Thursday, August 13, 2009

Chaotic Mind Strike Review


Edit:
Skip to the middle of the post to see what I discovered about this drink


I was at 7-11 again browsing the fridges. On the upper shelf, of one of the energy drink sections, tucked away in the corner of the fridge I saw a dark and familiar label. I picked up the can and read it - "Chaotic". Right away I recognized that the label was from the trading card game Chaotic, whose decks and expansion packs are usually on sale at the cash register. I cannot believe they are trying to market energy drinks now. It must be a part of an evil plan to get
kids that play the game hooked on energy drinks. I assume a Chaotic expansion pack costs the same as a pack of Magic cards and a can of the Chaotic energy drink - $2.99. "Hey kids, when you are buying another pack, why not get a drink too?" I bet that's what the execs were thinking. I also like how they have given them names - Mind Strike, Fearocity, Power Pulse,
Elixir of Tenacity. The one I picked up was Mind Strike...because that was the can I originally grabbed when I first noticed them.

It says it tastes like blood orange. It smells like Hi-C/Fanta/any carbonated orange drink. Not only does it smell like any carbonated orange drink, but it also tastes like them as well. When I say "like" I mean "worse". I really don't like orange soda because it just tastes fake. If I wanted a carbonated orange drink, I would mix club soda and orange juice or just buy an Orangina. Chaotic Mind Strike has a dull orange taste with a slightly bitter undertone. The label on the back tells me that the bitterness might be from the ginkgo biloba extract or the gotu kola. I have never heard of the second one, but I do have a pack of loose leaf ginkgo biloba tea at home so I know that it is bitter. Here is a link to the gotu kola wikipedia article. So to wrap up the taste section - I don't like it much.

The aftertaste is similar to that of the carbonated orange drinks - a bit sweet with an artificial orange taste. Yep, the aftertaste lasts for a while, but don't worry, it is not as bad as the drink itself.

I was surprisingly pepped up by the drink. The label doesn't say what the caffeine content is, but I assume it is low because I only recognized the green tea leaf extract as something that might contain caffeine. The ginkgo biloba is supposed enhance concentration and memory, but at 1.5 mg per can, I don't know if the effects would be noticed. The energy boost lasted for a couple of hours, but I don't think it's comparable to other energy drinks.

Scores:
Cost - $2.99 CAD per can, I got it from 7-11 and I haven't seen it anywhere else
Taste - 5.8/10...not the greatest taste
Energy - 6.1/10

Overall - 11.9/20...don't leave yet, read bellow

OK, so the label on the can was badly placed. The whole time I was drinking this, the edge of the label was touching my lip and scratching it. After I had the drink, I looked at the rim and noticed that the label was slightly ripped where I was drinking. I grabbed the ripped piece and pulled it. See what I discovered when I peeled the label:


WHAT IS THIS? Awake good morning energy, 100% juice + energy. How is this 100%? Right below the "100% juice" it says from concentrate. Sure concentrate was made from juices, but if this is how you defined 100% juice, then all cheap orange juices you buy at the grocery store will claim that they are 100% juice. On the back it says that there 80 mg of caffeine per can and 100 mg of taurine. Not bad, but this is a 355 mL can. OK, forget about the energy and that the label came off. It says that it is not carbonated, but guess what - IT IS CARBONATED.

Now, onto more important things - is Awake energy Chaotic energy? Did Chaotic just use the available cans to save money? Did Chaotic just bought a bunch of Awake energy cans and rebrand them to try and make a quick buck alongside the game they sell? Let me know if you have come across this before.

Check out the other Chaotic drinks I have tried:

5 comments:

  1. Yo thats crazy!!! How can they just do this and teh government just lets them?!? I can't believe this is permitted, how can you know what your children are drinking?

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  2. I am outraged! what a find my friend what a find, good work inspecta!
    You know you have to report this to someone this is complete bullshit they cannot wrap one label with another. Who do we believe? what has this world come to? Reading this review was like reading a short exciting story with a nice plot twist right when you got the ranking and thought it was over. I was shocked and thrilled at the same time. Good work sir!

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  3. Wow, crazy. I didn't notice about the label. I think there's a few of these cans still around my office. I'll take a look. Thanks for sending me your link.

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  4. This is a representative from Chaotic Beverages.

    First, thank you for trying and reviewing Chaotic Drinks. I wanted to answer the concerns you raised over the packaging of Chaotic Beverages using cans from Awake.

    All can bodies used in the Chaotic production have NEVER been used for any other liquid and go through a rigorous quality control testing before the liquids are put in the cans. The product in the can is 100% Chaotic and all nutritional ingredients are labeled properly on each and every shrink wrapped can.

    Awake corporation and our company use the same packaging broker. Awake, like many companies in North America, has excess empty can inventory. Overwrapping excess can inventories is a way that we can all avoid waste. (The awake can is covered and passes all labeling requirements by the government.)

    So by shrinking over excess cans in the marketplace, Chaotic is being environmentally friendly and doing its part to avoid environmental waste!

    One of our corporate values is to be enviromentally friendly and produce products with natural ingredients. All our products are made with cane and beet sugar and 100% natural flavor and color.

    If you have any other questions of concerns, please email darryl@uandmemarketing.com.

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  5. I couldn't help but laugh when I read this review. :|

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