An acquired taste.
First off... this drink is.. different. It isn't terrible tasting or anything there just isn't an over abundance of flavor. As far as energy effects go, I couldn't really tell the difference but then again I have a hard time noticing the effects of caffeinated beverages to begin with. I feel like this was one of those things that sometimes take getting used to. After trying them for a few days, I felt like the taste grew on me and eventually I enjoyed it. As for the nutritional claims and issues with caffeine content being questioned, I on the other hand understood the statements made in the listing and found them to be consistent with what the label said. I think the confusion is involving the assumption that caffeine is the sole provider of energy in energy drink style beverages. That's not accurate and the use of caffeine is just a more popular option used to up the energy effects of drinks. There are other vitamins or minerals that have energizing effects and it's not uncommon to use phrases like, "energy blend," on labels without specifically listing the exact quantities of what the phrase means. In other words 260mg energy blend can seem like deception bc it kinda seems to imply that this caffeinated beverage includes 260mg of caffeine in someway, but it doesn't and we really only have the statements that mention what that means by telling us it means 100mg of caffeine plus antioxidants. In other words, we only know those antioxidants should account for the remaining 160mg outside of the caffeine, but we have zero clue as to how much of each. Using these confusing terms seems like it'd be illegal and called false claims, but the FDA sets the rules that nutritional labels need to follow and this sort of thing is within their guidelines. It's a highly popular form of making supplements in the fitness industry that include things that maybe they shouldn't until they're discovered, but the most common way its used in the industry is to make potential customers think it has a ton of fancy ingredients without having to list them or more importantly.. it allows a company to conceal the details of their, "special blend," by not making them reveal everything that makes their product special or unique and also available to the competition. With that said, there are plenty of examples where nutritional labels appear inaccurate or confusing. Regardless.. to sum everything up.. I'm still going to mention that I'd call this 3.5 stars if I could, bc while I've basically called it an acquired taste.. it isn't amazing plus there are options that offer larger servings for around the same price range.
