White Grape Flavor Sappe Aloe Vera Review

The bingo dabber as some might say. This bottle is very easy to spot and very hard to walk past. For the love of God, do not hold the bottle. If you do, you will spend the $1.49 CAD it costs and walk away having forgotten why you went to the store in the first place. Maybe this is not the case for most people. but it sure was for me. I walked into T & T, saw this and completely forgot why I was there in the first place.

The bottle is absolutely fantastic, very smart too. You can use the cap as a shot glass or to drink the beverage. The top of the cap is flat so it can easily stay still while accepting whatever liquid you pour in it. It holds approximately 1 oz, which is why I say it double as a shot glass. The bottle itself is wonderful to hold, it fits great in my hand and I find it hard to put it down.


There are three flavours of this drink with three different colored tops. There is green, white and purple. The green, the one I bought, is White Grape, the white top is apple (go figure, I thought green was apple), and the purple is pomegranate (I am not 100% sure on that one). The white grape tastes great. It is not sweet, does not taste fake and has a very clean aftertaste. Unlike other white grape flavoured beverages, this does not get sweet with time. I drank the whole bottle and the end did not taste sweeter than when I first started drinking it. The flavour is not too intense and not too bland, it is just right. The aloe cubes, in combination with the flavour, make you think that you are eating grapes. This is a great, refreshing drink worth the money. The only complaint I have is that the aloe cubes were a bit stale. They tasted of old plastic. Perhaps they were stored in plastic containers prior to being added to the drink, or perhaps the taste is from the bottle itself. It is not that big of a deal. You can only taste the plastic if you chew the aloe. If you swallow it, you should be OK.

Scores:
Cost - $1.49 CAD for a 300 mL bottle
Taste - 9.2/10...refreshing drink with a clean aftertaste

Overall 9.5/10...I will give it 0.3 for the awesome bottle, whose cap can double as a shot glass or a small drinking cup

X Games Energy Drink Review

I went to a Mac's last night to check out their collection of energy drinks and I came across this specimen. It was priced at $3.59 CAD and I thought it was a bit expensive considering the size of the can - 355 mL. You could get a large Red Bull for less than that, or any AMP, Monster, Rockstar, Full Throttle. I had to get it to see what's so special.

Well, there is nothing special about this one. It tastes a lot like Red Bull, but more sour. It really burns the tongue this one. The good thing about a drink this sour is the aftertaste. It is very refreshing with none of the sweet, cough syrup aftertaste. The downside is the damage the sour drink does to your tongue and throat. It left my tongue a bit numb and my throat feeling the same way as if I had just consumed a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

The caffeine content is not given anywhere on the can. The drink's website says that there is no added caffeine, but it does not deny the possibility of caffeine being present in the drink. The website also states that the energy comes from natural sources such as ginseng, guarana and ginkgo biloba. I am not sure how that last one helps you with energy since it is used as a memory enhancer. Anyways, I still got a nice boost from the drink. I will take a shot at the caffeine content based on experience - around the 100 mg mark I say. X Games Energy, would be kind enough to get in touch with me and let me know what the caffeine content is? Thanks a bunch.

Scores:
Cost - $3.59 CAD for a 355 mL can
Taste - 9.1/10...the sourness really gives it a nice kick and aftertaste
Energy - 6.6/10

Overall - 15.7/20...not bad at all

A new Coke bottle, or is it a can?

I was at a local Mac's today and I came across this guy - an all aluminum bottle of Coke. OK, it is almost all aluminum, there is just that one plastic piece for the cap to screw on and to protect your lips from getting cut up. I just fell in love with the design. The entire bottle is a solid red color with the Coca-Cola logo stretched across. There is a small label and Nutrition Facts table on the back, but other than that, nothing. Nothing at all. Check out the photos below.

The sad part is the cost - $1.99 CAD. This 250 mL bottle costs 2 bucks...holy crap, that's a lot for a small bottle of coke.

Acai-Blu Red Rain Energy Drink Review

I finally found it, the last of the Red Rain flavours. I got this bad boy at Wal-Mart for $4.97 CAD per 4 pack. Yes, the rumors are true, you can get 4 packs of Red Rain for only $4.97 CAD and 4 packs of Red Bull for $6.97. There are also 4 packs of Guru regilar and sugar free for the same low price of $6.97 for a 4 pack. That is so cheap - $5 for 4 cans. Why the hell am I buying these from the local 7-11 for $2 per can? I should just go to Wal-Mart once per week and get 2-3 packs of these.

I still haven't tasted acai berries so I cannot say for sure if this flavour captures the taste. It does taste a lot like blueberries though, which I assume is why it is called Acai-Blu. The blueberry taste is actually quite nice - not too sweet and a bit on the sour side. There is no obvious trace of artificial flavours eventhough the back label says there are some. This doesn't taste like other fruit energy drinks, it tastes a lot like a regular Red Rain with some of its flavour substituted with the acai-blueberry one. It still has a bit of the acidic Red Rain taste, but not as much, obviously. The aftertaste is pretty good too. It starts off with a blueberry aftertaste, moves onto the regular Red Rain acidic aftertaste and finishes clean all in 2-3 minutes time.

Same energy content - 80 mg. I got a nice boost early in the morning, but I am sure I have to go for seconds in a few hours. Good thing I got a 4 pack of these for $5.

Scores:
Cost - $4.97 CAD per 4
Taste - 8.2/10
Energy - 6/10

Overall - 14.2/20...I would still buy the regular Red Rain, just because I enjoy the clean taste. This, however, is one of the better fruit energy drinks I have had because of its low sweetness level

Read about the other flavours of Red Rain - regular, cran-orange, mocha, tropical mango.

AMP Overdrive Energy Drink Review

I have been avoiding this one for quite a while now. Why? I just don't like cherry flavoured carbonated drinks too much. They remind me a lot of cough syrups, more than other energy drinks. I do enjoy cherry juices, but not carbonated drinks. After AMP Overdrive, I will have left only AMP Defend and AMP Rebuild to try and AMP regular to review. I have never seen AMP Defend in stores. The company website is down so I can't really get much info on that and the Canadian website is just useless at the moment. After a quick search on the internets, I have learned that Defend is actually AMP with Green Tea and Rebuild is AMP with Black Tea. OK, job done.

I don't know how to feel about AMP Overdrive. It seems like your average generic energy drink with a hint of cherry. You can really taste the Mountain Dew in this one, the cherry taste is lost somewhere in there. The aftertaste is the same - mountain dew dominates. The cherry aftertaste is lost after about 5 seconds. I almost forgot, this does have a slight cough syrup aftertaste. There is also a bitter undertone which is present for a very short time - half a second or so, enough to remind you that this might as well have been cough syrup you were drinking. Once you finish drinking this and wait for a few minutes, the Mountain Dew taste disappears and you are left with a very fresh and clean aftertaste. That part was my favorite. So to summarize, this is just an AMP/Mountaind Dew with some cherry flavouring added as an afterthought. I hate to say this, but the other AMP drinks taste better...relative to this one.

The typical amount of caffeine is present in this one - 158 mg. Gives you a nice boost, what else is there to say? I have run out of things to say about the 158 mg caffeine per can amount.

Scores:
Cost - $2.99 CAD
Taste - 7/10
Energy - 7.5/10

Overall - 14.5/20...kind of a bland, heavy on the Mountain Dew AMP, but with an OK aftertaste once the Mountain Dew aftertaste disappears

Check out the other AMP reviews:

• Lightning
• Traction
• Re-Ignite
• AMP with Green Tea
• AMP with Black Tea
• Elevate

treehugger Premium Organic Orange Juice Review

I went to the local IGA today to see what new and exciting local beverages they have. The last time I was there they were selling bottled water in corn starch bottles. I am not one to buy bottled water, but I just wanted to snatch a bottle and watch it decompose over the next several months. Well guess what, they didn’t have any in stock and I was forced to look for something else. I saw a shelf with a few different kinds of treehugger organic juices. Right away I thought that treehugger started selling organic juices, but the bottle had nothing that can link the juice to the blog. A bit disappointed I decided to buy it out of curiosity. It costs $2.99 CAD and for that much you can easily buy a whole carton of orange juice…and for an extra $1-$2 you can have a whole carton of delicious Tropicana.

Well I cannot taste anything spectacular. It tastes like a plain Minute Maid orange juice to me. Taste-wise it cannot even compare to Tropicana. The back of the label does state that this is nothing more than concentrated organic orange juice with some water. I wouldn’t say the orange juice is completely disappointing, just not worth the $2.99 CAD. It doesn’t taste bad, it just doesn’t taste as good as Tropicana. I really don’t care if it is organic or not, all I care about is the taste. I am not sure if it is the manufacturer who sells the juice to IGA for that much or if it is IGA who raise the price. If you know anything about this let me know. For now, I say it is too expensive for what it is.

Scores:
Cost - $2.99 CAD
Taste - 7.0/10...I like orange juice, but this is just average

Overall 7.0/10...nothing you are missing out on

ZizZazz Pom Mango Energy Drink Powder Review

Today I am trying something new - an energy drink powder. I picked this up at 7-11 for $1.99 per package. There were 3 or 4 different flavours to pick from and I got the Pom Mango, which I believe stands for pomegranate & mango. Each pack contains 7 g of the powder and is suggested that you use 3.5 g at a time and mix it with 12 to 16 oz of water, which for 99% of the people should read 355 mL to 473 mL. At the end of the directions it says for maximum results use all 7 g at once. The whole pack is said to contain 200 mg of caffeine so I am thinking if you want to experience the same boost as other 473 mL energy drinks, use the whole package. I first tried using the suggested dose of 3.5 g and dissolved it in 360 mL of water. Check out the photo I took of the mixture.


Doesn't look like mango to me, more like pomegranate. I had to stir the powder for a good minute before most of it was dissolved. There was still some left at the top, but that dissolved completely after I let it sit for about 5 minutes. Now how does an energy drink powder taste? Tastes like any other drink powder you buy an a grocery store, seriously. The concoction is sweet. It has that sharp artificial sweetener taste. The recommended dose is actually really bland. I should have used the whole package. There is a faint pomegranate taste and a very distant mango taste. Unless you swish a mouthful of the beverage and really concentrate, you will not taste the mango. The aftertaste is very clean, just like after drinking water...or it would have been just like after drinking water if it wasn't for the artificial sweetener taste. That is the only thing you will be tasting for a very long time. There is also a faint aftertaste of some mystical fruits, but nothing too distinguishable since the sweetener overpowers everything.

I should have used the whole pack, not half. A hundred mg is enough to wake you up in the morning or pick you up in the afternoon, but not enough to send you flying for a couple of hours. I suggest you use the whole package. That way the flavour might even be stronger...that or the artificial sweetener taste will be even stronger and more overpowering that it already is.

Scores:
Cost - $1.99 CAD per 7 g package
Taste - 5.8/10...based on using half the package
Energy - 6.8/10...using half the package

Overall - 12.6/20...try the whole package and let me know how it is