Intense NRG Energy Mix Grape Review

I am quickly running out of things to try. In order to find something new, I have to drive around and stop at every gas station, 7-11 or convenience store. Now I have decided to start trying a few things I have been avoiding for a while, things you can find in most stores - energy drink powders. This NRG powder cost me $1.49 and I am supposed to dissolve it in 500 mL of water. I am trying stay consistent here, so I decided to dissolve it in 473 mL of water.

The powder itself has a strong, sweet grape scent and dissolved rather well. OK, the pleasant powder scent is one thing, but once it was fully dissolved in the water, the resulting solution had a fairly bad, sharp smell like rotting fruits. I was still able to detect trace amounts of grape, but the bad smell was overwhelming. The taste is actually not as bad as the smell. It tastes like a well diluted cheap grape juice. There are still hints of that horrid typical NRG shot taste, but they are easily lost. The grape flavour is there mostly in the finish and is very mild. The finish in the long run is fairly clean with just a slight hint of grape, but that's because you are using water to dissolve the powder.

The package says that there are 2.4 grams of energy ingredients, but that could be anything. I tried finding information online, but nothing came up. This product is not even listed on the company's website. The only products listed are the 4 energy shots they sell. The only results I was getting were from online stores to buy a box of these. Well, I will try to ballpark the caffeine content based on my experience with this.

I felt waking up around 25 - 30 minutes after consuming half the drink. The experience for the next hour was a bit underwhelming. I was expecting a torrent of uncontrollable energy, instead I got a jittery feeling for a few minutes and nothing more. By that point I had already consumed 2/3'rds of the drink. Once finished with the entire drink, I started experiencing some more jitters, but energy wasn't as intense as I was expecting it to be. Two hours later I was feeling rather normal and just slightly pepped up. I would have to guess that there are around 140-160 mg of caffeine in the packet. The powder is definitely less effective than their energy shots, but a lot more tolerable to consume.


Scores:
Cost - $1.49 CAD for a packet
Taste - 5.2/10...unlike the NRG shots, this is tolerable once you get past the smell
Energy - 7.4/10

Overall - 12.6/20...tolerable taste, enough energy for something that costs $1.49