Black Medicine Iced Coffee

Black Medicine Iced Coffee is not a new and unique idea, but what's unique about it is what's inside that bottle. There are only 3 ingredients and they are - filtered water, coffee and Vitamin C. That's it. Really, this is it. There is no sugar, no soy, no milk, nothing more. Every iced coffee I have seen sold here has at least a paragraph of ingredients so given the opportunity, I agreed to review this product.

Taste

The label recommends Black Medicine to be consumed either over ice or as hot coffee. Since it is 7:00 a.m. on a chilly winter morning, I decided to try the hot option first. I poured half the bottle in a cup and microwaved the coffee for about a minute. I know that the label recommends 90 seconds, but I only poured half of the bottle, which was enough for me.

The aroma? Yup, smells like coffee and nothing else. The taste? Yup, coffee...black coffee, though I found it to be a bit sour at first, but that's probably due to the Vitamin C. Other than the sourness, there are the typical roasted notes black coffee carries, except it feels like they have been more concentrated. I wouldn't compare the flavor of it with a premium roast, but it is still way above the typical cheap coffee you buy in cans from the grocery store.

OK, don't hate me, but I couldn't resist trying this next with some cream and sugar. I just wanted to know what Black Medicine would taste like if it had the typical additional ingredients found in most other iced coffees. For the masses, I have to say that probably cream and sugar will be necessary, but for me, I think I will stick to black....Black Medicine.

So cold? Well, have you ever gone into a Starbucks and just ordered a medium roast over ice? Yup, that's what it tastes like, or at least along the same lines. I do that in the summer (not just at Starbucks, but everywhere) to get caffeine into me on a hot day and it is great. Black Medicine works great on ice and in the summer, I will probably drink it on ice as some of the sourness was cut which made this coffee even more enjoyable.

Energy

Though no exact caffeine numbers are provided on the label, it does say that the coffee is about 50% more intense than a regular cup of coffee, thus packing 50% more caffeine than a typical cup of coffee. But who cares about numbers? I care more about the performance and this does perform well.

I didn't chug my cup, instead I sipped it while going through my RSS feeds and even after half of cup (1 quarter of a Black Medicine bottle) I felt energized, yet focused. The boost came in so gradually that I did not notice it at all. Over the course of 30 minutes I went from still trying to wake up to feeling great and focused (this is very critical to me as I prefer to be focused than anything else). I did not experience any jitters, but that's probably due to the slow consumption of this beverage.

I kept sipping on the coffee, which had lost a lot of its heat, and kept reading until it was all gone. The boost lasted for a few hours and there was no crash at the end. Since there are no additives, this is the true power of caffeine from coffee. Yup, this was one great drink.

Scores:
Cost - Unsure
Taste - 8.9/10
Energy - 9/10

Overall - 17.9/20...surprisingly great product, but may not be for everyone if you don't like your coffee black