XS Energy Drink Tropical Blast Review

I found a Canadian website from which I was able to order an assorted box of these energy drinks for about $44, shipping included. These are products intended for sale in Canada because each of the cans has both of the official languages and a proper ingredients listing. Today I am going to try the Tropical Blast flavour.

Taste

Well, for starters, each can is sugar free so my expectations are not high to begin with. The Tropical Blast XS drink is very carbonated and it is hard to get a good taste of the flavour while drinking. The one thing that sticks out is its sugar free character, which is actually not too bad. It also seems like there is quite a lot of citric acid because it does have a lot of bite. Once you take a few sips and put the can aside, the flavour emerges in the finish. Unfortunately, it is not very strong. It reminds me of the time I tried EQ and used too much water. So what I am trying to say is that this drink tastes watery. The tropical flavour which you can taste seems artificial and it is not as refreshing as I had imagined it. Not the greatest tasting energy drink, but it does nothing to offend me. There are no bitter notes from energy ingredients and there is no foul aftertaste.

Energy

Being a 250 mL energy drink, XS has the standard 80 mg of caffeine...well it actually has 83 mg, but I don't think the additional 3 mg will do much more. The delivery is similar to any comparable sugar free energy drink. Nothing happens for the first 15-20 minutes, but then you start feeling something. The caffeine takes about 35-40 minutes to fully absorb and this is when you start feeling its effects. I did not have any jitters nor did I have any other negative experiences. I felt well energized for just over an hour and then I was feeling pretty normal. But who wants to feel normal? I had a coffee to get back to feeling wired.

Medicinal Ingredients:

• Taurine - 1,000 mg
• L-Glutamine - 500 mg
• Eleutherococcus Senticosus - 17.85 mg
• Panax Ginseng - 17.85 mg
• Panax Quinquefolium - 17.85 mg
• Schisandra - 17. 85 mg
• Astragalus - 17.85 mg
• Reishi - 17.85 mg
• Caffeine - 83 mg
• Niacin - 20 mg
• Pantothenic Acid - 10 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 6 mg
• Vitamin B12 - 296 ug

Non-Medicinal Ingredients: carbonated water, citric acid, natural flavors, acesulfame potassium, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, sucralose and colorant

Scores:
Cost - works out to about $3.66 per can, delivered
Taste - 7/10
Energy - 6/10

Overall - 13/20...pretty mediocre drink. Too bad you cannot find it in store