Starbucks Doubleshot Energy + Coffee Mocha Review

I am finally back home after a week of traveling. On my way back I saw this oldie and I decided to finally buy it and try it. Like all other Starbucks energy drinks, this comes at a premium - $3.49 for a 444 mL can.

Unfortunately I have a cold so I may not be able to smell and taste the drink the way I should, but I will give it my best. The aroma is a lot like a milk based drink with very little coffee smell. The taste is also milky but the coffee shows itself. I was surprised to discover that this iced coffee/energy drink is rather thick, more like cream than milk. At first the taste is not very sweet and I was enjoying the drink very much, but as I continued drinking, the sweetness built up and this became much like all the other iced mochas - sweet and milky with little coffee taste. Aaah, the coffee taste. I mentioned that the coffee taste shows itself, but it shows itself briefly. The sweet creamy taste is overpowering and allows the coffee flavour to escape its grips at the beginning and at the end. The aftertaste is a bit dry and if you wait long enough, a week coffee taste will show up. This is not a bad iced mocha energy drink, but I was expecting more from Starbucks.

The can contains 146 mg of caffeine, which is pretty decent and comparable to other energy drinks this size. I started to get a buzz from something, probably the sugar, in about 10 - 15 minutes. I experienced some jitters, but nothing I couldn't handle or haven't seen before. The caffeine eventually hit and it hit me pretty much all at once. I was staring at my monitor when suddenly all the lights when on and my chair just couldn't contain my energize body. OK, that only lasted for about a minute, but I did suddenly feel energized and not jittery at all. I think this drink works better than the Starbucks Espresso and Coffee I had a week ago. The kick that I got from this lasted for a few hours and I didn't experience a crash once the energy started to fade away slowly.

Medicinal Ingredients:

• Taurine - 1,800 mg
• Oriental Ginseng Extract - 330 mg
• Inositol - 181 mg
• Caffeine - 146 mg
• Guarana Extract - 90 mg
• Vitamin C - 75 mg
• Vitamin B3 - 50 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 5 mg
• Vitamin B2 - 4 mg
• Vitamin A - 120 mcg
• Vitamin D - 1.7 mcg

Non-Medicinal Ingredients: Starbucks coffee (water, coffee), water, skim milk, sugar, cream, corn maltodextrin, corn dextrose, natural coffee and mocha flavours, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, calcium phosphate, sucralose, tricalcium phosphate, silicon dioxide, caramel colour, dimethylpolysiloxane, gum arabic, corn starch, polysorbate 80.

Scores:
Cost - $3.49 CAD for a 444 mL can
Taste - 7.8/10
Energy - 7.3/10

Overall - 15.1/20...sweet and creamy with very little coffee taste and a decent energy kick