Xyience Xenergy Cherry Rush Energy Drink Review

I guess I will be trying old caffeinated products until newer ones are imported into the province of Ontario. I am not a big fan of cherry flavoured drinks which is why I have avoided this one kind of Xenergy until now. The drink itself is not old, it is one of the newer types released late last year (2009). It cost me the same as any of the other Xenergy drinks - $2.99, and I got it from 7-11.

Upon opening the drink, a medicine cherry aroma started coming off the mouth opening. It was not completely medicine like since there was something crisp to it. The taste is almost what I expected. The cherry taste reminds me of certain cough syrups I had to drink as a kid, but the carbonation and diet taste help offset the unpleasantness. This is still something I cannot see myself drinking on a daily basis, but it is not a bad tasting cherry flavoured energy drink. The sweeteners are a touch too much as the drink is sweet, but not the type of sweet you would expect from soft drinks. One thing I noticed about the sweetness is that it subsided half way through the can. With many energy drinks, the sweetness builds up until you can barely stand it, but with this one, it actually died down. I liked that. The diet taste lingers for quite some time in the finish, but at least it is not an unpleasant one. In fact, there is something fresh about it, probably from the added citric acid. Again, not a bad cherry flavoured energy drink.

The one thing I love about all Xyience Xenergy drinks is the amount of caffeine present - 200 mg plus some from the guarana. About 20 minutes after drinking a third of the can, I was starting to feel awake and focused. My legs were shaking after another 15 minutes, but it wasn't an over the top jittery feel. I got a nice energy boost out of that can which lasted for about 3 hours and did not experience a crash.

I am not liking the narrow white font on black background. One can barely read the ingredients. The text in bold reads fine, but nothing else does.

Medicinal Ingredients:

• Taurine - 2,000 mg
• Glucuronolactone - 200 mg
• Caffeine - 200 mg
• Guarana - 100 mg
• Panax Ginseng - 100 mg
• Pantothenic acid - 100 mg
• Inostol - 50 mg
• Niacin - 40 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 10 mg
• Vitamin B12 - 20 mcg

Non-medicinal Ingredients: filtered carbonated water, citric acid, sodium citrate, natural flavour of cherry, natural flavour of lime, natural color of cherry juice, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, gum acacia, ester gum.

Scores:
Cost - $2.99 CAD for a 473 mL can
Taste - 8.2/10
Energy - 8.6/10

Overall - 16.8/20...not a huge fan of cherry flavoured beverages, but this is pretty good since there is some lime added to it