Crystal Light Energy Mix Wild Strawberry Review

For months I have been reading about Crystal Light and a other manufacturers of drink mixes releasing caffeinated mixes, but none of these have made it to Canada yet. On my most recent trip to the US, I managed to buy a lot of Crystal Light mixes and I am super excited to try them.

Taste

I am starting off with the Wild Strawberry flavour because this is the one that sounds the best to me. As usual, I got myself a bottle of water (I extremely rarely buy bottled water), had a sip to allow for enough room for mixing and dumped the packet in. After a few shakes the powder was dissolved and the water was pink.

Whoa, the taste is delicious. It is exactly what I was expecting it to be - a strong strawberry taste with a nice sour kick which leaves your mouth a bit dry and very refreshed. There is very, very little sweetener taste, which does not appear until well into the aftertaste. There is also a very subtle bitterness which, again, does not appear well into the aftertaste. Other than that this mix tastes exactly like any other drink mix without caffeine.

Energy

There are 60 mg of caffeine per serving and each packet has 2 servings, therefore, there are 120 mg of caffeine in the bottle when dissolved. This is about 75% of what you get from a proper energy drink the same size, but this mix is easy to carry and a lot cheaper.

I started to feel the effects within 15 minutes and it all started with me gradually waking up and my mind focusing on the tasks at hand. There were no jitters and just a gradual progression towards the full caffeine kick about 20 minutes later. At that point I was feeling energized, but not over the top energized like you would from a sugary energy drink.

The kick lasted for 2.5 - 3 hours without a crash at the end. I was surprised how well this drink mix worked considering the brand.

Scores:
Cost - $2.69 from Meijer for a box
Taste - 9.5/10
Energy - 7.2/10

Overall - 16.7/20...tasty and works surprisingly well