Rumble Supershake Coffee Bean Review

I came across the Rumble Supershake line up at a Bulk Barn near my place. I don't normally go for protein shakes, but the Coffee Bean flavor intrigued me as it had a decent dose of caffeine in it. I sucked it up, paid the $3.99 for the aluminium bottle (or is it a can then?) and went home to give it a shot.

But before I left, I checked the other flavors Bulk Barn had and none of them had caffeine so I didn't get any of the other ones...at least for now.

Taste

First off, follow the steps outlined on the cap - "Shake gently" and "Open slowly". I opened mine quickly and the coffee rich contents exploded all over my hands and bottle.

Rumble's Coffee Bean flavor looks and smells like any caffeinated iced coffee from the major energy players. The flavor is not like the major brands, though. It starts off watery, but starts to build up flavor near the middle. Unfortunately, the flavor never builds up to the intensity I expected. The coffee flavor is very mild and doesn't come out until the aftertaste. Milk and protein dominate the second half of the flavor and turn the mouth feel more into a moderately thick shake with a chalky consistency that sticks to your tongue. The aftertaste has some of the coffee notes, but it also has a bit of the milk raunchiness.

Overall, this Rumble Supershake is very easy to drink with its mild flavor and low sweetness level, but flavor-wise, it doesn't compare well to other caffeinated protein shakes, like Monster's Muscle Coffee shake. It does, however, hide the protein better than Blu Dot.

Energy

There are 111 mg of caffeine, which is a bit more than I expected when I picked it up. Again, this isn't comparable to Monster's Muscle line-up, but the 111 mg is enough for a product with Non GMOs and other goodness.

The effects are fairly quick yet gradual. I felt awake, yet calm and focused within 10 minutes. No jitters for me yal! The caffeine kick came in after another 20 or so minutes and I was pumped. But a happy pumped kind of a thing. I wasn't so overenergized that I wanted to run around which is always a good thing for me. I like products that can deliver this kind of a calm energy.

The kick lasted for around 2.5 hours and ended without drama. Great kick!

Scores:
Cost - $3.99 from Bulk Barn
Taste - 7/10
Energy - 7.8/10

Overall - 14.8/20...mild flavor, but a focused kick

Blu-Dot Protein Tea Orange Pineapple Green Tea

Wow, what a long name - Blue-Dot Protein Tea Orange Pineapple Green Tea...you see the redundancy in the name there?

Well, the Blue-Dot tea is available at many places around our neck of the woods (Toronto) and I got mine from the local Loblaws for $2.99. Being a protein tea, the bottle contains 12 grams of protein and 6 grams of fibre.

This Blue-Dot has an amazing orange aroma with just a bit of tangerine. The flavor is on the lighter end of the spectrum at the start of each sip, but after the initial tongue hit, the flavors emerge. Orange is predominant and the pineapple doesn't come until well into the finish. The green tea? Well, that can be felt at the back of the tongue in between sips...so yeah, not very strong but there. Unfortunately, because this is a sugar-free beverage, the artificial sweetener (stevia) is way too heavy for my liking and I think it ends up taking this down a few notches. The added protein tends to dry out the aftertaste which I found counter-productive to the whole "orange-refreshing" image this bottle seems to broadcast. It also adds a soy-heavy note, which like the "stevia", I do not like.

I found this to be refreshing while drinking, but once you stop and let the artificial sweetener creep up, it knocks the beverage down a bit.

Taste - 6/10

Monster Muscle Energy Shake Vanilla Review

Taste

Poured into a glass, Monster Muscle's Vanilla flavour looks very similar to the Coffee one I had a few days ago. It also has the same mouth-feel, but the flavour is, obviously, where things differ.

Unlike the coffee and chocolate flavours where you could taste notes of all chocolate, coffee and vanilla, this flavour only tastes like vanilla...like sweet, chalky, milky vanilla. I also found this flavour to be less sweet than the others and didn't make a water run until far after I finished the can.

As expected, the aftertaste is a bit raunchy due to the milk, but it does have a nice vanilla note that balances it out a little.

Overall this shake tastes just like the powdered stuff you can get from GNC or other stores.

Energy

Like the other Monster Muscle drinks, there are 157 mg of caffeine in the can and the effects are a bit slow to be felt mostly due to the lack of sugar (or so much of it). The kick came in gradually and I didn't experience any jitters. The caffeine kick is very decent and even though didn't make me want to run around in circles, it was plenty to stop me from procrastinating.

The end came a few hours later without a crash.

Scores:
Cost - $1.96
Taste - 8.4/10
Energy - 8.1/10

Overall - 16.5/20...probably my favorite flavour of the Monster Muscle bunch

Monster Muscle Energy Shake Chocolate Review

Taste

The chocolate one looks like a chocolate milkshake...duh. It has the same thick and creamy consistency as the Coffee one, but obviously with a chocolaty taste.

Like the coffee one, the chocolate one is veeeery sweet yet it only has 16 grams of sugar. Of course if you would read the ingredients list you will see that one of the main ingredients is sucralose which is probably the root cause for the sickly sweet taste.

OK, back to the taste. The chocolate flavour has been pulled off rather nicely and if you can handle the sweetness, you will most likely enjoy it. It reminds me of letting a piece of cheap milk chocolate (yes, cheap, not the fancy stuff) melt on your tongue. You get a bit of milk flavour in there as well as some chocolate and a bit of vanilla in the end. The flavours linger well into the aftertaste and the generally raunchy milk aftertaste has been subdued by the chocolate and sweetness.

Overall, I liked the taste, but did not enjoy the sweetness, which I am sure is necessary to mask some other nasty flavours.

Energy

This one performs the same as all the other Monster Muscles and the energy does not kick in for a while. But once it does, it is a smooth build up with no jitters or other negative side effects. Once fully built, the boost lasted for a few hours and I did not experience a crash.

Scores:
Cost - $1.96 from Meijer
Taste - 8.2/10
Energy - 8.1/10

Overall - 16.3/20...milky, chocolaty and veeeery sweet

Muscle Monster Coffee Energy Shake Review

Yes, this is a work-out shake made by Monster, containing both protein and caffeine...and costs around $2 at Meijer (at least when I picked it up).

Taste

First off, the mouth-feel resembles that of a protein shake - it is thick, creamy and sticks to the inside of your mouth. It also feels very dry...or it dries out your mouth.

This Monster does taste like coffee, and though the flavour is present throughout, I found it to be weakened by the tons of sugar and milk added. Some chocolate and vanilla notes are also present, but the coffee is the predominant main flavour.

After a few sips you will notice a dry, chalky feel from all the extra ingredients. I didn't care much for that, but I guess it is expected from products like these.

The aftertaste is a bit raunchy as expected with many of these iced coffees due to the milk, but at least some sweet coffee notes linger for long time.

This drink is SWEET. It is veeery sweet, yet there are only 19 g of sugar per can. I had to get some water after 1/3 of the can.

From the protein shakes I have had the pleasure (or displeasure) or trying, I think this is a pretty tasty one, but 25 g of protein may not be enough for some (but what do I know about this).

Energy/Performance

I cannot comment on the performance of the drink since I am not working out at the moment, nor do I normally work out, so I will skip that part and focus on the energy.

There are 156 mg of caffeine in the can, which is almost on par with other Monsters (except for the diet ones). The effects are slow to come and it took me about 20-25 minutes to start feeling awake. On the plus side, the kick is gradually and there are no jitters. Once the drink had fully kicked in, I felt very good, surprisingly good considering the late night drinking and the early rising (can't stay in bed, I love mornings).

I felt energized for the entire morning and started to slow down a bit around lunch, but also I was getting hungry and I was walking around a lot. There was no crash at the end.

Scores:
Cost - $1.96 from Meijer
Taste - 8.1/10
Energy - 8.1/10

Overall - 16.2/20...sweeeeeet, thick, creamy, slow acting, but a good energy kick