After a brief hiatus we are back with a review of one of Inked's new energy drinks - Chikara Green Tea. If you remember there is already a Chikara energy drink which we already tried some time ago. The previous Chikara is a blend of cranberry and raspberry while this new one is supposed to be green tea. Inked are having the same promotion, as almost always, of 2 for $4 so I picked up both new flavours while I was at it.
Taste
OK, I was mistaken, this Inked is not green tea, but it is green tea based. The same cranberry/raspberry combination of flavours is present, but slightly muted to make way for the lighter, cleaner green tea notes. The start is very earthy with a heavy green tea presence which is done quite well. Shortly after the tart cranberry flavour hits you, which is quickly followed by a sweet raspberry note. The sweetness builds up as you drink and does become a bit too much towards the end. But hey, that's good if you are a fan of sugar carbonated drinks. The aftertaste is heavy on the cranberry/raspberry taste and very, very light on the green tea.
Overall the drink has not changed much compared to the original Chikara and the green tea adds very little. If I were remaking this drink, I would have gone the way of Rockstar's Recovery and Monster's Rehab drinks and made this either a non-carbonated, or lightly carbonated, energy drink with just mild hints of cranberries and raspberries.
Energy
The energy is about the same as before, except this time it is reported on a "per can" basis rather than per 250 mLs. There are 150 mg of caffeine in the drink, which is sort of dead on average. Due to the sugar, the surge of energy is quick but so are the jitters, which are especially bad if you consume the entire can in one go. This is not "clean" energy that you get from a lot of new and non-main stream energy drinks (and some mainstream ones) but more of a brute energy if you have to do some hard labor.
The caffeine kicks in about 20-25 minutes after the initial sugary rush and the effects are good for about 2 - 2.5 hours, but of course the sugar does its trick at the end and kicks you pretty bad. Nothing a cold glass of water and a cup of strong tea couldn't fix.
Scores:
Cost - 2 for $4 from 7-11
Taste - 7.1/10
Energy - 7.5/10
Overall - 14.6/20...pretty average energy drink that fails to impress with its new flavour ingredient
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