Wave Sugar Free

Wave is a brand I hadn't heard of until recently. With a stylish, yet simple can design, Wave claims to be the best tasting energy drink on the market today. That's not an easy thing to accomplish, and with my energy drink reviewing experience, I'll be the judge of that. With all natural flavors and some interesting ingredients, I'm expecting something different from Wave. However, as with many sugar free drinks, there's a bit of worry in me over the sweetness. Hopefully, Wave has created the best tasting sugar free energy drink on the market. I'm mostly clueless as to what flavor this will be. The only way to find out is to open it up.

Immediately after popping the top, I smell a rush of something soft and sweet, like strawberry. Taking it in at the opening, I smell less of the sweetness and, unfortunately, an unpleasant bitterness like vitamins. Wave enters my cup with a deep, clear crimson that's quite nice to look at. A big swig invites me to taste that same vague and rounded sweet flavor supported fairly well by the artificial sweeteners. Still, I cannot shake the bitter, vitamin taste. That's not a good sign. It's most prevalent when I take a whiff of the drink, though it's not as in my mouth. I feel bad saying it, but I wouldn't expect the best-tasting energy drink on the market to taste like this. Nor would I expect a brand which sponsors a car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup to taste like this. What is good about Wave, however, is that the artificial sweeteners haven't lost their sweetness, as they do sometimes. Topping off the can, I've proven to myself that Wave Sugar Free is by no means undrinkable, which is a good sign.

As you would expect, Wave contains Carbonated Water, Aspartame, Ace-K, and a dose of B-Vitamins. The rest of Wave's ingredient list is a bit nonstandard, with a few natural ingredients you don't see very often. First of these odd ingredients is Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, which is used to naturally give the drink a dark red. Next I see Elderberry Extract Concentrate. I'm not sure exactly what it's for, but it may be simply for flavor. Purple Sweet Potato is another fascinating ingredient, and it may be present for its color as well, or perhaps it's in here for the antioxidants. The last natural ingredient I see is Red Cabbage Juice Concentrate, which may also be for color or antioxidants. Wave's Proprietary Energy Blend is 2.28g of Taurine, Caffeine, Inositol, L-Lysine, Choline Bitartrate, and Guarana Extract. All of these I've heard of except for Choline Bitartrate. It turns out Choline is a very essential nutrient similar to B Vitamins that contributes to brain development and cognitive function. That's something I like to get from an energy drink, not just energy but lots of focus. Choline Bitartrate and L-Lysine, along with the B-Vitamins found in Wave provide just that. After drinking Wave, not only was I energetic, but I did have a great deal of concentration. That is definitely going to help Wave's score.

Taste: 6.2 - A vague strawberry-like flavor all but ruined by some kind of chalky vitaminy taste
Kick: 8.7 - One of the better boosts I've had from an energy drink, with plenty of focus.
Overall: 7.6 - I can't say this is the best-tasting energy drink on the market

Reviewed by: Jeff