Jones Activated Energy Boosters Original Flavor Review

That's a funny name - Activated Energy Boosters. What's wrong with just calling them candies or mints or tablets? OK, to be fair, the tin does mention the word "candy". Another funny thing about this product is that it is made in Toronto, which is in the province of Ontario in Canada, but I have never seen these sold in stores. I actually got this one from the King of Caffeine and the tin does not have any French, just plain old English.

Let's do some math here. There are 30 candies in the tin and there are 240 mg of caffeine and 3000 mg of taurine per tin, which means that each hard candy contains about 8 mg of caffeine and 100 mg of taurine. I sometimes like the freedom to chose how much caffeine I am taking in so though this sounds low, you can just have a few to perk up, or the entire tin and get wired up.

The Original Flavor is a bit weird tasting...weird, but good. It starts off very sweet, but 20-30 seconds after that it turns a little sour. The overall taste is a combination of citrus fruits and berries with a touch of laundry detergent. Yes, I said it, there is something that reminds me of the smell of laundry detergents. Don't worry, the taste is not bad. After eating a few, the taste started to remind of those flying saucer candies you can get in bulk and have two different colored sides with sweet and sour powder inside. Since each candy has only 8 mg of caffeine, no unpleasant notes can be detected. Even if there are bitter notes, the sourness can easily neutralize them.

I had about 5 candies and I was able to sense the effects, but to really get a good energy kick, I felt like I would have to take another 5...at least. That way, I would be able to get a boost similar to that of drinking a 250 mL can of Red Bull. So what did I do? I took another 5. After eating 10 hard candies the effects are noticeable, but very rough. I experienced some jitters for about 10-15 minutes and then everything was A-OK. Just like with a can of Red Bull, the kick lasted for about an hour and then I was pooped.

Ingredients: sorbitol, natural and artificial flavors, taurine, citric acid, magnesium stearate, acesulfame potassium, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, aspartame, caffeine, niacinamide, theanine, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine HCL (vitamin B6), cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12).

Scores:

Cost -$2.50 from King of Caffeine

Taste - 7/10

Energy - anywhere between 1/10 and 8.5/10

Overall - between 8/10 and 15.5/20 depending on the number of candies you eat