HyDrive Energy Extra Strength Black Cherry Review

It is no secret that HyDrive are one of my favorite energy drink manufacturers, if not my favorite one. All of their energy drinks taste great and work, just look at my top 5 best tasting drinks. So when I received their new product, which has more caffeine than their previous energy drinks, I was in tears...tears of joy that is.

Taste

The taste is along the same lines as the other HyDrive energy drinks - an intense citric punch followed by the flavour. The black cherry taste is well defined for a drink with only 30 calories. In fact the taste rivals that of drinks with a ton of sugar.

Unfortunately, not all is peachy with this new drink. Unlike the rest of the HyDrive line-up, there is a noticeable hint of an artificial sweetener which follows the citric black cherry bite and lingers well into the finish. I presume the extra amount of caffeine created an off-putting bitterness, which the makers decided to counteract with some extra sweetness.

That said, this HyDrive still tastes better than most energy drinks out there.

Energy

I mentioned that the black cherry flavour has more caffeine than the rest of the HyDrive drinks, but how much more? Well, there are 195 mg of caffeine in the bottle. You next question might be - How does this compare to other energy drinks? Well, in order to answer that, the caffeine must be prorated:

The bottle is 458 mL and contains 195 mg of caffeine, so then if we convert it into an equivalent, 473 mL volume, we get 201.4 mg of caffeine.

Not a huge difference, but it does break the 200 mg mark, a feat not achieved by many mainstream energy drinks.

So how does it work? Well, like any other HyDrive, except that the effects are much more noticeable and last a bit longer. It took about 15 to 20 minutes for my mind to clear up and for me to start focusing. The effects were gradual, but a bit slower than I expected. Another 20 minutes later the caffeine hit and I felt very energized and like I could do a million things. As advertised, there are no jitters, even with the extra caffeine.

The energy boost lasted for about 3 to 4 hours and it was fantastic. I felt focused and on my feet the entire morning. The finish was, of course, without a crash.

Proprietary Blend:

• Caffeine - 195 mg
• Taurine - 50 mg
• L-Arginine - 25 mg
• L-Carnitine - 25 mg
• Yerba Mate Leaf Extract - 25 mg
  

Ingredients: purified water, sucrose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium citrate, caffeine, caramel color, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, monopotassium phosphate, sucralose, d-calcium pantothenate, niacinamide, taurine, l-arginine hydrochloride, l-carnitine, gum arabic, red #40, pyridoxine hydrochloride, glycerol ester of wood rosin, yerba mate, leaf extractive, folic acid, cyanocobalamin.

Scores:
Cost - not sure
Taste - 8/10
Energy - 8.4/10

Overall - 16.4/20...some sweetener taste, but still true to the HyDrive line up