XS Citrus Blast
Cost: $? 8oz
Taste: 5.5
Power:7.5
The good stuff: Caffeine, Taurine, Panax Ginseng, Panax Quinquefolium, Schisandra, Astragalus, Reishi
The XS drinks have been kind of floating just out of my reach for quite a while now. I was aware of them, but could never get my hands on them for review. I was recently sent several flavors and I must say, I have very mixed feelings about them. Some flavors are definitely better than others…but hey, that’s why I’m here…to keep you guys from having to figure out which those are. So, let’s get this show rolling….
First off, all the XS energy drinks I will be reviewing are 0 sugar, 0 carb, low cal…so basically I’m just going to label them as diet. From now on ANY sugar free drink will get a *D at the end of it’s title so that folks out there can more easily search out reviews on diet drinks…I have been getting a lot of requests for that, so here you go. I’ll be going back to older reviews and adjusting them as well….I’ll also be rating them on a different scale since it’s really hard to compare the flavor of a normal energy drink with that of a “Diet” energy drink….so be aware!! Now for those of you out there who can’t drink regular drinks for health reasons the XS line is probably what you have been looking for. It offers a broad range f flavors, a good amount of pick-me-up, and of course, it’s totally sugar free.
With that being said, Yes, that sugar free flavor I hate so much is there. It’s actually much stronger than I would have expected from a citrus flavored drink, and it really stays with you after each sip. The citrus buried beneath it seems to me to be a bit of grapefruit, a bit of lemon and a bit of lime…maybe just a hint of orange. Honestly it’s kind of hard for me to tell because the Sucralose is just so freakin strong. One thing to note here is that this drink is exponentially better cold. Once it warms up it’s horribly difficult to taste anything past the artificial sweetener. Drink it cold, pour it over ice, but for godsake don’t let it warm up!
Now what I didn’t get in flavor was quite well made up in the power department. XS Citrus Blast seemed to give me a bit more of a kick than say a Red Bull. The effects are close, but it really felt like XS won out over all. What is really interesting to note was the rush I got seemed more pure….probably because it was not partially induced by an over abundance of sugar rushing through my veins. Instead, I was able to feel only what the herbal ingredients had to offer…and honestly, I like it. While I don’t care for the taste of Sucralose, there is something to be said about getting an energy rush off of something other than sugar and caffeine.
While I don’t think that Citrus Blast is the best the XS line has to offer, it does work and some of you out there will be immediately drawn to the citrus base. Still, I and quite looking forward to trying each of the other flavors I have lined up…should be interesting.