United States (2587 reviews)
Joia All Natural Soda Orange Jasmine & Nutmeg
This is the least dramatic Joia I have had. Is it still good? Yes. Is it as good? No. I enjoy the oddities that come from these guys. This one still has nutmeg and jasmine, which, for all intents and purposes, are strange ingredients. What does it do? It makes for some of the best sparkling orange juice I've ever had. I would amp it up, Joia. That's what you do. Ramp it up. Double the nutmeg. I want this to taste like a Christmas orange juice drank inside of a floral wonderland. This is just a great orange juice with fizzles. Yeah. Fizzles. I do what I want. This is great just not as great as I wanted it to be. Still got a four out of five. Even when they fail they win.
- Website
- http://www.joialife.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman 2 weeks, 1 day ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Liquid Lightning Energy Drink Sugar Free
Hell hath no fury like my scorn for gross energy drinks. If this were someone's first energy drink, I wouldn't blame them for never wanting to try another one again. This is hard to stomach. I don't know if it's the un-original "energy drink" taste that is as bland/gross as the packaging of this can, or the sucralose that is burning an ulcer into my stomach. I have a deadline on Monday and am trying to get ahead so I don't have much to do this weekend. Despite my stomach telling me to stop, I keep drinking this. And you know what? It's not getting any better.
I just took another sip; yup it's still nearly undrinkable.
- Website
- http://llenergy.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 2 weeks, 2 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Herbal Mist Tea made with Yerba Mate Sweet Tea
Sweet tea. I've spent too much of my life critiquing it. I won't let it go either. It's the simplest thing to make. Anyone can make it. Black tea. Sugar. Done. I've modernized it a little bit by adding Monin syrup but it's only concentrated cane sugar so it's the same thing just cleaner than cups and cups of loose sugar. As soon as someone wants to add anything, even something that is a tea like yerba mate, can throw it off. I have had a couple versions of yerba mate, too and this is strange mix. It's not a very good yerba mate as it has close to no bitterness. If you are going to call it one thing, deliver it on that one thing. It’s as simple as that. As a sweet tea it's pretty close. You can tell that it's good sugar and good tea. It's a little "softer" than I would like a tea but it's good. If I went to a restaurant and they gave me this in a glass, I would be stoked because it's not garbage fountain syrup tea. If I had a handful of ice and a glass next to me, I would serve this to myself ice cold. This is good. I wouldn't be mad if they removed "yerba mate" from the line all together because this is my second one and I feel it's been lacking. Jesus I love sweet tea.
- Website
- http://herbalmist.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman 2 weeks, 2 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Bai 5 Calories Antioxidant Infusions Malawai Mango
First things first; I believe the label for this packaging was misprinted. You see I have this and a bottle of the mango pear sitting in front of me, and the ingredients lists are the same. Sure they could just use different quantities, but I don’t taste pear in this at all, and I had the “non-diet” version of this a while back and that had mango and pineapple in it, and this tastes the same as I remember that. Just a heads up Bai, you might want to look into that.
As I just mentioned two seconds ago I had the regular version of this, and I have to say this tastes eerily close to it, even though erythritol was swapped out for the cane juice, the flavor stays fairly consistent. It still has a great mango flavor with some pineapple mixed in. I’m going to feel like a real idiot if there is not any pineapple in the 5 calorie version, but I can taste it, but it could be totally psychosomatic. It also has a nice white tea base that is hard to miss. There is only the faintest erythritol coolness to this. So little that if I didn’t know it was in there, I might not notice. Bai did a great job masking the flavor, while still keeping it low in calories. Good job folks.
- Website
- http://www.drinkbai.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Erythritol
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper 2 weeks, 2 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Xyience Xenergy Honey Ginseng Tea
Honey is a wonderful thing. Think of all those millions of bees out there working their little stingers off for their queen and as a result leaving this sweet delicious waste behind. That’s right, honey is essentially bee poop, and we all love it.
Ginseng on it’s own is rather gross. Have you ever had one of those Asian energy drinks that are basically ginseng root floating in water? They taste like the water that is strained through a potted plant, or so I would assume. Ginseng mixed into other drinks can be pretty alright though.
The thing is when honey and ginseng are mixed together; all I can think of are cough drops. No one wants to be reminded of the things they need to ingest when they are ill. It just causes waves of gross feeling to wash all over you.
As a result of all I have written above, I fully expected this to taste like a cough drop bathed in a sea of chemical energy drink grossness with a hint of diet poison. I am very grateful that the Xyientists would never let that come to pass. They busted out their Erlenmeyer flasks and their Bunsen burners and burned the midnight oil (whilst listening to “Diesel and Dust”) to create a downright tasty drink that they themselves could have utilized on that late night.
This is firstly a green tea. It has a bit of a honey edge to it, but you can’t really taste the “dirt” ginseng flavor. It comes nowhere near cough drop flavor, which is a huge plus. The flavor of the sucralose blends in well with the energy drink flavor, and it ends up not tasting too much like either. It’s also non-carbonated, which is a nice direction for energy drinks to move in. These new lines of tea and lemonade Xyience beverages that come out have all put a nice twist on a beverage style that is becoming increasingly stale and boring.
- Website
- http://www.xyience.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink, Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper 2 weeks, 3 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Vuka Think Pomegranate Lychee
Pomegranate Lychee, huh? Yeah, I'll take it. Deliver it to my mouth; right in there. Wait...I asked for pomegranate lychee but you just gave me pomegranate. Sir? I'm sorry, sir? I asked for pomegranate lychee and you just gave me pomegranate. You're saying it is in there? Well I don't really taste it. I guess if I give you the benefit of the doubt and said that I might taste it at the very end but not so much as to call it out on the bottle. I will say, that is a fine bottle you've got there, sir. It's a shame that most people will throw it out and most of those people will not recycle it. Aforementioned issues aside, this is a good, sparkling drink. It's fruity and the fizziness gives it a nice touch. You've done a wonderful job even though you mislead me a tad with the whole "there is lychee in here" thing. We're over that now, though. We're bros again.
- Website
- http://www.vuka.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane and/or Beet Sugar
- Categories
- Sparkling
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman 2 weeks, 4 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Monster Energy Ultra Blue
Quote direct from the can: "Ultra Blue is a little less sweet and lighter tasting with zero calories..."
They had me at less sweet. I love Monster energy drinks, but some are ridiculously sugary to the point that I feel like I’m developing a new cavity with every sip. Every word in their quote rings true. Well I can't scientifically prove that there are no calories in this, it tastes like a non-gross diet drink. My guess is due to them using erythritol to sweeten it. Not only does it taste good for a zero calorie sweetener, it's actually good for your teeth!
"Erythritol has been certified as tooth-friendly. The sugar alcohol cannot be metabolized by oral bacteria, so does not contribute to tooth decay. Interestingly, erythritol exhibits some, but not all, of xylitol's tendency to "starve" harmful bacteria."
So next time your mom or dad tells you energy drinks are rotting your teeth, as long as it's sweetened with erythritol you have a great argument.
Overall this is a great energy drink, it is delicious and light and the perfect amount of sweetness. The flavor is hard to pin point, it has a grapefruit taste to it but also has that classic "Monster" taste to it as well. The can is textured like they have been doing with their recent releases and I like it.
post script: Due to the name of this drink, "Ultra Blue", I thought it was beer at first and got really confused when it was next to the other Monster drinks.
- Website
- http://www.monsterenergy.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Erythritol
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 2 weeks, 4 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Havana Cappuccino Diet Vanilla
The coffee machine at your office has been on the fritz all week, which means that you have had to bring your own caffeinated beverage into work. The thing is that today your alarm didn’t go off for some reason. Luckily your internal clock woke you up, but with only 20 minutes to get to the office. So it was get up, brush your teeth, drag a comb through your hair, put on a suit and you’re out the door. You didn’t even have time to stop at a gas station for the sludge that they deem fit to call coffee. As a result of all of this you have been a wreck all day. You’re sluggish and you can’t concentrate because you haven’t eaten since you grabbed Taco Bell on the way home from work the day before. You’re a mess.
You know it’s not something that any human should do, but you still go into the break room and look for some food to steal out of the communal fridge. Sure, it’s not the most moral thing to do, but the GM is coming in shortly and if she sees you like this, it probably wouldn’t bode well for your career. The fridge is full of Tupperware containers full of moldy leftovers. Doesn’t anyone ever clean this thing out? Things are looking grim. You’re about to give up when you move a container of soup that is dated seven months ago and behind it is this bottle of Havana diet vanilla cappuccino. You find yourself thinking that you should probably rethink your stance on the existence of god as you look around and grab the bottle. You scurry away to your cubicle and crack the seal. After a gulp you think that it isn’t half bad. Sure the milk to coffee ratio seems about even, which is more than you usually like, but it has a nice vanilla flavor to it, so you feel a little fancy. After that each sip gets harder and harder to get down. The taste of the Splenda is getting stronger by the second. Diet coffee; is there anything worse for someone who normally drinks it black? By the time you finished the bottle you’re feeling more normal. You’re stomach has a little something in it, and you’ve got a little caffeine buzz going on. The only downfall is you can taste the Splenda seeping out of your gums, and that is something you never want to experience again. What do you expect from a drink that was abandoned at least seven months ago?
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Splenda
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper 2 weeks, 4 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Glaceau Fruit Water Black Raspberry
Glaceau, home of Vitamin Water and Smart Water, has decided to try its hand at sparkling beverages. When the dealer passed out the cards things we’re looking good for them, but their hand just wasn’t strong enough to make something spectacular. On first sip I thought this had the potential to be something like a Clearly Canadian, but then the sucralose kicked in and everything went downhill. Does anyone on this planet actually think that sucralose is acceptable? I mean I know people deal with it, but with stevia hitting the market, why would a company that uses real sugar in one of its other product lines use such a low level zero calorie sweetener? Next thing I know they’ll be using aspartame. Ick.
Okay, so the base of this tastes like a nice light, non-syrupy raspberry soda (if such a thing exists). It’s quite pleasant until the sweetener kicks in. With a different sweetener this could have been all the rage in my world. As it stands I didn’t’ finish the bottle.
If you are one of those imaginary people that actually like sucralose, I highly suggest you check this out. If not, stay away.
- Website
- http://www.glaceau.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper 2 weeks, 5 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Kohana Cold Brew Coffee
Concentrated cold brew coffee like this is perfect for people who like REALLY strong coffee. I'm sure there are some people that go against the suggestions on the bottle and don't dilute it with any water and milk. I think those people are called men, or dads. Well except for Mike. One might go as far as saying that he's not a real dad because he doesn't like coffee.
For science, I first tried this without diluting it at all. Now I have never drank motor oil, but I'm guessing it's not far from this as far as potency goes. It would make a great coffee energy shot, rough to drink but would immediately energize you. There you go Kohana, I just gave you some free marketing advice.
Once I decided to not be an idiot and drink this like a normal person would, it was fantastic! Great flavor, great taste, I couldn't ask for more of a cold brew coffee. I often forget to cold-brew coffee the night before (I don't drink a lot so I do it in 1 mason jar batches) so it was nice having this bottle for a few days and not having to worry about it. Also not having to deal with stray coffee grounds was also a plus. No matter how hard I try and how many times I filter my cold-brew, I still find little granules every once in a while.
- Website
- http://www.kohanacoffee.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Categories
- Coffee
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 2 weeks, 5 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment