Full Throttle Coffee Vanilla

I am continuing with my Full Throttle Coffee reviews, and this time I have the Vanilla flavor. So far, the Full Throttle Coffees have amazed me and have beat most of the Java Monsters as well as all the Rockstar Roasteds, I hope this one will too. The thought of Full Throttle coming out with coffee flavors and the fact that I've got them right here in my refrigerator still hasn't sunk in, but I'm sure it will sometime. It's been no more than 5 days since these drinks have been out, and yet I haven't heard anything about them from anybody but Jeff and I, I feel pretty lucky. The Full Throttle Vanilla has the same can design as all the others, which is a cork-like background, but this one is a white color, rather than a darker caramel or chocolate color. Full Throttle then slapped their glossy, in-your-face logo in the dead center of the can. I haven't really tried a good Vanilla Coffee energy drink, so I'm going to predict a powerful vanilla flavor, with some robust Columbian coffee, and possibly some mocha chocolate in the background somewhere. I'm about ready to find out here, so let's check this one out.

I opened up the can really quickly and got a sweet vanilla aroma with some strong coffee, reminding me of the Monster Java Mean Bean, an awesome drink. The color is a dirty white, not gray, as if someone put a lot of white coloring in a regular coffee-brown color. The flavor of the Full Throttle Vanilla seems to be like drinking pure vanilla coffee creamer with a bit of Columbian Coffee mixed in. What I'm trying to say is that this drink is sweet. It has a lot more flavor than the Full Throttle Caramel, but I'm pretty sure this one will give me an even larger stomach ache, due to the amount of sugar. Out of curiousity, I glanced over behind the can and noticed 43g of sugar, too much for a coffee energy drink, in my mind. As tasty of a flavor it has, Full Throttle just about ruined it was all the excess sugar, hence bringing down the taste rating I'm going to give it. Its aftertaste is a smooth robust coffee flavor that's pretty impressive. I'm really surprised this Full Throttle isn't gummy, because with that much sugar, cream, and milk, any coffee energy drink is bound to be really gummy. After letting it set for a little while, I find that this coffee is much better at room temperature, rather than being chilled for a few days. Overall, it's another one of those drinks that it's too sweet for some, but that energy drink fans who love sweet drinks will go crazy for. For the people who don't thoroughly enjoy a sweet energy drink, you might want to stick with the Monster Java Mean Bean.

As for ingredients, Full Throttle Vanilla has coffee (Columbian, 100%), skim milk, sugar, cream, cellulose gel, natural flavors, taurine, sodium bicarbonate, ginseng, carrageenan, caffeine, and guarana. I like how all the coffee energy drinks out there on the market have a nice ingredients list, all the basic ingredients, plus carrageenan, milk, and cellulose gel. Per can, you get a massive 250 calories, which most of it comes from the cream and milk, and 45g of sugar. Although 45g isn't a lot compared to all the other energy drinks, it's a lot for a coffee energy drink, perhaps too much for my liking. It has 5g of protein, which I belive it comes from skim milk; unlike many other energy drinks that do not have protein because it uses reduced fat milk. In terms of energy, this Full Throttle has 1,123mg of taurine, 167mg of ginseng, 27mg of carnitine, and a measely 1.3mg of guarana. In another spot, I find the caffeine content, 126mg, not a lot, but that's because you also have the natural energy coming from the coffee bean. So if you think about it, you need a lot of taurine, caffeine, or guarana in a coffee energy drink. All in all, if you find one of these vanilla energy drinks, stow it in a pantry until you're ready to drink it, unless you really want a sweet beverage.

Taste: 8 - Not a bad vanilla flavor, but just too sweet for a coffee beverage
Kick: 8.6 - This line of Full Throttles pound a punch, when it comes to a kick
Overall: 8.3 - An interesting one to try, I think

Reviewed by: Chan