Cocaine

Oh wow, the energy drinks you'll see on the market these days, it's unbelievable. You know, so many rumors have gone by about Cocaine energy, whether it be talk about being discontinued, or just about if it has actual drugs in it. I can answer both rumors and settle them here: yes, it was discontinued, but put back onto the market earlier this year after an approval from the FDA. And, no, one 8 ounce can of Cocaine Energy has no traces of drugs in it, but an extremely high amount of caffeine. Which leads me to tell you guys that there's about 280mg of caffeine in only 8 ounces, which, if you didn't know, is more than twice the amount of caffeine as a Red Bull or Monster, crazy! I have not a clue on where to find these, if you ask me, that's only because I acquired this from a buddy via trading. Thanks, Keith! You may be wondering if I'm a bit afraid to drink one of these, and honestly, I am a bit on edge, but then again I'm really eager to crack it open and find out what it's like. Hinting at the red can, I'm going to guess a cherry flavor, but how does cherry mix with a can of energy drink relating to drugs? Perhaps a more 'manly' flavor will have to do with this, like wild berry, or citrus. I don't know but I'm ready to find out.

It breaks open without any trouble and I find a strong sweet cherry aroma, as I nearly choked on the unsuspecting aroma that caught me. It's color out of the can about the color of a cherry, reddish pinkish, bright, but not so. Woah! No way! This isn't what I was expecting, intense! Me being me, I took a huge gulp and felt like I was on fire because the flavor is just like, indescribable. So, imagine taking 10 habanero peppers, putting them in your mouth and swallowing them whole, that's the flavor you get from this drink, aside from a hardly noticeable amount of sweet cherry in the background. After two ounces, I feel like I can almost breath fire out of my mouth, that's how amazingly hot this is. Getting more into the drink, there's more of a wild berry/cherry flavor and it seems to be artificially sweetened. Ah, as a matter of a fact there's some Sucralose in it, sad. Overall, in flavor, I have to say, this has to be the spiciness thing I've ever drunk, but I really did enjoy the cherry flavor I found in the background. I picked up a technique for if you want to drink it without the burning going in your nose and down your throat. Take a sip (As much as you want) and swish it around in your mouth for a few seconds then swallow. It's much easier that way. The carbonation is well, not too much, but still just an average energy drink carbonation. Although, I must say its pretty darn gummy, especially for not even being half way through the can right now. Overall, I want to say that I do NOT recommend this drink for children, nor do I recommend it for those sensitive to spicy foods, trust me, save your cash.

As for ingredients, I see some basic stuff, nothing too much of an insanity. Anyways, there's carbonated water, dextrose, citric acid, taurine, natural flavors, sodium citrate, caffeine, D-Ribose, Salt, sodium benzoate, inositol, ascorbic acid, Sucralose, L-Carnitine, potassium sorbate, guarana, and vitamin B. Well, like Jeff mentioned before, I thought dextrose was used to sweeten hard, chalky candies like Lego candy, but apparently it's used to sweeten cherry energy drinks like this and the BooKoo Punch. Besides natural flavors, all the other energy ingredients seem legit. Natural flavors could really mean anything, only if it comes from a natural source though. Well, We'll leave it at that, anything natural is in here I guess. Per can, there's a measly 70 calories and only 18g of sugar. It's reasonable because there's not that much flavor in a can, it's mostly just spiciness taking over, but there definitely was some cherry/berry in there. After just about topping off the drink, I feel the major effects of a can of Cocaine energy, especially with 280 whopping milligrams of caffeine. I think this drink may be worthy of the Best Kick List. All in all, I am really confused of what and how I should determine the taste, but the kick was outstanding.

Taste: ? - There was an insane amount of spiciness with some nice cherry flow in the background, but I'm just too confused on the taste part
Kick: 9.7 - I'm totally jittery from a can of this stuff
Overall: 9 - Not a bad drink to try, but only if you're really a spicy food/drink lover looking for an awesome kick

Reviewed by: Chan

*Temporary picture used with permission by Taurinerules. Original picture found here: http://taurinerules.blogspot.com/2008/03/cocaine-energy-drink-review.html

Hydrive Acai Berry

Since the beginning of all energy drinks, the goal of an energy drink was to get you perked up and incredibly focused as well. Now, I haven't been a fan of Hydrive, but I do know that they give so much focus, enough that lasted me a good few hours without jitteriness. I felt so lucky when I found a Big! Lots that stocked two more flavors of Hydrive, Pomegranate, and this one, the Acai Berry. Which reminds me to note that acai has become so popular between energy drinks in the past year or so, and frankly, it's really good in one. Hydrive tastes a whole lot different than a water based energy drink, if I remembered, most likely because it's made of water from natural springs. In my opinion, that's an automatic win because I definitely feel safer knowing where the water came from and it'll have better and crisper taste to it, as opposed to be regular drinking water. The narrow bottle looks sharp behind a deep blue wrapper with the word "Hydrive" stretched across the whole wrapper.
What has to be the coolest part of this bottle is the covered sun with blue rays exiting the somewhat black-looking sun.

As I twist off the black water bottle cap, I notice the phrase "Better Energy" suggesting a somewhat healthy drink. Well anyways, the scent is more like an artificial berry aroma with a slight amount of bright acai flavor mixed in. An odd clear color is provided for each bottle Hydrive, although I was expecting perhaps a blue color, hinting at the neat blue wrapper. Oh wow, the flavor is really whacky, all over the place to put it simpler. It's more of an extremely rich blueberry and blue raspberry flavor as well as pungent acai to compliment that sour flavor from the natural fruit. The spring water made from this drink is perhaps the cause of the drink being crisp and easy to drink, despite the amount of sourness and richness. I did notice, throughout the whole bottle, the berry was artificial and the acai wasn't too noticeable, in terms of defining how natural or artificial it was. The aftertaste reminds me of a crisper version of the Jolt Blue, and toned down a whole lot with more acai. It's obviously not carbonated, that allows for an easier drinkability without having to worry about the tingling on your tongue and in your throat. With spring water, there's no gumminess, but the sourness takes over and makes up for the gumminess. Overall, Hydrive has made yet another odd energy drink, but not a bad one. I guess it's just "So-So."

In one 11.2 ounce bottle of Hydrive, there's spring water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, sodium citrate, natural flavors, monopotassiumphosphate, caffeine, taurine, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, L-Carnitine, L-Arginine, niacin, and sucralose. Rather than the usual filtered water, i like the whole idea of using spring water, hence giving it a better taste as well. Call me stupid, but it seems like 'monopotassiumphosphate' is one word listed on the ingredients list. Well, perhaps it's an error, or maybe it's not. Per bottle, you get a measly 25 calories and hardly any sugar, just 5g. Now, this is a great option for an energy drink if you want a great flavor, without the artificial flavors, as well as a better-than-average kick to go along with it. Speaking of the kick, for me, it lasted about 4 hours, mostly focus and hardly any jitteriness. This makes me wonder what kind of ingredients there are in one of these. Woah, there's 5.2g of energy blend in only 11.2 ounces of the whole thing. In other words. there's 5,200mg, which is 200mg more than a 16 ounce Monster! All in all, I could say it's another drink that I wouldn't buy unless I wanted the kick, not the okay taste.

Taste: 6.6 - There wasn't enough sweetness to a strong blue raspberry/acai flavored energy drink
Kick: 8.3 - A nice kick with much focused was delivered with 5,200mg of energy blend
Overall: 7.4 - Hm, an okay energy drink, in terms of taste, but I enjoyed the focus

Reviewed by: Chan

BooKoo Punch

I haven't had punch in a long time. Probably the last punch drink I had was a Hawaiian Punch, more than 6 months ago. Since I haven't had it in so long, I really don't remember what's in it. My best guess would be a bunch of fruit juices mixed together. The most specific definition I can find of what belongs in punch is fruit juices with or without alcohol mixed in. The distinct flavor of what we generally associate with punch is a mystery to me, and I'm looking forward to being refreshed with the BooKoo Punch. Examining the contents of the can, I notice a few things. The sugar content seems slightly high at 29g per serving, and the sweeteners are HFCS and Dextrose, which is odd. I thought Dextrose was the kind of sugar they pack together to make those hard, powdery lego candies, but now the internet is telling me it's just another name for or form of Glucose. Confusing. Anyway, I think it's worthy mentioning that there are no fruit juices in here whatsoever and that this contains sucralose. As if 29g of sugar wasn't going to sweeten it enough, BooKoo threw in sucralose. This might be another one of those drinks that is only good cold or over ice. I'll try both.

My first whiff is indeed of that characteristic fruity punch flavor. There's definitely a little grape, possibly some orange and lime and a lot of cherry or strawberry. The smell is incredibly pungent, almost overpowering; very close to Hawaiian Punch. I was expecting this to be pure and slightly opaque red, but instead, it's slightly different, being the color of maraschino cherries, clear red-pink and flourescent. Compared to many energy drinks, it seems much less carbonated, but that's likely true because of how terribly sweet this is, forcing you to take very small sips. I mean, we all know how sweet Hawaiian Punch is, but this tastes even sweeter, especially while it's hot. And something about it gives your teeth that "eaten-away" feeling just like fruit juice does, possibly the massive amounts of sugar in here. I think the only thing that might save this drink's reputation is putting it over ice. So I have my glass here of cold, clear ice and I poured the BooKoo Punch in. It doesn't have much of an effect as it taskes some time for the BooKoo to melt with the ice. After a little while, I notice that the ice does tone down the sweetness and makes it much better, but that same punch flavor has admittedly gotten old. Just like all of the other BooKoos I've tried, this one must be over ice to be enjoyed, at least in my opinion, because I would not be able to drink this down without it. Because just like Capri Sun, BooKoo is hard to enjoy hot.

I didn't quite "drink this down." It was more like sipping it for a good hour, because it was so unbearably sweet. Now, I looked at the supplement facts, and there are 29g of sugar per serving. Normally, 29g per 8oz doesn't make a drink this sweet, but when you look down in the ingredients, the second-to-last ingredient is sucralose. Not surprisingly, sucralose takes this drink's sweetness level way too far. Besides sucralose, the drink is sweetened with HFCS and Dextrose. The rest of the ingredients include citric acid, natural flavors, D-glucuronolactone, caffeine, sodium benzoate, inositol, L-carnitine, potassium sorbate, and red coloring, along with niacin, B6, B12, Pantothenic Acid, 2060mg total of taurine, and 206mg 0f panax ginseng. These energy ingredients don't look quite strong enough to provide a boost as sick as a Monster. And what weakens it even more is the fact that it's too sweet to finish within an hour or so for most people. I've never been crazy about punch, and this drink doesn't change that.

Taste: 6.4 - Decent punch flavor, but you don't want all that sweetness
Kick: 6.5 - Kick diminished because of the sweetness
Overall: 6.7 - I don't want another of these

Reviewed by: Jeff

Inko's White Tea

I was extremely excited when I received this drink from my buddy during a trade because tea is just awesome in an energy drink, I think. I had thought Inko's White Tea looked completely different than what it is after I opened up the package and took a glance at it. It looks like someone hit the can with a blast of urban font, just to make it look more modern and less of the old English writing it may be based on. I know that it's based on something older because of the design of the vines and flowers next to the word "Inko's" near the top. It has a dark blue background with a lighter blue design in front of it looking most like fancy flowers, vines, stems, and plants. It says "White Tea" in a usual font but with the word "Energy" below it in an orange, stenciled writing. Towards the bottom of the can, I see "Jitter-Free" which could mean I could get some massive focus after drinking this energy drink, most likely from the white tea itself. Below that, I see "All Natural", I like to know that I'm drinking a true White Tea based energy drink. What caught my eye was the term "Adult Energy Drink", so does that mean there's alcohol? A quick check at the back of the can reveals there's actually no alcohol in it. So, the 'Adult' term, probably refers to the amount of caffeine, hence producing a nice kick.

It cracks open smoothly to show a scent quite plain, almost like the Arizona Green Tea, but with a bit sweetness mixed in. Inko's White Tea comes out of the can a cloudy pale color, a bit like lemonade, no fizziness and less of a yellow color. Hm, it's taste is mellow and smooth, but it's lacking a white tea flavor that should almost dance on your tongue. Instead, it's light and there seems to be more of a lemon flavor to it, rather than tea. Right as it hits the mouth, I get a semi-sweet tea flavor and it fades away slowly to form more of a sour lemon and less tea essence in the background. So in general, it's a nice flavor, but I want to taste more of a stronger tea, and more sweetness, with less lemon-sourness. The aftertaste is quite different and tastes like cane sugar, although I'm pretty sure it doesn't have any whatsoever. In fact, it's sweetened with crystalline fructose, making it a bit dull, but not as dull as if it were sweetened with high fructose cornsyrup. Call me dumb, but I just figured that it's not carbonated, I guess I'm just so used to carbonated energy drinks. Despite the sweetener, it's not really gummy because all the flavors mix in to form that smooth, natural flavor, without gumminess. Overall, I was a bit impressed with this tea flavored drink, it was light enough on the palette that even non-tea lovers would at least like it. However, if you're a heavy tea drinker, like me, you're expecting a deeper flavor to it, but that's all right because you have that lemon juice in there to pair with the tea to enhance the main flavor.

In one can of Inko's White Tea, there's not a lot of ingredients, but there's enough in there for a decent energy drink. I see premium brewed white tea using filtered water, crystalline fructose (Not corn syrup), lemon juice, citric acid, natural caffeine derived from tea, natural flavors, ascorbic acid, ginger, riboflavin, guarana, and ginseng, Although there's crystalline fructose, there's still a bit of dullness, but not as much as what you'd find from HFCS. The kick is great, much better most likely due to the natural caffeine in the drink, much better than the usual caffeine in, say, a Monster. I have to say, the lemon juice really gave this drink an improved flavor, other than just tea. For some reason, the combination tastes extremely familiar, but I have not a clue where it could be from. Per can of Inko's, you get only 160 calories and only 38g of sugar. It's yet another energy drink that's good on sugar and has just the right flavor for what you're getting. I especially liked the kick, I can't say it enough. It probably delivered a kick for a good 4 hours, and little crash afterwards. All in all, a good drink for tea lovers, but I'm more interested in the more intensely flavored tea energy drinks.

Taste: 7 - A quite refreshing lemon/tea flavor contained in a lightly carbonated can
Kick: 8.4 - Once again, a great long-lasting kick was provided
Overall: 7.6 - Hm, I'm not quite sure I'd buy one of these, I'll keep looking for a better energy tea

Reviewed by: Chan

WWE Raw Attitude

I knew for a fact when I picked out the two flavors of Socko's WWE Raw Attitude line of energy drinks I was in for an explosive flavor and a dynamic kick to go along with it. Unfortunately, the Slammin' Citrus was a slight disappointment because there wasn't enough sugar to go along with the smooth citrus flavor and it made it just too light and unenjoyable. Aside from that, I must say the flavor was more on the refreshing side, which is only good if you're craving an energy drink after something tiring, but for me, I wanted something extreme. Who knows? Maybe the original flavor of WWE Raw will bring the flavors I'm craving right now. This reminds me to take a glance at the back of the can to find out how sweet it will actually be; disappointing, the same amount of sugar as the Slammin' Citrus, 24g per serving. Okay, so the flavor will most likely be pretty light, but little Monster Clones have I seen that have that low of an amount of sugar. the can design is awesome, I think. It's a plain white background with staggered black lines all pointing to the direction of Socko's trademark logo, as if it's something epic. There's a tough set of different logos used above that in different fonts like, "W", "Raw", and "Attitude." Everything on the face of the can seems to compliment the general can design pretty nicely.

As I'm expecting a Monster Clone with this energy drink, I am proven wrong with a sugary sweet grapefruit flavor, with noticeable citrus and peach. WWE Raw Attitude comes out with a color similar to a Monster, but more fluorescent and with a bit more orange-yellow color. It's flavor seems to be almost similar to it's citrus friend, "Slammin' Citrus", but with less citrus flavor and more peach and a bit more grapefruit. When I first tried it, I wasn't very pleased at all because of the diluted grapefruit flavor, but it certainly is refreshing, not what I was expecting at all. Usually, 'mean' organizations, like WWE, would make flavors that really are mean, in terms of a strong flavor and an intense kick. After about half way through the can, I can easily feel a great kick, most likely from the yerba mate/damiana combination in the can. I'm enjoying this drink slowly and there's no problem because I can't find any traces of Sucralose nor any HFCS. As for carbonation, it's moderate, but it doesn't get in the way throughout the process of enjoyment. Since I find sucrose, it's not gummy, nor is it artificial, I like this drink. Overall, it's extremely crisp, and enjoyable, but if you're looking for a mean taste, the whole line of WWE energy drinks are not for you. If you're looking for something that's relaxing after a series of exercises or a just long day.

As for ingredients, I was surprised to see what I saw in one can of Raw energy. There's carbonated water, sucrose, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, sodium citrate, yellow #6, caffeine, taurine, Horny Goat Weed, ginseng, guarana, Damiana, yerba mate, glucuronolactone, inositol, and B Vitamins. These energy ingredients that sound unfamiliar are just in here to give an extra boost, hence making the kick even better. Per can, you only get 180 calories, 48g of sugar, 160mg of caffeine, and 2000mg of taurine. For such a light flavor, I really wasn't expecting more than 180 calories as well as 48g of sugar. If you want an energy drink with nearly as much calories and nearly as many grams of sugar, but with tons more flavor, stick with a Monster over this one. There's one objection I believe in, and that's the kick this energy drink gave. I can tell you, I'd prefer this over Monster any day, but only if it came down to kick. All the other flavors you see in here make up for the nearly poor amount of caffeine, so I wouldn't freak out if you only see 160mg without reading everything else you see in a can of these babies. Well, after everything, I can't say I was impressed with the flavor, but I can easily say I enjoyed the solid 4 hour boost it provided for me.

Taste: 7 - The flavor is a diluted grapefruit and just a bit of peach flavouring if you think hard about it
Kick: 8.5 - Nice kick, very nice kick
Overall: 8 - Here's an idea: after a tiring day, don't grab a Gatorade for refreshment, grab one of these, plus you get the mean kick provided in every can!

Reviewed by: Chan

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee

I first want to say sorry it took me so long to get this review in. I've had this drink since June and I guess I just totally left it in the dust, caught up with all the other energy drinks I've been finding lately. I especially want to apologize to Evan, for supplying us with these coffee energy drinks, who has been patiently waiting for me to review the final Starbucks drink out of their newer three released a few months ago. I know Jeff wasn't very happy with this line of energy drinks at all and I thought so far they weren't bad, just nothing too special. Coffee flavor tends to be a bit 'plain' if you will, so you won't see companies label a flavor as just 'coffee', however for some reason Starbucks did. This shows that I can potentially get a flavor that's dull, generalized, and somewhat lame that doesn't have enough sweetness. If I explained it correctly, you now know why coffee/energy drink companies come out with flavors based on coffee, rather than just a regular coffee. Right now, I'm hoping Starbucks can prove my point wrong and amaze me with a flavor different than a boring coffee drink. The can design is perhaps the best of the these Starbucks drinks being streaks of coffee mixed in with a dark chocolate brown and a few other shades like milk chocolate and iced coffee brown. I like that background; it has to be one of my favorites.

As I break the tab and bend it forward, the top of the can disperses a pretty strong scent, being a general artificially robust coffee aroma. Actually, it doesn't really smell like coffee, now that I'm getting more whiffs of it. The Starbucks Coffee delivers a hue that's basic, milky brown color with very little darkness mixed in. It's flavor has to be the worst coffee flavor I've ever had. Not only is it not sweet enough, but it's so artificially sweet that it's unbearable and a bit bitter. It has that fake robustness coffee energy drinks try to add. I'm questioning Starbucks in my head, "From such a large coffee enterprise, wouldn't you expect a better quality coffee energy drink?" I guess the flavor in general is a starting artificial, weak, lame coffee flavor and ends with a more intense note of artificialness and a fake version of robust coffee beans. As much as I hate to mention something personal on this blog, I must: this drink nearly made me throw up, and right now my stomach is in more pain than any other energy drink I've tried, sugar free or not. Right now, I frankly don't care what it's sweetened with and how gummy it is because Starbucks already screwed up the whole drink in terms of being sweet, not sweet, etc. About 8 ounces into it, I can easily say that I'm finished with this drink. Email me if you want the rest and I can send it right away. Just kidding. Overall, I say that I've never seen this much abuse to such a valuable and meaningful flavor in the energy drink community.

The ingredients in this wannabe energy coffee are Starbucks coffee (Filtered water, coffee), reduced fat milk, skim milk, sugar, natural flavor, maltodextrin, dextrose, taurine, cellulose gel, L-Carnitine, ginseng, cellulose gum, inositol, Vitamin C, guarana, niacin, Sucralose, Vitamin A, B Vitamins, and caramel color. Hm I know they didn't go wrong with the Starbucks Brand coffee, because that stuff is pretty good, but I do see hidden sugars and unnecessary ingredients. There's reduced fat milk and skim milk, most coffee energy drinks do not need both. there's also a combination of sucrose, maltodextrin, dextrose, and Sucralose. I would only establish sugars that are needed in a coffee, not added in for extra artificial and unappetizing sweetness like Sucralose and maltodextrin. There's an upside to this drink, the kick. The kick is formulated with guarana, ginseng, caffeine (From the coffee), and B Vitamins. I have a good 5-6 ounces left and I can definitely say that I'm more alert. Per can, you get 210 calories, 26g of sugar. and 12g of protein. From what I'm seeing, this drink can be improved by putting more real sugar into the mix, hence giving it a better sweetness and overall imroving the taste. All in all, I can't say I enjoyed this coffee energy drink at all, and until the next energy drink company makes their line of coffee energy drinks, I'm done.

Taste: 3 - The overall flavor was mostly artificial with fake robustness added in, a shame to energy coffees
Kick: 8 - I can't say many bad things about the kick
Overall: This line of Starbucks energy drinks are overpriced and not good for the money, I'd stick with Rockstar Roasted or Java Monster for now

Reviewed by: Chan

Liquid Ice

Interesting name. I'm not sure what to expect from a drink named Liquid Ice. Probably not a Monster clone. Maybe a Red Bull clone. Honestly, the only sort of flavor I might associate ice with is mint, something fresh and cool and clean. I doubt this'll be the first mint-flavored drink I find, however, since it's probably not a flavor most energy drink companies will consider. Anyway, flavor aside, this drink is labeled as a "High Performance Drink." I'm not quick to believe in taglines like this. Many times, energy drinks will use something like this to simply mean "energy drink," when they aren't high-performance at all. The only way to tell is to take a gander at the Nutritional Facts. When I see what's actually in here, I'm not surprised: 80mg is about the standard of caffeine in an 8oz can. For a can design, Liquid Ice is pretty sleek and detailed. You've got some sweet ice-looking cracks behind the name going vertically up the can. The only two good things I see about this is the fact that there's CoQ10, which I know, from the Jones energy, gives great vitality and energy, and the fact that this is sweetened with pure sucrose and dextrose. On to the opening.

Well, what other color would I have expected this to be than blue? The color is a nice saturated aqua. I got one sniff was was very surprised. It seemed unlikely, but in fact, it seems the Liquid Ice is mint-flavored, though not quite the mint you taste in toothpaste. I think there may be a little bit of licorice mixed in because it smells and tastes somewhat earthy and bitter. Though I can tell it's close to a winner, something in there completely turns me off to it, something familiar but disgusting. This is something I really don't like, and it's seriously making me cringe. It's just something I don't think pairs well with the mint; maybe lemon or orange. Something about it, maybe how artificaial it is, or the mint that comes with it, makes me reconsider taking more sips. The gumminess never becomes a problem because it's tough to chug this and the carbonation is minimal and fine. Smelling it again, maybe it's not so minty as I thought. A whole lot of that sharp, sort of spicy cinnamon smell comes in, like the stuff in potpourri. Yuck, I hate that stuff. The rest smells like dry orange peel and maybe some licorice. What could the makers have been thinking when they made this? It's very obscure and seems like it would appeal to a very small group of people. I'm never having this again, and I can't bear to finish it.

On ingredients, Liquid Ice is overall weak, with the average 1000mg of Taurine per 8oz and 80mg of Caffeine. Two other energy ingredients, Inositol (45mg) and CoQ10 (5mg) are present with four vitamins, Niacin, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, and Pantothenic Acid. That's it. It's lame compared to most drinks and very weak compared to something like a Monster. The good thing about the ingredients is that this is sweetened with Sucrose and Dextrose, which do give a crisp flavor. Too bad it's hardly noticed because the flavor is just horrible. The only other ingredients are Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, and Potassium Sorbate. In terms of kick, this drink was just okay, providing a very small mount of energy and some vitality, obviously from the CoQ10. If you remember from the Jones review, CoQ10 is an enzyme that is necessary for energy production in the body. Sadly, the measly 8oz size and weak energy ingredients don't make for a good kick at all.

Taste: 2 - Worst tasting drink I've ever had
Kick: 4 - Far below average, with just a bit of focus
Overall: 3 - I don't ever want to have this again

Reviewed by: Jeff

Snapple Antioxidant Water Strawberry Acai

I couldn't review just one Snapple without reviewing it's sibling with similar energy drink ingredients in it as well, the Snapple Antioxidant Water Strawberry Acai. I was so impressed with the Dragonfruit that I delayed a few reviews just to get in this review to find out how it compared to the Dragonfruit. Now, I found this at my every day grocery store, and so can you, so I doubt you'll have trouble locating a bottle or two of these. Besides last review, I haven't had a Snapple in years, and I must say, they have really improved their line of refreshing drinks, including their newest line of "healthy" water. I believe that strawberry is commonly messed up in energy drinks because they're either sweetened wrong, or there's not enough actual strawberry flavor in that. I'm curious to find out how Snapple takes on their own version of strawberry, especially with acai mixed in. The bottle design is similar to that of the Dragonfruit, only with pinkish-red rain drops, and some with clear areas inside of them. The background is a simple white color with a complimenting cloudy light pink color, which is from the drink color by the way. Well, let's twist this one open to find out how good or bad Snapple made it, compared to the Dragonfruit

It simply twists off in one sweeping motion with plastic crackling noises and reveals an aroma much similar to the Vitamin Water energy drinks and the Dragonfruit, you know, very light and floral. The color is a cloudy and translucent pink hue, but with some lighter color mixed in, perhaps water, thus the reason it's 'watered-down', or diluted. Snapple Antioxidant Strawberry Acai definitely provided a flavor I wasn't expecting. The first thing I notice in this drink is the diluted strawberry taste, with a lot of earthiness. The next part of the flavor seems to be more acai-flavored and more earthy when you first taste it. Even though the flavor isn't the best, it really is refreshing, especially after an evening full of exercise. After drinking almost all of it, I found traces of melon and traces of mixed berry as well as more earthiness perhaps from the acai berry. I'd say that if you wanted the buzz from one of these waters, you might want to stick with the Dragonfruit. However, if Dragonfruit isn't your thing, like if it's too sweet or too intense, Strawberry Acai is pretty refreshing to drink. With slightly more sugar, there's slightly more gumminess, this one being a bit more noticeable and thicker in the mouth. Overall, this drink is meant to be chugged, not enjoyed, because if it were meant to be enjoyed, the earthiness in the acai will overpower your taste buds.

The ingredients are mostly the same as the Dragonfruit antioxidant water but a few differences linger. There is: purified water, sucrose, citric acid, natural flavors, potassium citrate, calcium lactate, modified corn starch, ginseng, caffeine, guarana, vegetable juices, acacia gum, ribose, niacin, ECGC, and B vitamins. Like I mentioned before, Snapple does a great job by putting in not just a few energy ingredients, but putting in more complex ingredients like ribose and electrolytes, which are just two of the many types of good ingredients for the body. This time, they only used vegetable juices for the color, which is reasonable because it gave more of a cloudy color and was less concentrated. Per 20 ounce bottle, you get slightly more than the dragonfruit, 140 calories and 32g of sugar. That is another one of those odd drink where there's more sugar than its sibling though it was much less sweeter. This is a perfect example for one of those types. Well, in terms of energy, you get 60mg of caffeine and in terms of antioxidants, you get 165mg of EGCG (Vitamins A and E). All in all, as much as I was excited to review this drink, I was slightly disappointed as it was much less sweeter and a bit more bitter.

Taste: 7 - The taste was somewhat sweet, but the strawberry was diluted and the acai overpowered the drink with bitter earthiness
Kick: 6.5 - The nice blend of electrolytes, caffeine, guarana, ginseng, ribose, and B Vitamins gave me a solid hour and a half boost
Overall: 6.8 - Hm, although it was refreshing, I recommend you try the Dragonfruit instead

Reviewed by: Chan

Snapple Antioxidant Water Dragonfruit

At this hour tonight, I'm up for an energy drink that's pretty mellow, nothing too caffeinated, yet something to keep me up for a good hour without a crash. I took a glance at each and every energy drink in my fridge and found the Snapple Antioxidant Water Dragonfruit. Now, Snapple recently came out with four of their antioxidant-enhanced water based beverages. Two of them actually have energy ingredients in them, like guarana, ginseng, ribose, B Vitamins, electrolytes, and caffeine. I forget the flavor of the other Antioxidant Water, but I do have it and I will review it soon enough, but in the meantime I pulled out a dragonfruit flavor. I've had this drink since forever, it seems like, and I can't believe that I'm just starting to review it now. Well whatever, enough with me, let's talk about the bottle design. It's pretty cool being dragonfruit colored rain drops, some being clear inside and some being a full, big drop. The background is just a plain white with a nice water-blue font used to stencil the words "Snapple" and "Antioxidant Water." The warm, dark pink colored water compliments the bottle design well, although it's a bit darker than a usual pink.

As I twist off the water cap and hear the sound of plastic snapping, I go in to smell an almost pure and crisp dragonfruit aroma, unlike any dragonfruit I've tried before. The color is more of a darker pink, or perhaps even a purple color, but I'd say it's most likely violet. Oh wow, I wasn't expecting that much flavor from such an underrated beverage. The first thing that comes to mind when I'm tasting this drink is an insanely pure dragonfruit flavor, with a whole lot of melon and pear, and just a bit of citrus to top it off. Another flavor that comes to mind is definitely some passionfruit and apple, all this makes a beverage that's intense and flavorful. I would say the general flavor is pretty darn tasty, I don't think I can find any faults in the drink, although I wish it were carbonated. It's sweetened with sucrose, so there's no gumminess at all, and it's sweetened perfectly. I literally downed this drink before I even finished this paragraph, as you can tell, it's one of the best water-based energy drinks I've had here on Canned Reviews. Overall, well, that last paragraph said it all, perhaps the best the water energy drink I've had. Period.

I can't possibly name all the ingredients in this antioxidant water, as it's really complex, but I'll name they key ingredients. Here they are: Purified water, sugar, natural flavors, citric acid, potassium citrate, fruit and vegetable juices, electrolytes, modified corn starch, ginseng, caffeine, guarana, ribose, niacin, and ECGC. Hm, pretty good ingredients. The fruit and vegetable juices gave it that nice violet color, as well as some light pink mixed in. I'm surprised this has caffeine, especially with all those other complex ingredients already there to create a great kick. Per 20 ounce bottle, you get 130 calories, and only 30g of sugar. It had enough sweetness although it only 30g of sugar, I really wish more energy drinks would start to get on the same wagon and copy Snapple. There's also tons of vitamins in this drink and I already feel vitalized, only after 45 minutes of drinking this. The kick is another factor. With only 60mg of caffeine in the bottle many people are mistaken when they say there's no kick involved. All in all, A pretty darn good energy drink bottled in semi-low sugar option. I'd say to get this drink if you want an amazing taste but don't want any artificial flavors added into it.

Taste: 8.6 - Wow, that's a whole lot of great flavors packed in one great bottle
Kick: 6.5 - The kick is decent, not bad for a bunch of energy drinks, but toned down a lot
Overall: 8 - Hm, I think I'd want some more of this for like mornings if I want to wake up just a bit without getting jittery

Reviewed by: Chan

Who's Your Daddy Green Tea

I can love an edgy drink. The first energy drink I had been introduced to was Monster, and it carries a similar edgy feel, as it's associated with auto racing and extreme sports. This one looks like it possibly could be as well. The Who's Your Daddy has a nice green background and has its name written in an edgy capital eroded letters. Below that, in a red, capital, hand-written font, is "Energy Drink," also looking edgy and cool. What makes this odd is the flavor. I don't typically associate green tea with anything edgy. Green tea usually makes me think of relaxation and vitality, but not energy. Maybe this drink can alter my impression of green tea to an energizing, and rejuvenating beverage. After searching for Who's Your Daddy online, I found out they have four flavors: cranberry pineapple, green tea, and their sugar-free versions. They call themself the "King of Energy." I'm interested in seeing how they handle green tea.

I popped the can open and there was minimal vapor. This stuff smells very similar to Arizona's Green Tea energy drink. It's got a classic green tea earthiness with a definite sweet honey smell. My first thought was that there might be real honey in here, so I checked the ingredients. Sadly, honey is nowhere to be found, meaning that honey flavor must come from some kind of natural flavor. Since there was no honey, I decided to see if there is in fact any tea in here. Yes, there is, labelled "Tea powder." While reading the nutrition facts earlier, I was thinking this would be very very sweet, like the BooKoo Punch, because of the 29g of sugar per serving. This drink, even slightly chilled is very drinkable being comfortably sweet and without a strong green tea flavor. I poured this out to see your everyday green tea color, being very light amber-olive and crystal clear. With small sips, you get some very mild honey flavor and with larger ones, you taste a bit more green tea and oddly less honey flavor, since it's hidden by the carbonation. Compared to the common energy drinks, the carbonation doesn't cause nearly as much irritation and goes down smoothly. I'm really starting to warm up to this drink halfway through, and I like it a lot because despite the slightly high sugar level, it doesn't get old or too sweet whatsoever and there isn't any gumminess. This is something I could go for once in a while, though I'm sure a person like Chan, who is a big tea fan, would love this.

I have been waiting to examine the energy ingredients till this paragraph because I wanted to be in for a surprise. I already know this has 29 grams of sugar per serving, resulting in 58 per 16oz can and that the sweetener is the dreaded HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, meaning the sweetness is dull and not all that interesting. I think a quite interesting manufacturer like Who's Your Daddy could've done better by using lovely cane sugar or even honey, the traditional sweetener for green tea, but it seems they too took the cheaper route with HFCS. However, I do commend them for imparting some awesome honey flavor to the drink, fooling your taste buds and enriching the tea for sure. Who's Your Daddy's energy ingredients are pretty solid. Though there's a slightly weak 800mg per serving of Taurine, there are a whopping 200mg of Caffeine in the whole can. That is a nice thing to see inside a drink and I hadn't expected to see a great amount in here. The rest is 100mg of Pantothenic Acid and 100mg of Inositol total, and B6, Niacin, B12, and Zinc. It's a short list, but it is going to provide a quick burst of energy and then some alertness. For the rest of the ingredients, we've got Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Green Tea Powder, Sodium Citrate, Potassium Benzoate, Ascorbic Acid, and Caramel Color.

Taste: 7.6 - Tea drinkers who enjoy sweet drinks are going to enjoy this
Kick: 7.5 - 200mg of caffeine makes for a good short burst of energy
Overall: 7.6 - Good take on green tea; I'd like to try their other flavors

Reviewed by: Jeff

Rip It Gin-Zing-R

I finally got my hands on the other Rip It energy drinks that aren't found commonly around grocery stores and supermarkets. I obtained this drink via a buddy that I traded with, so if you leave comments asking me where to find one of these, I will not know the answer. It seems like the other 'Unknown' Rip Its have a better can design, in terms of color, and color variation. This one is a somewhat dull golden color, with black and silver strands going down, up, and on the sides of a medium sized "Rip It" and a small "Energy Fuel" phrase targeted towards the top of the can. Now the flavor is really what got me confused because what really is a "Gin-Zing-R, anyways? I think it may be the amount o ginseng in the energy drink, resulting in an insane kick, I really hope it is. But now, the flavor may be something unusual, like apple or, perhaps even orange...I have no clue at all, that may be the reason why I'm pretty excited to crack this one open. Rip It tends to amaze me with their ultimate flavors, like citrus and pomegranate, but there's a few more drink to review and I hope those final will seal the deal in a good line of drinks. Rip It is probably out of business, I think, only because their expiration dates are quite soon and I haven't seen a flavor come out of them for a good few years. Well, here we go.

As I open it up, I find an aroma that's a bit bland reminding me of the Jetset Tonic, bitter and little sweetness. The color is unexpected being a simple Monster golden brown color, but a bit lighter and more of a green tint to it, and much more carbonation. Wow, that flavor is intense! Rip It Gin-Zing-R packs a spicy ginger ale flavor but also comes in and punches you a large amount of sweetness and an equal amount of bitterness. The flavor is hard to describe, but it's more like a caramel flavor with ginger that makes up most of the sweetness in the whole drink. The other part of the sweetness is from a noticeable placement of high fructose corn syrup. The general flavor is irresistible and extremely tasty, but it's just too sweet after about 8 ounces into it. The aftertaste is a tinge of spicy ginger that gives you that foreign feel, similar to most ginger ale sodas and energy drinks. It's got a usual energy drink carbonation, light, but not so light as to chugging a whole can in under 5 minutes like you would with a juice or something. For HFCS, it's gummy, but not intensely gummy just like you'd find in other sweet HFCS energy drinks. Overall, Rip It continues to make flavors that amaze energy drink lovers, but I think I'd stay with the Jetset Ginger Ale when it comes down to sweetness.

The ingredients are simple, for a company that puts in some weird ingredients in most of their drinks. They go as following: Carbonted water, HFCS, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, potasssium sorbate, maltodextrin, salt (Sodium Chloride), and natural flavor. I don't really like the combination of high fructose corn syrup and an extremely sweet drink, only because it helps out in creating a more dull flavor than it already is. I've seen salt in an energy drink before, don't freak out because I can't even taste it, so I wouldn't think you would either. I can tell this is an older drink because of the lack of Sucralose and artificial flavors in the beverage, which I'll tell you makes the whole drink better. Per can you get 260 calories and 66g of sugar. I'll tell you that this is another drink that I don't drink in one sitting because too much sweetness is just terrible. I recommend you have about 8 ounces in one sitting and come back in a few hours or so and have the rest, it's only that much better for your body that way. Woah, this is the second energy drink I've seen that has more than 2000mg of taurine in the whole can (The first one being the BooKoo Punch). It has 170mg of caffeine in the whole can, which is going to give me a pretty good kick for a good 3 hours. All in all, it's had a good zing of ginger ale with a great amount of spiciness and sweetness mixed in. And now I do know why it's called Gin-Zing-R, it's pretty simple if you think about it

Taste: 8 - An irresistible blend of nice ginger ale, but too sweet to drink in one sitting
Kick: 8 - The kick lasted a great 3 hours which was used doing physical activities
Overall: 8 - I would try this drink again, just for the intriguing flavor it gave

Reviewed by: Chan

Xyience Xenergy Pink Lemon

It's funny how energy drink companies never seem to cease making any and every flavor that comes to their mind. One that came to my mind awhile ago was a pink lemonade flavored energy drink, and I thought to myself, "Wow, I would really like to try an energy drink with a Pink Lemonade flavor! Wouldn't that be quite interesting?" Next thing I know, I'm here whipping up a review with a pink lemon energy drink in my hand. I'm so eager to finally try one of these as I know that it may not be what I'm looking for because it's sugar free hence sweetened with Spenda and acesulfame k. Now, if you're into finding one of these, your resources may be limited because I know that I had to find this while I was traveling great 200+ mile trips, so this may not be one you'll find at your local grocery supermarket. I'm observing the can and admiring Xyience's great use of the can design they had to work with. I see just a few basic pink and purple circles in front of a gleaming almost perfect silver background. Their pink and purple fonts lead me to believe that they are perhaps targeting this drink for women, rather than guys, However, it's made by UFC, which is the league of fighting championships, so how could this make sense? I, myself, do not know, but the taste can possibly determine it.

I wanted to hit the hay early tonight but I craved an energy drink. So, I crack open the shining sugar free beast and admire the pungent yet somewhat artificial blend if lemonade with that 'pink feel' it gives. Xenergy Pink Lemon reveals a color most similar to the Rip It Chic Sin A Man, with more of a translucent hue and a bit less carbonation. Aw, the flavor is not what I had expected at all. Well it first tackles you with a wall of artificial sweetener with unknown other flavors in the background, perhaps strawberry tart. It then seems to change to a fake lemonade flavor, similar to the ones you can buy in sugar free powder form that dissolves into water. In all, it's hard to find a taste after having all the Sucralose merge and collapse into one giant mess of an artificial energy drink flavored with what seems to be a pink lemonade flavor. I guess that's how you can sum up the entire flavor of it. The aftertaste can be described as more of that introductory tartness with noticeable artificialness. I guess I can ind something good in something not great, the light carbonation. It feels good on the tongue when the carbonation hits it as it's perfectly carbonated. I didn't find much gumminess, but the artificial sweetener definitely did make up for it though. Overall, it's another disappointment from Xyience, and frankly not flavorful enough to be even called Pink Lemon.

Xyience manages to sneak in some cool ingredients. Here's the detailed list: Carbonated water, citric acid, taurine, sodium citrate, natural flavors, glucuronolactone, caffeine, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, D-calcium pantothenate, guarana, ginseng, Sucralose, fruit and vegetable juices, L-Carnitine, inositol, niacin, acesulfame potassium, gum acacia, and ester gum. The fruit and vegetable juices are in here not for taste reasons, but for color reasons, although I found it hard to find a color based on any fruit or vegetable out there. Perhaps there's some sort of pink fruit-bearing plant out there somewhere that I don't know about. Per can, you don't get any calories, nor do you get sugar, but there are 4g of carbohydrates most likely coming from the juices in the drink. The caffeine content isn't listed individually but all together, you get 2680mg, which isn't a lot at all, but hey the kick wasn't bad. The kick bore about a good two and a half hours of solid energy and a decent crash. All in all, I don't think a sugar free energy drink gets much worse than it is in this Pink Lemon drink, but the kick wasn't half bad.

Taste: 5 - All I could taste was a wall of Sucralose with a tinge of lemonade flavoring somewhere
Kick: 8 - The kick gave this drink bragging rights to be the energy drink of the UFC
Overall: 6.5 - We still have to review a few more Xyience's, I'm curious to see how they compare

Reviewed by: Chan

WWE Raw Attitude Slammin' Citrus

I continue to note that every single famous person needs their own energy drink. I woundn't be surprised if someone like Paris Hilton, or Brittney Spears made their own 'female' energy drink as well. This time, I found the WWE version of an energy drink at Big! Lots in a 4-Pack, but who knows if this one will be a knockout. I really don't anything about wrestling but I do know that Raw is a type of wrestling and a video game I believe. They come out with a cool alliteration for describing their flavor, which is 'Slammin' Citrus and I know is going to be a hearty citrus flavor. Well Citrus is a flavor most used in an energy drink, but it's widely mistaken, in terms of the amount of sugar and affecting the taste horribly. This drink has only 50g of sugar in the whole can, that's pretty darn amazing and I know it'll be perfectly sweetened and it's sweetened with sucrose. Like I just said, usually these type of 'Hollywood' energy drinks are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup but, man, that's pretty cool. Jeff informs me about 'Socko' who makes energy drinks, including this one, and uses only sucrose. Well aside from that, the can design is awesome being trippy sets of lines leading to one point at the bottom, being the word 'Socko'. The background is a citrus orange color that looks a bit 'Halloweenish' along with the black. Well, I hope this will knock me out and be a complete winner, like Jeff said it won him over.

The scent of the WWE Raw Attitude Slammin' Citrus is merely different than other citrus flavors, having an aroma reminding me more of orange juice, rather than lemon-lime orange. The color surprised me even more than the scent being a rather neon color, or yellow-green reminding me of Monster with more of a green color to it. So far, this citrus drink has been pretty different than any other citrus I've come across. The flavor of the Slammin' Citrus is just like the scent, but really disappointing. It's more orange than lemon-lime and tastes pretty wheaty with just a small amount of 7up flavor and carbonation to it. The wheatiness makes it less flavorful and a bit more unappetizing, but the orange is pretty crisp and makes up for the wheatiness. It seems like they mixed in some 7up because not only it tastes like 7up but it has that phosphoric acid type of carbonation all or most sodas have to it. The aftertaste is almost like cough medicine you have when you had a cold back in the day, but I would think it's from the HFCS although it's not. Like I mentioned before, the carbonation takes up most of the drink, even being as light as the drink is without the carbonation as a bonus. As it has sucrose, WWE Slammin' Citrus is not gummy, but just a bit from the natural flavors in it. Overall, as much as Jeff loved the WWE Slammin' Citrus the first time he tried it, the second time, we both unanimously agreed that it wasn't great at all.

The ingredients are extremely hard to read in a silver glaring font, but I'll try to read it the best I can. It has carbonated water, sucrose, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate, sodium citrate, and yellow #6. The proprietary ingredients are shocking yet comfortable being caffeine, glucuronolactone, inositol, taurine, Damiana leaf, Guarana, yerba mate, horny goat weed, and ginseng. Per can, you get an average 200 calories and a low 50g of sugar. well, I see where WWE messed up, they didn't put enough sugar, hence the low amount of sweetness, resulting in a lame drink. It has 160mg of caffeine, sure to keep me wired for a good few hours, and 50mg of yerba mate extract as well as 110mg of horny goat weed. So, after everything, I was a bit disappointed until I read the ingredients about all the herbs, so now I think that's all right. Yerba mate tends to do good in an energy drink, although I prefer it hot, by itself and with some food on the side. For an energy drink coming from a league so tough, this was pretty lame; I still need to review the original and I hope we can see an improvement.

Taste: 6.5 - A light orange flavor that was too wheaty and too carbonated
Kick: 7.5 - The caffeine with the yerba mate tea produced a decent kick that lasted a few hours
Overall: 7 - Just an average citrus flavor, but more on the lamer side

Reviewed by: Chan

Nos Grape

I'm interested in Nos' idea to create a flavor such as grape, sure it's odd but it may just be good. Nos does a great job at making an energy drink, such as the regular, but I'm curious to know if this grape flavored energy drink will be just as good, if not better. Grape in a liquid form tends to be quite bitter, more than sweet, but with only 27g of sugar per serving, I'm not too sure how sweet It'll be. I'm going to assume it's not going to be sweet, but the grape flavoring may give it some more sweetness and the HFCS will tone the flavor down a bit. The bottle design is pretty simple, it's shaped like a nitrous bottle used for speeding up your race car and the cap has a removable novelty twist over it. The bottle is blue with a purple sticker over it containing racing themed fonts and designs. It has hazard/fire signs, standard factory fonts making it look 'professional', if you will. You can't look at bottle and not see 'Nos' printed in a large white font with part of the 'N' hanging of the 'O' and the 'S'. Being that the original Nos was exquisite, I'm expecting quite a lot from Nos now and I hope I can find a good taste and kick with this gassed up bottle. Let's roll.

I twist off the cool novelty nitrous oxide gas cap as well as the regular plastic bottle cap and receive sharp bitter grape aroma, not what I expected and threw me off just a bit. The color is similar to cough syrup being a cloudy purple color, with a bit of crystal color in some areas and a decent amount of fizziness. Now the taste is where it really gets odd. It seems to be if someone mixed in a whole lot of cough syrup, mixed in a small amount of sugar, as well as some carbonated water. The flavor in general is pretty bitter, hard to drink, and just not sweet enough for someone like me to enjoy. I'm disappointed, Nos had such a great flavor and now they come out with a lame Grape flavor that frankly tastes almost exactly like cough syrup. I guess it's the amount of sugar, which should be more, I think. The aftertaste isn't much, but it's more of a bitter grape taste from the primary flavor when you first take a sip. I mentioned earlier that it doesn't have too much fizziness, and it's not really that carbonated, all the shorter it'll take for me to drink it down. It has HFCS, but that doesn't automatically mean it's gummy. Nos Grape has the smallest amount of gumminess, hardly even noticeable if you're just taking sips. Overall, Nos really disappointed me with this drink, and I do recommend you stick the regular Nos if you had to choose between Nos drinks.

The ingredients are carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, taurine, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, L-Carnitine, caffeine, sodium hexametaphosphate, pectin, inositol, monopotassium phosphate, ginseng, and Sucralose. Well, the HFCS had a part in this drink by making it duller than it already is. There's sodium hexametaphosphate, which is found in cosmeticss, there's pectin which thickens the drink, and there's good ol' Sucralose. So, I can conclude that the taste was pretty dull due to the HFCS, and on top of that, it was pretty artificial from the Sucralose. Per 22 ounce bottle, you get 2750mg of taurine, 550mg of L-Carnitine, 343mg of caffeine, 274mg of inositol, and 136mg of panax ginseng. Woah, that's a whole lot of energy ingredients. The caffeine amount ranks up there with the Jolts, which brought a pretty amazing kick. Right now the kick is sufficient, but I don't have that same feeling I get when I drink a Jolt. As for nutrition facts, you get about 300 calories, and about 75g of sugar, not bad for such a big drink, but still not good generally speaking. All in all, it got a bit sweeter towards the end of the bottle, but it still really is a strong drink, perhaps too strong for me.

Taste: 6.9 - A dull drink was taken over by a bitter grape flavor
Kick: 8.7 - I have to admit, the kick was pretty dang good
Overall: 7.4 - I'd stay away, even though the kick is good, I know you can find a better drink

Reviewed by: Chan

Joker Lo-Carb

Walking in to that same Big! Lots we found the first BooKoos and Jolts in, we were incredibly surprised to find all three Jokers plus the Joker Lo-Carb and Joker+Juice. Joker has an awesome can design with a simple blue background and and a mad jester giving the impression of a sick and out of control drink. Since the regular Joker was a Monster clone, I bet that I can count on this to be a lot like the Monster Lo-Carb. The ingredients look suspiciously similar with the same energy ingredients: 1000mg of Taurine, 200mg of Panax Ginseng, and 2500mg of the Energy Blend per serving. Just like the Monster Lo-Carb, this drink uses glucose in addition to sucralose and acesulfame potassium, the artificial sweeteners. This might be done to give it a bit of a genuinely sweet taste to the artificial sweetness. I haven't had a Monster Lo-Carb in a while, so I'm interested in trying this.

Smelling this, I think it's a little fruitier than the regular Monster Lo-Carb with more hints of pear and grape. In the background, there's that cinnamon. From what I am tasting, there don't seem to be any different flavors in here than in the Monster Lo-Carb, but for some reason they seem more intense and delightful. The last time I had the Lo-Carb, it tasted really diluted, but with the Joker Lo-Carb, there's no diluted taste and I can really get into it. The sweetness starts out tasting really good because of the glucose, and then transforms into artificial and metallic sweetness, no doubt from the ace-k and sucralose. The flavor the sweetness carries along is very close to the Monster Lo-Carb, but in my mind, better, because it seems fuller and tastier. This thing went down incredibly fast and I suppose for the price you get this at Big! Lots for, 60 cents, it's worth it.

Now with one of these Monster clones, you might know what to expect of the energy ingredients; these drinks' last paragraphs typically look the same. Because this is a clone of the Monster Lo-Carb, you've got those same two artificial sweeteners, Sucralose and Acesulfame K, but with Monster's usual trick of pairing those two with good 'ol Glucose to provide a more natural sweetness. Because of this, you'll see 3g of sugar in the Supplement Facts instead of the usual zero in sugar-free drinks. That goes to show how this is different than a pure sugar-free drink. As for energy ingredients, they all appear to be exactly the same as a Monster. Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Sodium are the vitamins in here. As for energy ingredients, you've got 2000mg total of Taurine, 400mg of Panax Ginseng, and 5000mg of Monster's energy blend, which includes Glucose, Caffeine, Guarana, Inositol, Glucuronolactone, and Maltodextrin. The only other ingredients not mentioned are Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, "Color Added," Benzoic Acid, and Sodium Choride (salt). I'm glad to have tried this and I cannot wait to see how the Joker Juice compares with Monster's juice drinks.

Taste: 8.7 - Monster Lo-Carb replica with tons more fruity flavor
Kick: 7.8 - The Monster kick, enough said
Overall: 8.6 - Great lo-carb drink I'd have anytime

Reviewed by: Jeff

Jolt Passion Fruit

Passion Fruit is a flavor less used in energy drinks, yet you will run into to an occasional outsider. Jolt wanted to create a good flavor, but not one that's 'cliche', or used by other energy drink companies like Rockstar, Monster, Amp, etc. So, here they are with a Passion Fruit. Now I found this drink exclusively at a Walgreen's that just opened up around the corner, and I hadn't known Jolt made this flavor. Apparently, it's been out for quite awhile, I didn't know, I would gone searching. Many attempts at Passion Fruit usually end up in a sugary and overly sweet mess, like juices and sodas; I'm hoping Jolt can break apart from that and make a good Passion Fruit flavor every one's craving. I had some really good memories of Jolt's insane kick it brought with it inside it's 24 ounces of goodness, that proves Jolt is worthy of insane recognition. The can design is pretty cool, pretty big I might add. 'Jolt' is printed vertically in jagged yellow outline with 'Passion Fruit' under it in a fairly simple yet italicized font. It's 75% black at the bottom and about 25% yellow at the top with neat and detailed silver lightning bolts. Well, let's see how far this behemoth can will take me.

The plastic casing at the top peels off in a few strips and I'm anticipating the amazing 'POP' you get from this pop-tops. The aroma is once again a heavenly flow of sweet tropical fruits like guava, grape, citrus, you know all the flavors that take you back to being in a quiet island with rain forests and sandy beaches. It's color is almost exactly like the can design, a crystal yellow color, with a ton of gas bubbles and foamy head. Jolt never ceases to amaze me with their flavors they bring to the house, just thoroughly amazing. Jolt Passion Fruit has an exquisite combination of guava, pineapple, grape, citrus, and possibly a small amount of original Monster Formula. The flavor is much less intense than the scent, but it's still pretty darn good. It's pretty sweet, but not nearly as sweet as other passion fruit drinks I've tried. There's also a good amount of sourness in the drink, which is completely normal for all the flavors it brought. In general, the flavor is impressive, but not entirely as great as the Blue Raspberry and the Power Cola. What Jolt should not do with their energy drinks is put all the carbonation they do in them. It's almost like drinking a soda with one of these, hence the reason I'm only 5 or 6 ounces into it. For the HFCS in here, It's as gummy as I really predicted it to be, just some minor traces of gumminess lingering behind the tongue. Overall, the flavor was pretty good, but I wished it were sweetened differently. I hate to drink a dull tropical flavor, it just doesn't make sense.

The ingredients are nothing special but I'll list them anyway: carbonted water, high fructose corn syrup, taurine, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, caffeine, sodium benzoate, panax ginseng, guarana, and niacin. Here we see the HFCS in the drink, no surprise because it's found in all the Jolts (Excluding the Jolt Ultra). There's enough caffeine in one of these babies to last you 15 days of going to work with some energy each day. But, if you're someone like me, you use the energy elsewhere, like football or walking. Per 23.5 ounce can, you get 360 calories and a killer 90g of sugar. Like I noted before, I recommend you split a 24 ounce Jolt with someone because that's just too much for some people, and me. Well, I think Jolt got the sweetness perfect on this energy drink because it wasn't too sweet and it only has 29g per serving. Right now, I'm so hyped up I can hardly think straight, these really are amazing. Once again, Jolt impressed me and I advise you pick up one of these behemoths, you will not regret it, trust me.

Taste: 8.8 - Jolt's twist on a passion fruit flavor was perfectly sweetened , but not as good as the other few 24 ounce Jolts
Kick: 9.4 - Dang!
Overall: 9 - Although you're paying more money for one of these, it really is worth it

Reviewed by: Chan

YJ Stinger Sinful Citrus

It usually means something dangerous if you see a picture of a detailed wasp on the front of a can. YJ Stinger is going there and putting a fierce wasp on the can, so I'm assuming that I'm in for a pretty gnarly energy drink in terms of taste and kick. I have tried Stinger before, and I know for a fact they are not a mean and dangerous energy drink company, but a mediocre energy drink company. I believe for a can design like they have, they should intensify their drinks, I mean seriously. They also have some pretty neat alliterations they use to describe their flavors as something fearsome. For example, some of their flavor names include: Pounding Punch, Enraged Raspberry, and this one, Sinful Citrus. I admire YJ's attempt at good alliteration. However, that doesn't really mean much, in the sense of actually having a drink with a good flavor and kick to it. Besides the wasp sticking out, the can design is a nice lime green color, with the letters 'YJ' in large letters. 'Sinful Citrus' is printed in much smaller letters rimming the top of the can. Well, whatever, perhaps Sinful Citrus will deliver the flavor I'm craving at this moment.

The can opened up smoothly to expose a scent not very appetizing. It's more like an herbaceous lemon-lime scent, with some minors amounts of orange and bitterness. Hm, the color pretty much shocked me. Sinful Citrus has a color similar to the Kronik, but not as blue and a bit more green to it. It's definitely not a turquoise color, if that's what you're thinking. Yet, I'm still disappointed in the flavor I found. It tastes almost exactly like a carbonated version of the FRS Lemon-Lime and the Hooah! Lemon-lime put together. It's got that strong herbaceous flavor mixed in with a diluted lemon-lime flavor fading away with a bitter orange-peel flavor. The general flavor is really lame, and once again, YJ Stinger has left another disappointment on the table. The aftertaste is that crude HFCS flavor that's just plain -I don't want to say nasty- not great at all. Another oddity about this rather Terrible Citrus energy drink is that it's heavily carbonated, almost as carbonated as a can of soda. I've noticed HFCS-filled energy drinks haven't been as gummy anymore, but this one has the same gumminess, that I remember being just 'bleh' to me. Overall, this is just another failure in the line of Citrus energy drinks, and I don't recommend you get this one. You want to stick with the major Citrus flavors like Crunk Citrus, Rip It Citrus X, and various other juice flavored drinks.

The ingredients I see here in this 8 ounce can of Citrus are carbonated water, HFCS, citric acid, caffeine, taurine, ascorbic acid, B vitamin stack, niacin, thiamine, biotin, yerba mate, guarana, ginseng, and natural and artificial flavors. Well I first notice Stinger did put a whole lot of vitamins in this small can, but didn't mask that powerful herby flavor it contains within. Yerba Mate flavor, didn't go well with the vitamins because it helped out what I believe was the bitter flavor it gave to me. I found quite a bit of artificialness in the drink, due to the ingredient 'artificial flavors', well duh. Per can, you get 130 calories, and a useless 32g of sugar. I used the word 'useless' only because the amount of sugar I found really wasn't necessary for the amount of sweetness in the drink itself. The calorie amount is similar in the situation but you know, there's nothing I can do. The energy I'm feeling now is pretty good, actually. Like it notes on the can "Improve Performance, Increase Energy, and Enhance Concentration." I'm feeling all three of those right, let's see how long this can keep me up tonight. So, YJ isn't the best company to look for if you want a good citrus flavor, but the kick actually isn't bad. I can easily say I felt the Sting.

Taste: 6.4 - A lame and too vitaminy knockoff of a citrus flavored energy drink
Kick: 7.8 - The kick is pretty good, it lasts for quite awhile as well
Overall: 6.8 - I wouldn't recommend it anyway, there are too many better citrus energy drinks on the market that would deliver what you really need.

Reviewed by: Chan

Jetset Tonic

Some would call an energy drink company crazy for making such a flavor, tonic. Jetset, I'm sure, wasn't made fun of because they're not only an energy drink company, but a energy drink mixer as well. Jetset isn't that great taste-wise, or kick-wise, but I'm sure as a mixer they would do pretty good. I know Jetset Tonic will give a pretty bland and bitter flavor, but that's okay because it's not usually meant to be drunken by itself. The can design is once again pretty cool. Around the upper rim of the can, there are clocks with times from around the world like: Rome, San Fransisco, Dubai, Ibiza, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Paris, Buenas Aires, Miami, Tokyo, London, Las Vegas, Rio, New York, and Chicago. It's a bit random if you ask me, but whatever, it's not bad. The background is their usual swirl, but this time the color is light orange, like the color of an orange creamsicle. On the back of the can, there's a silhouette of a DJ wearing headphones and mixing records with the phrase "Mile High Energy" below him. Well, I'm still expecting a rebound from Jetset, let's see if they can actually soar a mile high.

The scent as I pop open the can is bitter tonic, just like the stuff you buy in the mixers aisle, bland. Jetset Tonic has a pretty clear color to it, aside from the many tiny bubbles from the carbonation. Hm, interesting. It's flavor seems to be pretty sweet, with little bitterness from the tonic in the background. I'm going to try my best to determine the 'sweet' flavor you get from taking a sip. I'm going to say it's syrupy sweet, next to a minor amount of original Red Bull flavor, but later gets attacked by a bitter tonic flavor and dissipates fast. About towards the end of the can, the flavor gets a bit dull from the HFCS and the bitterness kicks in the form an awkward flavor. The aftertaste is not so much a taste, as much as more of a feeling on the sides of the mouth. It's that feeling of bitterness that closes up the back of the cheek. It's not too carbonated, just a basic carbonation you get from most Monsters and Red Bulls and all the clones around it. Although I can taste some of that dull HFCS, I can't seem to find any gumminess within. I'll try chugging it...the result is yet the same, no gumminess, only that bitter feeling. Overall, it tastes a whole lot better than I had expected it to taste like, beating the Club Soda and tasting more like the Original, but not as sweet.

The ingredients in this 10.5 once can are in a hard to read small and shiny silver font goes like this: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, taurine, caffeine, quinine, natural flavors, inositol, guarana, ginseng, and niacin. I've seen quinine in the Howling Monkey Cola, but it's a key ingredient in tonic water. In fact, the quinine was added to the drink as a prophylactic against malaria, since it was originally intended for consumption in tropical areas of South Asia and Africa where that disease is endemic. The quinine also gives it that 'glow' when immersed into darkness. It contains HFCS, which in this drink, played a pretty big part by giving it a dull, syrupy taste. Per 10.5 oucne can, you get an average 130 calories (If you do the math), and a small 29g of sugar. It's an okay amount of sugar for the amount of sweetness in the drink, as well as the amount of calories for the amount of flavor. I admire Jetset the most for the great amount of energy ingredients they place in their energy mixers. You get 1,000mg of taurine, 120mg of caffeine, 25mg of guarana, and 25mg of ginseng. After the drink and after the kick, I think I really enjoyed the Tonic the most. If you're one of those people that just want to drink this itself, I'm going to tell you to do so if you had a choice between all the Jetsets.

Taste: 6 - Aside from the bitterness, there was a decent syrupy Red Bull-like flavor
Kick: 6.5 - The kick was actually somewhat better than that of the other Jetset flavors
Overall: 6.2 - You know, it's not so much an energy drink, but a mixer, so I have lay off on the mediocre flavor it delivers

Reviewed by: Chan