Airforce Nutrisoda Energize Mandarin + Mint
Cost: $? 8oz
Taste: 7.5
Power: 5.5
The good stuff: Taurine, Ginseng, Rhodiola Rosea, Magnesium, CoQ10, L-Carnitine, L-Tyrosine, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12
This is pretty new to me….energy drinks that are good for you. Airforce Nutrisoda products are 0 carbs, 0 Sugar, 0 Sodium, 0 Aspartame, and 10 Calorie user friendly energy sodas. As you all know, I typically despise anything sugar free, and will typically avoid them at all cost…still, I have received several questions about and requests for reviews of healthier energy products so I was quite happy when the folks at nutrisoda.com sent out a LARGE collection to review. I popped open the spiffy energy drink sized carry cooler and found a wide variety of fruit flavored drinks to try out…now typically when a company puts out a collection of drinks there are usually a few that just sound nasty…here however I found flavors that I can normally only dream about…tasty sounding stuff…magical stuff. Mango peach…mandarin mint….tangerine lime…and several others. I could hardly wait to get them chilled so that I could start reviewing the stuff, and now here we are…the first of a good sized batch and I decided to start with mandarin + mint, also known as Energize. Something else I feel needs mentioning is that each flavor of Nutrisoda is targeted at a specific function such as boosting you immune system, giving you an energy boost, helping you focus, or aiding in relaxation so of course I was going to start with the energy boosting one.
First off, let’s just get this out of the way….YES, there is a sugar free taste to this drink (and I would expect the rest of the series as well) BUT, it does not detract from the flavor or enjoyability at all for me…and that’s saying a HELL of a lot. The mandarin and mint flavors are in the lead here with the sugar free taste being hidden really well in the background. The mandarin itself I find a bit milder than what I would expect, but it is perfectly balanced with the mint so that neither flavor is overpowering the other…very well done. So far the bar for sugar free drinks has been drastically raised with me (which wasn’t saying a lot, BUT it’s set so high now that I doubt it will ever be passed unless by another in this series) and at this point I put Energize right up there with some of my favorite standard energy drinks. Overall, good stuff and I’m liking my first venture into the Airforce line.
Power wise these little guys are both weaker and stronger….odd to say, but let me explain. The caffeine content is about 50 mg, so you get less of a boost there than you would with other drinks, BUT the other stuff inside made me alert and quite relaxed, and pretty focused. Overall it was a really nice feeling to have while sitting on my ass at work. If you are looking for a party drink, this is not it…but if you are looking for a bit of a boost and something to give you a little lift this is a pretty solid choice…if for nothing else than the fact that it’s a healthier alternative to a Red Bull.
http://www.airforcedrinks.com/Energize.asp
