Monster X-presso Hammer Energy Drink Review

Monster X-presso Hammer - the newest addition to the Canadian line up of Monster iced coffee energy drinks and my first iced coffee energy drink review in a long time. I know this has been in the States for some time now, but this is a brand new arrival in Canadian stores. Unlike the other new Monster arrivals, this one still has the old pull-tab on top.

Before I even proceeded to open this drink, I noticed the size - 285 mL in a 340 mL can. That is weird, until I saw the explanation on the side - 285 mL of liquid and the rest is room for the foam, or also called "foam zone".

Taste

Well, it tastes the way it is described in the can - like espresso and milk. It is very creamy and starts off with a mild coffee taste and lot of cream, but by the end, the cream taste disappears and the bold espresso taste steps in. This is not like the other Monster iced coffees on the market, it has a much bolder, very espresso-like, not very sweet coffee taste, which is something I absolutely love. The aftertaste is of coffee and long lasting, but due to the milk part, it does turn a little raunchy after a while. I like this iced coffee and would definitely buy it again.

Energy

Whoa, I was shocked to learn that there are 225 mg of caffeine in this can. The liquid part is just over 250 mL, the amount you get in a small Red Bull can, yet it packs almost 3 times the caffeine. Does it work? Well, yeah! I really needed this energy drink since I only got a few hours of sleep last night and sure enough, 15 minutes after I started to drink it, I started to wake up, but very slowly. I don't think this iced coffee energy drink has the same amount of sugar as some of the other energy drinks, which really cuts down on the immediate sugar impact. The caffeine started to kick in more around 30 minutes later, but the effect was not like that of energy drinks, it reminded me more of diluted coffee. Sure there is a lot of caffeine, but it just wasn't quite working the way I expected it to. Don't get me wrong, I still felt energized, but my brain was half asleep and was having hard time focusing. At least that is what happened the first hour. In the second hour, I finally started to feel focused and experience the effects of the iced coffee, which were great, but took their sweet time. The effects lasted for a few hours and it was all good. I did not experience a crash and was rather pleasantly peppy for most of the day.

Medicinal Ingredients:

• Taurine - 1,000 mg
• Caffeine - 225 mg
• Ginseng - 200 mg
• Vitamin B3 - 20 mg
• Inositol - 4 mg
• D-Glucuronolactone - 4 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 2 mg
• Guarana - 2 mg
• Vitamin B2 - 1.7 mg

Non-Medicinal Ingredients: nitrogenated coffee, water, coffee extract, concentrated skim milk, sugar, heavy cream, glucose, sodium citrate, salt, natural flavour, tricalcium phosphate, natural gum stabilizers, mono and diglycerides, sucralose, maltodextrin

Scores:
Cost - $3.49 for a 285 mL can from 7-11
Taste - 8.7/10
Energy - 8/10

Overall - 16.7/20...great coffee taste and plenty of caffeine