Drink Mix/Concentrate (34 reviews)
Pure Kick Endurance Energy Drink Orange Citrus
I'm not a big fan of powdered drinks. They are hit or miss in my eyes, but usually a miss. Finding this box at Big Lots (where drinks go to die) didn't make me too excited to try it. But I have to, for science.
When the first ingredient is sugar, you know it's downhill from there. This taste like watered down orange Gatorade and Sunny D. As far as the energy portion goes, I guess it works but the taste is so bland that I’m not very inclined to drink more than a few sips of this so I doubt I’ll get the desired "energy". All I can think of now is that I have several more of these tubes of powder, as well as a 2nd flavor, and I'm trying to decide what to do with them. You know those dumb kids who use to snort pixie sticks? I wonder if now that energy powder like this exists they are trying that.
Excuse my ignorance because I’ve never done it, but wouldn't snorting an energy drink powder be similar to cocaine? I wonder if head shops that sell "legal drug substitutes" would sell this.
- Website
- http://www.purekick.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Crystalline Fructose
- Categories
- Drink Mix/Concentrate, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 3/13/2013
- Comments
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PRE Powder Sybiotic Drink Mix Pomegranate Yumberry
We don't do a lot of powdered drinks. It's hard to keep a consistent flavor between batches or mixes. We have a few teas that we just haven't done because it's near impossible to get similar mixes. With this, though, it's pretty easy. First, I will say that I have one 16-ounce container and one packet of this mix. I shook it up and called it a day. Hopefully we can all meet on the same page with that.
So on to the review. I read the instructions and was psyched to see that the number one ingredient was cane sugar but then further down the list was Stevia. It is called a "synbiotic drink" and has prebiotics in it that are cultures of bacteria that clean you up from the inside out. In addition, it has probiotics and synbiotics, which are all used to build up immunity. All of Pre's drinks are like this. Thanks for thinking of my health, guys. They've got a bunch of different flavors, too. This was my first flavor and I thought it a safe place to start.
The pomegranate and yumberry is a common mix and we have some on the site, but the cane sugar couldn't beat the uber-sweet Stevia mix. It's not undrinkable, but it is not without the cold and sweet artificial sweetener taste. It's got a pretty good fruity flavor, though. It's a good change from those other powdered drink mixed.
I think that Pre is a new company so show them some love and pick some of this up.
- Website
- http://www.preusa.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Organic Evaporated Cane Juice
- Categories
- Diet, Drink Mix/Concentrate, Juice
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 12/22/2010
- Comments
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Celsius On-The-Go Sticks Berry
The thing about caffeine is that it makes me go a mile-a-minute and makes my hands go even faster. My typing of this review could break land speed records but the efficiency in which I type would make poor Mavis Beacon throw up. I'm more concerned with slamming down keys with speed rather than spelling things correctly and hitting that blasted "Backspace" key just slows me down. No, I'm not going to leave you with some unintelligible mess because that would be reckless.
Years ago, I used to work at a local grocery store. I didn't hate it, but I hated the focus that management, or as some like to refer to as "the man", had. See, cashiers are the end of the shopping experience. It's my face that would win or break their shopping experience and it was my awesome attitude and demeanor that would win your heart forever. Since "the man" wanted me to be faster and talk less, I was more of a machine than a person. This I didn't like. I could cash and bag just as fast if I could talk but no. Punch in. Punch out. Speed not service. That really bothered me. Had I known about this product, I would have drunk one before every shift and set the place ablaze. I would have rung your entire order of 251 products before you could get them all out of the cart. I would intrude on your personal space and start taking things out of your cart. I would have no regard for your safety and put things like raw chicken in with your baby toys and put laundry detergent in with your apples and not care. It's all about speed, after all, right? Safety comes second to speed. I would sneak off right at the start of a shift, grab a glass, fill it with approximately 12 - 16 ounces of water, stir in this powder and knock a shift out.
I didn't hate the flavor. It wasn't any different than the other Celsius flavors so if you love them, you've got another one that you can fit in any drawer you can throw at it. If you haven't had any Celsius drinks, they're a little bitey but that's the sucralose. Flavor-wise they're on par with most diet drinks, which is good because you can't taste that you're basically drinking straight caffeine. You could taste the berry and if I had one complaint, it would be that it didn't really mix well. It's not old stock and it clumped a little bit, but it didn't really taste any different when I was drinking it.
So if you are in the business where you've got to do repetitious tasks and you don't have to be terribly precise, this could be the product for you. My hands are going to cramp up and my keyboard is going to start smoking any minute.
- Website
- http://www.celsius.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Drink Mix/Concentrate, Sports/Dietary Supplement
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 6/14/2011
- Comments
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Crystal Light Mocktails Mojito
Kraft Foods sent us a sample of Crystal Light Mocktails and out of the goodness of my heart I made a pitcher of this and poured a glass for my girlfriend and myself. When I was pouring, she asked, "You have to make that in a pitcher." thinking that I had poured powder into cups and was just going to mix it up. Like I don't know how to read the simplest of directions. I quickly mocked her and brought her a glass with crushed, not cubed, ice. Honestly, when you have the option of having crushed ice, why would you ever go back? Oh, it gets my drink colder, faster? Naw, I'll go with the classic. Please.
So, not drinking, I don't know the pleasure or sorrow of a "real" mojito. I've had mojito drinks; little bit of lime, little bit of mint; but I've never had a pure, authentic one. So here's how my authenticity review process went:
Me: What do you think? Does this taste like a real mojito?
J: No. It tastes really diet.
Me: It's not really a mojito but compared to a real one, what do you think.
J: Well, I guess it tastes a little like it. If you put some rum and mint in this, it would taste pretty good.
Me: Well there is mint in here.
J: Actually it tastes a lot like a mojito.
Me: ...
Straight from someone who has had a mojito, and so that I'm not some poseur, there's your review. Within half a glass, you too can come full circle and feel like you're drinking a real mojito. My review? Sure. It's not bad. It doesn't really taste diet and actually all of the flavors are pretty calm and subdued but if they were any more enhanced, I feel that it would get overwhelming and might not be as quenching. I didn't get a lot of mint flavor, but the lime was there. It wasn't bad and I've got several more packs of the stuff that I won't get upset if I find made in my fridge. One small pack makes two quarts so a little bit goes a long way. This will be great for a party we're having next week for all those women who are watching their figure. Dudes, it's for you, too. It's just a drink. There is nothing fem about drinks.
- Website
- http://www.crystallight.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Aspartame
- Categories
- Diet, Drink Mix/Concentrate, Juice, Water
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 6/21/2011
- Comments
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Crystal Light Mocktail Appletini
It's so hot. Water...water...where is it? What's going on? What's happening in the paper? What?! A toxic spill causes rain shortage? Oh man. That's pretty terrible. What am I going to...what? What's going on? It's raining. Awesome I'm going to put my head right under it. This isn't rain! It's appley. Let me try this again. It tastes like a green apple and it's green. This is going to make everything sticky and probably kill all the plants but it's pretty refreshing. I wish it would hail so that...holy crud it's hailing. This is the best thing that could ever happen. It's like I'm taking a shower in a Crystal Light Appletini. There is even got the flavor down to that strange stinging in the back of my throat.
I think that, yep, now that I'm reading this paper, it seems that the toxic spill was actually a giant shipment of the powder of Appletini crashing into a river during a drought. So it naturally wasn't raining and the river mixed up the drink and then it evaporated into a lake. What a delicious disaster! Good thing Kraft sent us some samples so we could properly place the flavor.
- Website
- http://www.crystallight.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Aspartame
- Categories
- Diet, Drink Mix/Concentrate, Juice, Water
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 7/11/2011
- Comments
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True Citrus Orange
What's the matter boy? Ahh. Scurvy. Twas a terrible disease when we were at sea. There was all that water with no citrus to keep us from getting sick. We lost many men to that dreadful disease. I'll tell you, being a fisherman is not as glamorous as it sounds. Sure, you get to spend all day fishing, but have you ever eaten fish every day for sixty-two days? It gets old kid. Real old. Real fast. Especially when you run out of those McCormick spices. Paprika fish is great until it is no more. You end up marinating fish in other fish to try and get something different. Then you start mixing fish and potatoes or fish and old socks. I'm telling you. It gets bad.
So yes, vitamin C deficiency is no joke. Everyone's wives told them to bring these little packets of True Orange but they thought that they would be picked on for having flavor packets so they traded them for "tough guy" stuff like razors, cigarettes, and fingerless gloves. Me? I brought it and no one made fun of me. It was fine, too. It tastes like if you split a glass of orange juice between ten people and watered it down to make it work. It's lightly sweetened and still, somehow, 25% of your daily vitamin C intake.
I know you like the sea, lad, but please don't worry about what the other guys tell you. There is nothing cool about a dead guy wearing fingerless gloves because as cool as they were when he was alive, you certainly aren't going to take them off his cold, dead hands and call them your own. Well, unless you’re Zeke. That dude is crazy.
- Website
- http://www.truelemon.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Drink Mix/Concentrate, Water
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 1/23/2012
- Comments
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Crystal Light Pure Mixed Berry
Carol loves a good jog. She's in her mid-forties and has always done a good job taking care of her body. Sure, she "cheats" every once in a while. She's determined but still human. She'll have some ice cream every once in a while and loves chocolate. She eats less of it than she would like to, but she has self-control. Admirable, I know.
While making her bi-weekly shopping trip, she came across a new version of Crystal Light. She used to drink it a lot in the last 80's, early 90's but after the whole diet/cancer scare, she's tried to stay away from it. This looked like something new and used Stevia so she bought it.
So took her evening, after work jog and came home to make a glass of this drink. She took one sip and was part relieved and part unsatisfied. She liked the fruit flavor of the drink but it was a bit too sweet. It has the Stevia taste that she was used to, but it was as if it had just too much sugar in it. She mixed it correctly. She checked the size of the bottle and the directions on the box. She finished the bottle and would probably finish the rest, but just in a longer time than she thought.
It was not what she expected and although it was better than the Crystal Light she was used to, they hadn't exactly "done it" quite yet. Keep going, Carol. We're all rooting for you.
- Website
- http://www.crystallight.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Rebiana
- Categories
- Drink Mix/Concentrate, Sports/Dietary Supplement, Water
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 3/1/2012
- Comments
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- Buy Now
- Crystal Light Mixed Berry
Archer Farms Blackberry Blueberry
Blackberry and blueberry? Is there a line that I can draw a giant, red "x" on because I want it. Oh, I can simply pay a little more than $2 and buy it? I suppose that is just as easy. Mix in water? Childs play. No problem. I can mix stuff and remember not to breath while the deadly fruit dust occupies my nasal cavities.
Oh...hold on a second here. What went wrong? Sixteen ounces of water, check. Mix, check. Mixed, check. Clean glass? Check. What's the deal? It smells great. Inviting. I keep going back for more but why? It has a bit of a bitter taste to it. It tastes like water first, or just wildly weak juice, which is strange, then like a sucralose taste, even those there aren't any unnatural sweeteners. I'm counting Stevia as a natural sweetener here, folks. It's almost bitter and it is not until the end when you get a woosh of fruit and cool Stevia sweetness. Yes, the final battle is worth coming back for more and I have almost finished my entire glass, but at what cost?
If you are down with diet drinks, this will be an easy fight for you. If you, like me, saw a naturally diet drink mix that comes in delicious flavors and think that you are on to something, you are only half right.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Stevia Extract
- Categories
- Drink Mix/Concentrate, Juice, Water
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 1/3/2012
- Comments
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Pacific Breeze White Tea Blueberry
Powder drink mixes are great. They fit in small, secret locations so you can have a drink made out of water that you can buy anywhere. This tea is surprising, it is because the white tea leaves and blueberries and yes, a little bit of artificial sweetener, were zapped with a sweet laser that just turned whatever it hit into powder. The company sets up the leaves and everything on a special table in a special room, put on their protective goggles and zap away carefully. Once everything was powderized, they would take the janitors broom, climb on top of the table, and sweep the powder into a garbage can to be brought to the packaging facility.
The answer to your question is "yes." "What question?" you ask? The question of "Do they shoot other things with that sweet laser?" Yeah, dude. It's the ultimate prank prop. They powderize people's shoes and put the powder back in their locker. They powderize some of the people's food, like sandwiches and stuff, and put it back in the tupperware with a Post-It note that says "Just Add Water" and put it back in the fridge. They have a lot of fun but they never are unsafe around the laser. They know its powerful powers and do take safety precautions around it.
With this tea they created, they actually got it down. Nice, light bitterness, good berry flavor, and although it is a bit diet, it's better than regular, bottled diet iced teas. The bitterness covers up any nasty dietness that arises pretty quickly.
I don't know if they are hiring, but they will, for a small fee, powderize anything you want them to. You just need to supply a container to get rid of the dust and you also need to clean it up. They're not working for you. Also, a powderized ham sandwich tastes just as good in a little bit of water. It's frightening, but true.
- Website
- http://www.sturmfoods.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Drink Mix/Concentrate, Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 3/9/2012
- Comments
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Pacific Breeze Oolong Tea Mangosteen
I am lucky. I have a good metabolism. I am not bragging. I don't eat like garbage, but I don't eat terribly well. I don't do diets. I have gone on stuff like a "no pizza for a month" diet. I don't put extra cheese on things. I don't do sour cream. I'm responsible. With all of that being said, I don't need to drink diet drinks. What that does for me is gives me a perspective of not being used to that "diet" taste. I don't have to give anyone credit because it's all that I have. When I review a diet drink and say, quite repetitiously "it has that diet taste" that doesn't mean that it's bad, that just means that people who don't drink diet drinks know what to expect and people that do drink diet drinks are already expecting it.
This drink has that diet taste, but the tea taste and the mangosteen are pretty good. It's a decent blend. If you're going to be a whiner, awesome. Enjoy being a jerk and hating everything. Not everyone has the luxury of eating an entire pizza and staying at their target, bathing suit weight. It's sweet and fruity and actually has a pretty good oolong tea taste. It's not the best I've had, but for a powder made from another powder, beggars can't be choosers.
Don't be a jerk to diet drinks and don't be a jerk to people on diets. I'm guilty, but at least I'm aware of it.
- Website
- http://www.sturmfoods.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Drink Mix/Concentrate, Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 3/20/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment