Energy Drink - 555 Reviews

Oh boy, this one is a doozy! We don't review many non-ready-to-drink beverages, but when a company contacts us about sending samples for review we aren't going to say no. I mean, they are still things you drink, it just takes a little more work on your end. I was really expecting to be sent a one serving sample of this, but Naked were very nice and sent a full sized 1lb container. It is much appreciated.

So it's been a slow Sunday in mid-April and the weather is pure garbage. I had no plans this afternoon, so I decided to go to the gym and take this for a test drive. The directions say to mix one of two scoops into 8oz of water (or your favorite beverage and mix it thoroughly. The nutritional facts say that one serving is two scoops so I did just that. Unfortunately I have to say that it did not taste all that pleasant. The fruit punch flavor was very much overshadowed by the taste of supplements. It's a bit chemically. I would advise someone to mix it into something other than water to avoid that. If I use it again I'm going to try mixing it into some vanilla seltzer, which seems weird to drink before working out. I'm gonna be all burps.

Okay, so the flavor is not all that great. That can be acceptable, as it is a functional product and not meant for the pleasure of one's taste buds. This is some strong stuff though. It's meant to help push you in your workouts and give you “clean” energy. I can attest that it does that very much. I also had some side effects though. Now, it's happened very rarely, but it has happened that I have gotten the “Niacin Flush” from certain strong energy drinks. For those who don't' know what that is, it is when you take too much vitamin B3 and you get warm, look like you have a sunburn, and experience a tingly/burning /itchy sensation. In the past when it has happened It was in my face and top of my head. With this product my whole body felt insane. If I didn't know what it was I would have been highly concerned, searched Wed MD and convinced myself I was dying from some exotic disease. Being in the know, I just went on with my workout and this product definitely pushed me more than I normally would have. I did feel completely crazy the entire time and was just aware of my entire body. Then when I toweled off sweat my body just wanted to be touched more (not like that you creep). I've never taken Ecstasy, but from how I've seen it portrayed in movies and tv, I'm guessing it feels like this to a way crazier extent. Keep in mind I'm not saying this will happen to everyone, but I would suggest starting off with only one scoop and see how that works out for you. I'm going to try again in a few days on my next gym outing and lower my dose and see how that treats me. Hopefully not feeling like a maniac.

What does MFP stand for? Major Focused Power? Majestic Forest Provider? Metallica Forever Peeps? Ohh Ohh, maybe it's Milk for President. All of the above are wrong. After some internet searching it came out that it actually means Money From Patience, wait no that's not it either. It's really “Most Full Power.” Seeing as it's originally from the Netherlands and this is made in Poland I will chalk that up to a poor translation, though my times I've spend in both countries the English people spoke was not broken at all. The name isn't all that exciting, but the cryptic MFP with no explanation on the can gets the desired effect.

Names aside the flavor of this is what is to be expected from a diet energy drink. It tastes like liquid candy that had all its sugar replaced with a zero calorie substitution. It's nothing new, it's nothing exciting, but it gets the job done. Normally it's hard for me to drink a full diet beverage, but the base flavor of energy drinks is either strong to enough to mask, or blends in with the sucralose garbage flavor and it makes it palatable. So it's got that going for it.

If you just happen to be a sadistic little so and so, may I recommend forcing people to drink this energy drink. The reason being that it may just be the single most diet tasting drink that I have ever had the displeasure of drinking. I mean I knew this was diet when I was going into it, but woo does it taste so damn diet. I want to say it tastes like a diet mountain dew with the sucralose increased 300%, but it's a slight different citrus taste to it. It's actually hard to make out the actual citrus taste through the insane amount of sucralose that I can only assumed is in this can. So, if you want to see people do a spit take in disgust feed them this. Otherwise I don't know who this is for.

I have been on a huge tea kick lately. Drinking it hot, brewing mass quantities to put in the fridge to complete the transformation to iced, and just buying bottles and cans of ready to drink stuff. For the most part I have kept it unsweetened to give myself the illusion that I am not treating my body like the town dump, but I've developed a soft spot for the Inko's energy teas. I mean it's not like I'm polluting myself with all the junk in the energy drinks that would initially cross your mind. These are simply flavored white teas (with all the caffeine that involves) with some ginseng and guarana added to it. If these didn't have sugar added the amount that I drink would increase drastically. I probably wouldn't need all of that energy, and by probably I mean definitely. So let's look as this sugar as a benefit since due to it I can actually sleep.

These are some of the few beverages that mix sugar with stevia for lower calorie count that actually don't taste diet (at least if you drink it cold). It's just a not-overly sweetened tea that has a nice mango flavor. This is something I feel other companies should strive for. Inkos knows how to make a good product and I look forward to seeing what they put out next.

I find it strange that while arguably being the largest coffee company in the US, Starbucks certainly seems to have a lot of ready to drink products that taste very little like coffee. I will admit that this has more of a coffee flavor than the vanilla Frappuccino, but any of their products that have milk in them seem to goa bit overboard with that particular ingredient. While I said the other beverage mentioned here tasted like a melted vanilla milkshake with a shot of coffee in it, this would be that with the number of shots doubled to a whopping two. It's like dessert in a can. I just wish it has a slightly less milky taste to it. I want more coffee in these drinks and less cow sustenance. At least it doesn't taste like someone mixed a Red Bull into a cup of coffee that would be Barf City, USA population me. It shares a lot of the same ingredients to give you a kick of energy, luckily it doesn't share a flavor. In this order this is milk, vanilla, and coffee. Switch that up a bit and this could have been a very, very pleasant beverage, instead of being a notch above serviceable.

You absolutely know what you are getting yourself into when you grab one of these. If there was any question as to whether this was going to taste exactly like grape soda with melted candy in it, that goes out the window when you crack it open and that unmistakable scent floats up your nostrils. So the magic is not in the taste but in the calorie content. How is it that a 16oz can can (not the dance) contain 48g or sugar when it is sweetened with sucralose as well as sugar? What is the point of the sucralose at that point other than to distract from the grape sludge taste when it's starting to warm up and you're getting to the bottom third of the can? This is an odd product because it certainly feels like it would be enjoyed by children, but please don't feed this stuff to kids. They are annoying enough as it is and I don't need to deal with the mall hopped up on Grape Death (street name).

Out of the Organic Energy line that Inkos puts out this is the only flavor that I didn't absolutely love. Perhaps that's because it's the one that tastes the most like something was added to the tea. The tea flavor is there, but there is definitely something else floating around in the brew as well. Maybe it's the stevia, but I have a feeling it's more of the ginseng or guarana, as it's less familiar. The flavor is not enough to ruin the drink for me, as I still enjoy it enough that I bought a case when I found it for ridiculously on sale. I just wouldn't pay full price for it very often, with the other flavors available.

One of the things I appreciate about these Inkos drinks is that they are non-carbonated, organic energy drinks. So not only do they avoid all of the chemical garbage that other companies use that make me feel all crazy, but they also keep things different by not introducing bubbles to it. This is energy you can feel okay about. It's made with white tea with just a splash of citrus in it. The more I drink, the more I enjoy it and think that hey, maybe I would buy this at full price on a normal basis afterall.

This…€¦oh boy…€¦this drink. This is something. The something this is just happens to be one of the worst beverages I have ever tasted. At first my brain told me that this tastes the way that horses smell. I know that shouldn't be correct, since horses smell nothing like mint nor lime, but that was the signal that my taste buds were reporting back to my cranium. I don't even know if that makes any sense to anyone, so I will put it another way. This also tastes like what I could only assume it would be like if you cool a bottle of coolant for a car and mixed in the fakest lime flavor you have ever tasted and then gave it some sort of coolness that you will then try to trick people into thinking is mint, even though it tastes nothing like any sort of mint that you have tried before. I couldn't make it past a few sips of this. I really tried too, because I knew I was going to have a very late night, but I just could not convince myself that by drinking this I was drinking poison that would inevitably lead to my death.

This is the single worst energy drink I have ever tasted and I can only pray to whatever gods it is that I (don't) believe in that it is discontinued.

Jamaica? Jamaica? Are we talking the island country or are we talking about the Spanish word for hibiscus(sounds like hamica)? This just makes me think of Mr Burns in the grocery store saying ketchup and catsup over and over…€¦Jamaica…€¦hamica…€¦Jamaica…€¦hamica…€¦

I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be hibiscus via aqua fresca, but for some reason it tastes like 50% of it is an apple energy drink, which is oddly not bad. It borders on that gross fake green apple taste, but it stays on the good tasting side of that divide. It also has a bit of a Jolly Rancher strawberry taste to it. So yeah, it has a fake strawberry apple flavor with perhaps some hints of hibiscus around the edges. That sounds like it should be disgusting, but luckily it doesn't taste overly sweet, so that saves it. I get that they were going for an aqua fresca style beverage and it's kind of there. I just wish it tasted more like the style of hibiscus I love aka it mixed with cinnamon and other spices. If that was how this turned out it could have been problematic for me as I would want it all the time.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I think of a Rockstar slinking across the stage with the confidence that makes the straightest of males question their sexuality; I instantly think of ginger ale. Sweaty and shirtless in skintight jeans doesn't make me think of whiskey at all, just a good wholesome soda. I am obviously being sarcastic, but the truth is that while I am incredibly far from being a rock star whenever I'm playing a show if I had to choose between liquor and ginger ale, the root soda would win every single time. I am far from cool. I do have to admit that I sometimes do like to drink an energy drink before I play though. It's a bad habit that I formed from Red Bulls being stocked in green room fridges. Am I just going to say no to that? I mean I probably should, but I am weak willed. This is like that Red Bull, except it tastes nothing like a chemical flavored energy drink (which I do love) and really only tastes like ginger ale. In a blind taste test I would instantly identify it as that specific soda and would probably never guess that it would get me wired. Isn't that what any of us want? To get crazy and not have to feel like we are poisoning ourselves?

Are you ready to get PUMPED?!?!?!!? You know, jacked, swole, juicing your pecs? Yeah, me either. I go get exercise, and go to the gym a few times a week, but I'm not looking to get super muscular like a body builder. I just want to be healthy (physically and mentally) and feel good about myself. Being as I feel a bit worn down, due to staying up late watching bad horror sequels, and that I've spent all morning/afternoon painting my basement because I am an idiot that gets ideas in his head and needs to see them through. Seeing as today is a gym day for me it seemed like a good time to drink this little one down. It contains caffeine to give your work out a boost. I'm sure today it will bring me back up to a normal state. This beverage also contains Arginine to aid with circulation as well as glycerin to hydrate you. There is also Citrulline Malate in here, but it doesn't say what it's for. The assumption is something work out related, but perhaps it's for mind control or to track your internet searches. Who knows?

Now that I know, or assume to know, what this is doing to my body I can concentrate on the taste, which is that of a melted Freez-E-Pop, that hasa slightly diet flavoring to it. I have to be honest , although that isn't the greatest flavor, it's exactly what I was hoping it would taste like. I wanted that nostalgia and fake grape taste. Welp, I got it and I'm ready to run 20 miles, or two. More likely two. Possibly three. I'm really bad at running.

I really want the mango flavor in here to come from actual mango juice. It really tastes like it does, but it is simply not listed on the ingredients. If I were asked in a blind taste test, I would reply, with conviction, that this is mango juice mixed with an energy drink. At the point an alarm would sound announcing that I had lost. Did I not mention that I was on a game show in this scenario? Well, I was and I did not win any of the fabulous prizes. I went home with a belly full of artificial flavoring and corn syrup. Oh yeah, and nitrogenated water. I don't really know what that has to do with an energy drink, and the internet (aka the NOS website) was no help. I suspiciously think they did it just because of the company name and not for any performance reasons.

Sometimes I feel like companies are taking things a bit too far with calling things energy drinks. This is just a mixture of black and green tea. Yes, I know that caffeine gives you energy, but with that logic every tea should be labeled an energy drink. The X2 name also makes it seem like it's going to be a crazy ride, when really it's just 106 mg of caffeine per can.

All of that nonsense aside it tastes like a fairly light tea that is very heavy on the lemon. The combination of the two teas is nice, but I would have liked it to be a bit stronger.

What do you think the world would have been like if at the height of the Chicago Gangsters energy drinks were available? Do you think they would have been included in prohibition? Would barrels of Red Bull and the like have been smuggled across the Great Lakes from Canada? If not would everyone just have overdone it with them because they didn't have access to alcohol and wanted to get “messed up” in some way, even if that way was just a little jittery? Perhaps some business minded person would have bottled it and given it the name Hi-Ball in order to have people pretend that they were still drinking alcohol. One thing that is for certain is that the amount of sleep had in the 1920s would have severely decreased. Perhaps it would have caused them to become sloppier in their organized crime and things would have fallen apart sooner. Who knows? Let's time machine this thing and give a bunch of companies the recipes and see how it plays out?

If it did happen, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that no one would be drinking a blood orange energy drink. I doubt more than .5% of the population of Chicago at the time had ever even heard of such a fruit. I wonder if “normal” oranges were even around the city in abundance at that point. They certainly would be /were missing out. This is delicious, but isn't anything blood orange flavored? It tastes like a light soda and nothing like an energy drink, because it is all organic and doesn't rely on the chemicals that produce that classic flavor. This is all caffeine (from guarana and ginseng), niacin and B vitamins. You know, ingredients that won't affect the flavor all that much. It's just wonderful sparkling blood orange juice. I could ask for nothing more and gangsters could only dream of such a gem.

Iceland: Day four. Four days of pretty much nonstop hiking, climbing, exploring and eating very little. Being veg here is not ideal. I've found my workarounds, but I have mainly existed on avocados and protein bars. Today was going to be a hike heavy day and I could feel that I was going to fade at some point. I grabbed this at the grocery store this morning for back up and sure enough come 3 I'm starting to nod out on our way to the next destination. A destination where I had to travel through a cave to get to a river, which I needed to cross via downed logs, which took me to a mountain I had to climb to get to a hidden waterfall. You know, every day stuff. Before we embarked I drank this down and it's pretty much another Red Bull facsimile. I'm sure if I drank them back to back I would notice a difference, but out here all I can taste is the chemically wonderful taste that I associate with the world's most famous energy drink. It should be something I hate, but I have a soft spot for it. I also haven't had caffeine in weeks, so I kind of lost my mind for a bit. Pray for Mojo. Oh and I totally didn't fall into a river or down a mountain, so it kept me as alert as it needed to.

I flew to Iceland out of Toronto at 7 pm landed at around 5am. I have a problem where I just can't sleep on planes, but I pushed through the day because we had a lot planned. Once grocery stores opened up we went to grab some food. I knew there was no way I was going to make it until nighttime without help, so I grabbed this local energy drink. I mean I had a full day of hot springs, waterfalls and offroading ahead of me and I didn't want to miss a moment of it.
Man o man did I choose poorly. The idea of a lime energy drink was enticing, but this ended up tasting like carbonated diet Gatorade. I don't think any human would find that thought appealing. It took me about an hour and a half to power through it, but I did it, and I made it though and probably crammed more into one day of my trip than most people do in three. Yes, I later learned that it wasn't strictly an energy drink and was more of a sports drink, but that didn't help the flavor. Such is my weird dumb life.

I am a big fan of Joe Tea, but unfortunately it's not available around Buffalo, or at least so I thought. Out of all of the places I would find this product at an antique mall was pretty low on my list. Yet, there it was amongst the overpriced porcelain and the furniture I generally like, but can't justify paying so much for. Why was I at said antique mall you might ask? Well, let me tell you I was there to look for a cabinet to put the taxidermy coyote I recently bought on. Yes, I am a 20+ year vegetarian and yes I have a bunch of taxidermy. It's all older than I am and I really want my house to look like the grandfather's from Lost Boys. Either that or a museum.

So there I am, wondering why a toy from a cereal box is marked $60 that I had about a dozen of when I was a kid when I glance up and see the cooler filled with Joe Tea. It was a glorious site, especially when I noticed this new flavor.

This is basically their great half and half with more caffeine added. It's the Jolt of iced tea. I can't complain. I haven't tasted them back to back, but in my memory it tastes the same as the regular version, which I love. It tastes like tea. It tastes like lemonade. It tastes like playing golf. Wait, no. That's just a name. It's just delicious and it's sweet without being overwhelming. It's what I want and it's what I got and I'm a happy shopper besides going home empty handed otherwise.

Yes, I know that caffeine is a source of energy, but when it's the only source of energy in a beverage I don't really think of it as an energy drink. X2 has, as the name suggests, two sources of caffeine; black and green tea. Even with that combo the 106mg of caffeine isn't much more than the 95mg that one would find in a cup of coffee. It still does give you a little boost though, especially if you are like me and are sensitive to caffeine.

Not only are their two types of tea in here, but there are also two different sweeteners; cane sugar and clover honey. The result is 33g of sugar per can. So with a ton of tea and sugar you would expect ot know what you are getting yourself into, but the truth is it doesn't taste much like tea. In fact, it tastes more like a kiwi strawberry tea Gatorade type drink. It's like a flavored water and not tea. I actually like the taste, but at first I expected it to be carbonated, because I expect all energy drink to be so, until proven wrong. Then I expected it to be tea heavy, and it was not. This is nothing what I thought at all. It still is a little bit of okay though.

I know it is summer, but this recent heat humidity combo has been too much. Maybe I'm just getting old, or perhaps it's because I spend my time standing next to a 1,000 degree dryer printing shirts all day. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the latter. I feel like I'm sweating out more than I can imbibe. All of the water in the world's oceans doesn't feel like it would make a difference. You know if it were desalinated. I'm drinking gallons upon gallons of water every day and it's not enough. Then I drank this bottle of Alpha Wolf and for a brief moment I felt a difference. I felt the will to live return to me. I no longer wanted to lay down on that conveyor belt into the dryer and let the heat finally take me. This is certainly not a cure all. Nor is it some magic potion. It is simply formulated to give you temporary relief when you feel beaten down and dehydrated. In reality the effects didn't last all that long, but for a half hour or so I did feel revitalized as the bottle boasts. Can I really ask for more?

As it turns out, I can in fact ask for more. This could have tasted like old hose water and if it had these results I would have been happy with it, but as it turns out it is quite delicious. It's no secret that most fruit flavored drinks taste little to nothing like the produce they are impersonating. This tastes very much like passion fruit, with a little bit of pineapple thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately erythritol and stevia are in the mix as well. That is fine for some and a complete deal breaker for others. It's very specific taste that shows itself more as the drink warms up. Ice cold it is hardly noticeable. When paired with the passion fruit it didn't bother me nearly as much as it has in other beverages. I guess it's all a part of keep calories low and not poisoning yourself in the process.

Man, I had no idea that when combined the letter V and the number 8 could be such a turn off to people. I was given a six pack of these little guys and being the generous person I am I offered to share them with the people I was hanging out with and every single one, minus the person who gifted them to me, said “Ewwww. No Thanks!” I know that tomato juice is a horrible thing, but that doesn't mean that every product that V8 puts out is going to taste like that.

I tend to enjoy their Fusion line. It's a combination of fruit and vegetable juices. In this case it is peach, mango, apple, sweet potato, tomato, and carrot. Don't worry though it tastes more like a fruit juice than a cold, sweet soup. Now that would be horrible. There are hints of vegetable flavoring around the edges, but this is almost all fruit flavored.
The energy aspect of this juice comes in the form of added green tea and B vitamins. It doesn't really effect the taste, and I haven't really felt any boost in energy, but I am completely exhausted so that may have overpowered things. I don't think it's meant to be a full on energy drink though, just a little nudge.
Oh yeah, there is also the garbage sweetener sucralose in here, but I luckily couldn't taste it at all. Let those fruits do their job.