it came in a bigger size. The only other point is the can is wrapped in a sleeve rather than have the design printed on it - which gives it a "private label" or knock off feel to it, like a drink you can find at a Hot Topic or FYE. While I have reviewed other Marijuana themed energy drinks, such as Chillo Hemp energy,  Dank Energy and C-Swiss hemp tea, this is the one  I brought 3 cans of to work with me to celebrate, and one of the labels got a rip in the plastic - which peeled all the way off with a tug. Plastic wrapping a can just does not have the same impact as a well printed one, even though a shrink wrap is so much cheaper to produce. Still, it is a killer design!

Taste: 6
Like any good energy drink, I got this super cold before trying it. When I first sparked it up, it smelled like a Red Bull cone - although not a particularly bad one. I was hoping this would come out a nice dank green, but no such luck. It poured out a light brown, the color of most standard energy drinks.

Unfortunately, it tasted like a Red Bull clone too - although I have certainly had worse clones. It seems that The Hypnotic Chronic is a novelty drink more than anything, tasting like your run-of-the- mill basic ED flavor that so many do. This is disappointing, as they could have had so much more fun with it. While there was some hemp seed oil in here. it was not really enough to change the flavor profile very much. The Hypnotic Chronic should have had an herbal edge to it, or tasted a bit more like that now legal regulated drug that we Coloradans like so much. While it is not bad by any means, the flavor is definitely not going to be the big selling point.

Buzz: 6
While there is no actual THC in the can, there is Hemp Seed Oil, which in large in amounts has a ton of health benefits. I am not sure how much is in here, but it is the last ingredient in the can and has no flavor of hemp, so I doubt there is enough to really do a whole lot of good for you unless you consume a lot of it. Other than that, there is the normal energy drink stuff, like 75mg of caffeine, taurine, B vitamins, inositol and glucurolactone. It would have been cooler if they packed this full of other herbs or did something to really separate itself from the rest of the energy drinks out in the market.    I really like that there are not many calories in here, although it would have been better if there was less preservatives.

The buzz is also just what you would expect from a small energy drink clone. One of these cans is equivalent to a shot of espresso, and I needed two before my body stopped craving the caffeine junkie inside me.

With a decent taste and buzz and such a fantastic design, it does not matter if this is just a novelty drink - bringing a couple to work as a celebration or having it around at a celebration ganja party is a surefire win. I know I will be enjoying having these around as a souvenir of this historic day.

I have managed to find myself another addiction, and this one ain't cheap. I find myself buying big bottles of Chameleon Cold Brew Coffee whenever I get near anything looking like a health food store. For those who have never tried cold-brewed coffee, it is worth the long wait. This is not just another method to make your daily brew, but one that produces a completely different kind of coffee, one that is insanely strong and has no acidity. It takes 16 hours to make this kind of coffee for Chameleon, letting the water steep in these grounds until forever.

Right now, if you are lucky enough to live in the right areas of the country, you can find Chameleon in Whole Foods Market, Central Market, Wheatsville Coop and Fresh Plus Market - crunchy granola places like that. I found my first fix at a Vitamin Cottage, and have been hiting the Whole Foods for my fix thereafter.

Packaging:9
Chameleon coffee as a brand at first did not make a whole lot of sense to me, but the more I started playing with it that more I grew to love it. I tried the coffee with chocolate milk with lunch and in cola and Rum in the evening. It tasted awesome in my gym protein drink, and just as tasty when I needed that little kick to my Barbecue Sauce. It is just as good poured into a cup with hot water, turning it from Coffeezilla powered coffee-concentrate into a normal cup of delicious acid free hot coffee. It really stands up to just about anything you throw at it.

One of the things that I really liked about this bottle is that it stands up well to all sorts of usual scenarios. I had this in a bucket of ice, and the label did not peel or get ick in any way.The whole package has a very local handcrafted feel, which I thought worked very well for the product they are selling. The whole thing is put together nicely, laying out the caffeine content as well as explaining the drink, its process and some of its uses. Altogether it is a lovely bottle.

Taste:9
I love the ingredients list for Chameleon - Filtered water, and 100 percent Fair Trade Certified Organic Coffee. Thats it. That means the expiration date in here actually means something, although getting a bottle to make it close to the expiration date without finishing it off is nearly impossible. You can really taste the difference in this coffee flavor from any other regular brewed coffee.

The coffee that is used is very sweet in itself, with notes of chocolate and caramel. I would have enjoyed a touch more of spice, but that might be down the road - as they labeled this one "original coffee" and there might be more flavors acomin'. The aftertaste is just as sweet and lingering, even if diluted with a whole lot of water. This makes it very versatile working great in all sorts or recipes, or just on on the go out of the bottle too.

Buzz:10
You must remember the caffeine content in here, as the uninitiated can easily over-caffeinated themselves and be left a giggling jittery mess on the ceiling. One 16 ounce bottle contains FOUR servings - and they are not exaggerating. All you need is just four small ounces to get a good 270mg of caffeine coursing through your bloodstream.

The thing that makes Chameleon dangerous is that it is far too easy to just swig out of the bottle, as I have done many, many times. Because of the brewing process, Chameleon does not taste at all harsh or bitter, and it is just delicious to take sips of throughout the morning. I have to be careful, as I have finished off a bottle in a day, just not thinking and sipping it all until empty.

Smooth, delicious, beautiful and potent as hell - what more could you want out of your coffee!

One of the cool things about living in the big city is the diverse cultures which make their home here. My latest foray into the crazy international energy drink scene was at an Armenian grocery store. Both of my parents came from around that area (Romania and Hungary), so I feel a particular tie to this kind of place. I stocked up on disgusting foam cakes, hazelnut filled bonbons, some weird tomato paste, a cool lemon soda with chunks of actual lemon in it and this cool Guarana energy drink - which according to its website is the most popular energy drink in the Serbian and Montenegrin Markets.

Besides this original flavor, in places in Europe they also make a super-strength version, as well as a holiday special and a Mojito flavor as well. I can say that those Serbs do know how to do an energy drink right - even if it is a little weak on the energy side.

Packaging:9
I really get into the green packaging on this can - letting you know that it is all about energy while not dipping into cartoonishness or garishness, which it very easily could have slipped into. Instead, Guarana energy looks cool and slightly South American. It just has that feel, quite unlike its real home of Aranđelovac. Serbia. Aranđelovac is a small community, most known, actually, for the company that makes Guarana Energy, Knjaz Miloš AD. They certainly had enough knowledge to product a cool can - complete with a hooting owl to promote sleeplessness as a good thing. Functionally, the can does well enough. They list caffeine and all the other goodness, and even do it in English too - which is not common for foreign energy drinks. I thought it was pretty cool that in a crazy grocery store in a strip mall I would find such a cool looking Brazilian Serbian energy drink.

Taste:8
I was expecting a cheap Red Bull clone from the outset, as most international drinks - especially ones named after caffeine, taste like Red Bull/Monster/etc... While I was kinda right on the flavor profile, it was not really was I was expecting either. I have tasted real guarana from real guarana berries (thank you ebay), and Guarana actually tastes like Guarana! While there was definitely the sour apple citus berry bubblegum flavor that energy drinks have, there was a whole lot of real guarana flavor in here, something I have never really seen in a drink here in the US.

Buzz:5
Now the Buzz was completely what I expeced. Like most drinks sold in Europe, their caffeine in drinks are controlled by the government, and they make sure they are going ofver the prescribed 75ish mg of caffeine per 8 ounce can. Unfortuantely, downing a 75mg can of caffeine, no matter how smooth and tasty, just is not going to give me the staying power I really need for an energy drink. Maybe if I downed 2 or 3 can of this I would be feeling some energy, but a can of guarana is equal to one shot of espresso. It is enough to get me to my next fix, but just barely. I saw they have a Black version on their website (which is helpfully in English too), which ups the caffeine ante. I am guessing I am going to need to hunt a bit more to find one of those though.

The energy mix in here is not bad, although it could use a bigger boost. There is the usual taurine Vitamin B complex in here, along with a small dose of Vitamin C because why not. The ingredients also seem to include Aroma and Vitamin Mix, and a preservative too. But thats OK - it is a long trip from Serbia to the denver strip mall, and I want it to taste fresh. Turns out that Guarana is not Serbia most selling energy drink in Serbia because it might be the only energy drink company in Serbia, but because it is a truly great energy drink - if a bit small for my American tastes.

Killer Buzz is a cool energy drink out of Tuscaloosa, and with their new relaunch hopefully making it to a store near me soon. Fortunately they sent me out some samples of their new design, which looks radically different from the initial launch of the product. Killer Buzz like clean and toned and ready for battle, comparable to Ironclad Energy, only with a secret weapon - GHAA. GHAA stands for Giant Hornet Amino Acids, and they propose that you get as much energy a a giant hornet, which I guess has a lot. Never been around giant hornets, I am not sure how energetic your average hornet is, and seeing as they are my Phobia Bug (everyone is allowed to freak out over one insect, and mine is hornets) I hope to never find out.

What I can say is that I have tried many many canned mochas, and this is one of the tastier and more powerful of the lot.

Packaging:7
Rather than go for the brushed aluminum and core color look of the rest of their drinks, Mocha Madness is a nice brown mocha color, although the vertical stripes gets lost in the 70s. There is a while kitch design for it which works although it differs from their other flavors more hardcore image. Like all Killer Buzz cans, it has a paragraph about the drink that really has nothing to do with the drink and it just slightly amusing nonsense. Overall this is a lovely can - down to its custom Killer Buzz drink tab.

Functionally, I like the can, except for a few glaring problems. The biggest one s the lack of caffeine content, which is not on any of their flavors. The only other minor point is they do not double face their cans, which makes it harder for stockers to put their drink right in the cooler and have it point the right way. Instead of the paragraph telling drinkers how they "Reeling in the stink in your own psychosis," it might make more sense to put smaller version of their cool logo on the back too.

Taste:9
I'll be damned if this is not one of the better Mocha canned coffees I have ever had. The flavor is pretty great, although for truth I can not tell you clearly as the entire can has a way of just sliding past my throat. This is one of the smoother creamier coffee drinks I have had in a very long time - with a most pleasant rich aftertaste that does not go bitter from preservatives. When I finally did manage to just take a sip of one of the cans, the flavor was a decadent thick chocolate coffee cream, without any bitterness or harsh notes. The use of real milk and carageenan to give it that smooth rich quality really works.

My only issue is that when I ended up slamming each can in a matter of seconds, that led to a monumental energy rush. Usually when a person has a strong coffee drink, they can sit and sip it for a few minutes, so the caffeine does not hit the body all at once. When you slam this much caffeine this quickly in your system, there is bound to be consequences.

Buzz:9
Killer Buzz Mocha packs in quite a punch into this mocha, not holding back on the energy, or letting go very easily. within about 15 minutes, all that caffeine hit me, and the effect was immediately visible. I went from a lethargic sleepy mess at 5:30am to perky and restless by 6. The buzz lasts and lasts too - and I felt that slightly jittery edge that makes me so happy for about 3 solid hours before nicely fading away with no desire to crash. I am guessing that there is at least 200mg of caffeine packed in here to help that buzz hit, and there is enough other fun ingredients to keep it lasting for a while too.

Killer Buzz's big selling point is GHAA, or Giant Hornet Amino Acids. When I first heard about Killer Buzz I was hoping they actually used something from hornets in their drink, but alas, it is not the case. This does have same 17 amino acids that make up Giant Hornet somethingoranothers, which is still a pretty cool idea - regardless if that menas anything or not. What I can say is that with the energy I could get from something this tasty - I am looking forward to my next chocolatey creamy Killer Buzz.

Get Zoned is in a very new section of caffeinated supplements, called Nootropics. These are products loaded with things like Ginko Biloba, Theanine and other ingredients that are supposedly memory enhancers, cognitive enhancers, and intelligence enhancers. I love the idea of brain drugs, especially because I had enough expriences in college to burn out many many brain cells - and what is left has to put in some overtime to compensate.

Zoned is one of those pills, loaded with a very interesting and completely unique memory boosting blend of ingredients. Their main focus is increased focus and energy, although I also found that this helped be able to multi-task better as well. The guy behind Zoned created this for his stint in grad school, and made this as opposed to turning to more expensiva and possibly illegal substanced like Adderall instead. While I don't know what he was going to grad school for, I will bet it is something unique and brilliant - just like his little pills are.

Packaging:7
While I did not get an actual 30 pill package, Zoned was nice enough to send along what the packaging looked like, only mine was in a little ziploc baggie. I do like the overall design - as it is very clean and minimal. Basically, it is some gears with a very thin Futura font. However, the fact that it was a simple black a white print gave it a very artisan homemade look - something that works for beer but not necessarily pills. I would add a little color, maybe a little leaf or shaft of barley would help give this that extra professional look.

The real problem I have with this is that they dumped all their ingredients into a proprietary energy blend, so you have no idea how much caffeine you are actually consuming. Even drugs like Excedrin they list the caffeine content. I understand they don't want anyone copying their secret formula, but knowing if this is caffeinated to affect someones sleep or nighttime study would be a good thing.

Buzz:9
Coding is tiring work. It is not the same tired you get from replacing sheet rock and hanging drywall, but the kind of tired where you are processing too much information at the same time and you can just not turn your head off. I gave Get Zoned a couple good tries, first with the recommended one pill, and then the other two days I gave it two pills to see the effect. The thing is with pills, the effect is different than if you took it as a shot or drink. I popped the pills and waited to see what sparks would fly. The odd thing is that I did not get any sort of blast or energy from any of them. However, I did notice a few other cool results. For one, I did not feel like I needed to hook myself up to the office coffee machine like I usually do in the mornings. I actually had too much work I was in the middle of to take a coffee break - and just plowed through my morning of coding and got a ton of work done. Both days I got very little sleep - but still kept the focus I needed for a full day's development. I am not sure I would have this every day, but it would be cool to have this in a secret arsenal for those days when I needed extra concentration and focus. This is the equivalent of a NOS shot to the brain - giving it an extra Oomph when you want to get ahead.

One thing worth mentioning is they clearly point out tht they used Kosher Gelatin capsules, so if you are in for a long night of Talmud study Zoned might just be the thing you need.

The ingredients list in Zoned Up is one of the more interesting blends I have seen. There are only five ingredients in here, and even I have only heard of three of them. Each pill contains a blend of sulbutiamine, choline, caffeine, schizandrol-A and hordenine. My guess is unless you are a scientist or have a vitamin B deficiency. Sulbutiamine is a derivative of Thiamin (B1), and seems in scientific studies help with memory loss - as well as helping psycho-behavioural inhibition, in other words shyness. Choline is found in tons of foods, but is still considered to be a brain-booster. The oddest one in here is Hordenine - which is used in animal feed and sold as a weight loss supplement. According to Zoned's website, hordenine releases metabolism increasing agents, boosts energy and helps to burn fat.

MVP is put out by HOF holdings, a company who marries famous people with food in the hopes that people will be so enamored Jim McMahon to buy his barbecue sauce, or Charles Barkley to buy his baby back ribs. In MVP's case, the Superstar athlete tied with it is Luis Gonzalez. Unfortunately, while it seems that while Charles Barkley gets his cartoon face on his ribs, all Luis gets is his signature on a badly printed baseball. This is exactly the kind of drink I would expect to find buried in the boxes of a local Save-A-Lot grocery store, competing with their most awesomely awful Max E Rush energy drink.

Packaging:3
It is a good thing I found this for about a buck - I am not sure I would have paid much more. The can reeks of cheap knockoff - which is unfortunate. There is no real reason this has to be such a badly designed can - but it just has too many mistakes. The design has some background issues and is a bit fuzzy. the basic art is ugly, and it is made worse by the bad printing job. The only way you could tell Luis has anything to do with it is his name written in small block letters with the number 20 underneath, and a scrawled signature in the middle of the bare aluminum baseball. The strangest part of the design is a big white block on the back with a small X, like a place where you would sign your name. Should Luis has signed there? Are you supposed to find his signature or sign your name on it?

Functionally, it does well enough, listing the caffeine and being double faced, but the quality of the design and print job is very hard to ignore. IT also looks exactly the same as their regular version, not really separating this one from their calorie full version. From pictures I have seen of this online, it looks like maybe they have two versions - a better one they save for places like Walgreens with a white background and looking like an actual fastball being thrown, and this half done bare aluminum version they must save for the discount grocery stores like Save-A-Lot. If this were like they pictured it being in their promo spots I would have liked it much more.

Taste:9
For as bad as this looked, I assumed this would taste like a crappy Red Bull Knock off barely worthy of drinking. To my happy surprise, it was a Fruity Punch, and a tasty one too! Unlike a lot of fruit punches, it tasted very full of flavor, but still did not get heavy and thick. this was the low calorie version, but they did a great job in balancing the ultra sweetness fruit punch drinks have and the medicinal quality of energy drinks. This was really a refreshing flavor, with just enough sweetness to harmonize all the berry notes. For being designed so badly, I would still be happy having these in my general stockpile.

Buzz:7
The same goes for the energy in here - clocking in at 80mg per serving, or 160mg per can. While this is not blow-you-away amounts of energy, it ain't bad. The only other energy ingredients in here are an undisclosed amount of taurine and some vitamin B complex too. I got a couple hours of energy drink this - and it was a decent buzz too. The fade was pretty gradual, and I did not feel much crash.

One of the coolest things I found in here is a liberal use of dextrose for the non-nutrative sweetener, which worked amazingly well. there is also some sucralose buried deep within the ingredients list, but compared to the usual sucralose Ace-K mix that most diet energy drink have, I really liked the change-up.

On my last trip to the mountains, I found this flavor of Superliminal Purple Stuff and thought I would have to give it a try, seeing as I did not mind the flavor of the last one as soda goes. It had been some time since I gave Superliminal a try it was worth a shot. However, after knocking back a can trying to relax after a hard day's work I just felt full and a little sticky.

Like so many other relaxation druggie themed drinks, this is meant to relax you and get a person mellow, although I like how Superliminal is veering away from the Lean and Drank methods of comparing their drinks to Hip-Hop drug and more like Willy Wonka. Still, with the whole Purple Stuff, it still is playing off the name and image of the Purple Drank phenomenon.

Packaging:2
I still find the design for Superliminal Purple Stuff plain awful. I get what they were going for, but spending real cash on something so cheesy it does not seem worth it. The bad font choices, combined with their single color poor printing job makes this can a real mess. The top hat on the letter makes me think they are going Willy Wonka - but that does not seem like a very sleepy relaxing story what with all the people being stretched and zapped and exploded and juiced. The rest of the can does not make any sense either - using bad font choices and cut-out designs. Its definitely time to work on that redesign.

It did not bother to print how much melatonin is on the can still, and does not really tell you much of anything you are about to drink. They don't double face the can and done have a cool cap. It did contain the liquid, which I guess means it works functionally, but that is about it's only good point.

Taste: 8
II cracked it open, and like the grape before it what I tasted was not what anyone would expect. Superliminal is a very lightly flavored slightly sweetened berry, more mellow and distinct than your normal berry soda.

Like the grape flavor before it, it had a strong popsicle quality about it - only watered down enough to not overwhelm with sugar. I did not like it as much as the grape though, as the berry added a touch of sourness that did not really add to the complexity and depth of flavors like the grape did. It still is pretty tasty, but if I had my druthers I would stick to their grape blend.

Anti-Buzz:2
I was all set to relax with this can and see if I would drift peacefully off to sleep. I was really hoping I would, as I had a stressful day of work and needed to chill out. Unfortunately, taking a look at the ingredients list told me what I was in for.

Their ingredients list broken down is Water, Sugar, Natural Flavorings (extracted processed berry flavors), citric acid, preservatives, Vitamin B complex, Sucralose, maltodextrin and food coloring. The Calming Blend is some Theanine, Rose Hips and Valerian Root. In other words, this will make you about as calm as a cup of tea - and not even Sleepytime tea at that. Theanine does not make you tired, and actually helps people focus upon tasks. Rose Hips are great for itching powder and in pet foods, but will not help you sleep any. Valerian root is not a bad idea, but it is very mild, and had absolutely no effect on me.

I did not feel more calm or more focused, just satisfied with a tasty beverage. For a soda, it is not half bad. It tastes OK and does not have many calories, just don't expect it to actually do anything it promises.

Genesis Today Energize Me Juice

Madrinas Cafe Con Leche

Nuclear Energy Drink - Pom Berry

Quick Strike Energy Drink

AcuteFruit Energy Juice

Mintia Caffeinated Dry Hard Mints

Swiss Miss Pick Me Up Hot Chocolate mix

Neuro Sleep drink

Immunotec Xtra Sharp Energy shot

NOS Sugar Free energy drink

Kahlua Iced Coffee Grab & Go Cocktails

Monster Zero Ultra Energy Drink

Red Rain Precipitation Watermelon energy drink

The Hypnotic Chronic Energy drink

Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee

Guarana Energy Drink

Killer Buzz Mocha Madness

Zoned Concentration Energy pills

MVP Energy Drink - Low Carb

Superliminal Berry Calming Purple Stuff