I first want to say sorry it took me so long to get this review in. I've had this drink since June and I guess I just totally left it in the dust, caught up with all the other energy drinks I've been finding lately. I especially want to apologize to Evan, for supplying us with these coffee energy drinks, who has been patiently waiting for me to review the final Starbucks drink out of their newer three released a few months ago. I know Jeff wasn't very happy with this line of energy drinks at all and I thought so far they weren't bad, just nothing too special. Coffee flavor tends to be a bit 'plain' if you will, so you won't see companies label a flavor as just 'coffee', however for some reason Starbucks did. This shows that I can potentially get a flavor that's dull, generalized, and somewhat lame that doesn't have enough sweetness. If I explained it correctly, you now know why coffee/energy drink companies come out with flavors based on coffee, rather than just a regular coffee. Right now, I'm hoping Starbucks can prove my point wrong and amaze me with a flavor different than a boring coffee drink. The can design is perhaps the best of the these Starbucks drinks being streaks of coffee mixed in with a dark chocolate brown and a few other shades like milk chocolate and iced coffee brown. I like that background; it has to be one of my favorites.
As I break the tab and bend it forward, the top of the can disperses a pretty strong scent, being a general artificially robust coffee aroma. Actually, it doesn't really smell like coffee, now that I'm getting more whiffs of it. The Starbucks Coffee delivers a hue that's basic, milky brown color with very little darkness mixed in. It's flavor has to be the worst coffee flavor I've ever had. Not only is it not sweet enough, but it's so artificially sweet that it's unbearable and a bit bitter. It has that fake robustness coffee energy drinks try to add. I'm questioning Starbucks in my head, "From such a large coffee enterprise, wouldn't you expect a better quality coffee energy drink?" I guess the flavor in general is a starting artificial, weak, lame coffee flavor and ends with a more intense note of artificialness and a fake version of robust coffee beans. As much as I hate to mention something personal on this blog, I must: this drink nearly made me throw up, and right now my stomach is in more pain than any other energy drink I've tried, sugar free or not. Right now, I frankly don't care what it's sweetened with and how gummy it is because Starbucks already screwed up the whole drink in terms of being sweet, not sweet, etc. About 8 ounces into it, I can easily say that I'm finished with this drink. Email me if you want the rest and I can send it right away. Just kidding. Overall, I say that I've never seen this much abuse to such a valuable and meaningful flavor in the energy drink community.
The ingredients in this wannabe energy coffee are Starbucks coffee (Filtered water, coffee), reduced fat milk, skim milk, sugar, natural flavor, maltodextrin, dextrose, taurine, cellulose gel, L-Carnitine, ginseng, cellulose gum, inositol, Vitamin C, guarana, niacin, Sucralose, Vitamin A, B Vitamins, and caramel color. Hm I know they didn't go wrong with the Starbucks Brand coffee, because that stuff is pretty good, but I do see hidden sugars and unnecessary ingredients. There's reduced fat milk and skim milk, most coffee energy drinks do not need both. there's also a combination of sucrose, maltodextrin, dextrose, and Sucralose. I would only establish sugars that are needed in a coffee, not added in for extra artificial and unappetizing sweetness like Sucralose and maltodextrin. There's an upside to this drink, the kick. The kick is formulated with guarana, ginseng, caffeine (From the coffee), and B Vitamins. I have a good 5-6 ounces left and I can definitely say that I'm more alert. Per can, you get 210 calories, 26g of sugar. and 12g of protein. From what I'm seeing, this drink can be improved by putting more real sugar into the mix, hence giving it a better sweetness and overall imroving the taste. All in all, I can't say I enjoyed this coffee energy drink at all, and until the next energy drink company makes their line of coffee energy drinks, I'm done.
Taste: 3 - The overall flavor was mostly artificial with fake robustness added in, a shame to energy coffees
Kick: 8 - I can't say many bad things about the kick
Overall: This line of Starbucks energy drinks are overpriced and not good for the money, I'd stick with Rockstar Roasted or Java Monster for now
Reviewed by: Chan
As I break the tab and bend it forward, the top of the can disperses a pretty strong scent, being a general artificially robust coffee aroma. Actually, it doesn't really smell like coffee, now that I'm getting more whiffs of it. The Starbucks Coffee delivers a hue that's basic, milky brown color with very little darkness mixed in. It's flavor has to be the worst coffee flavor I've ever had. Not only is it not sweet enough, but it's so artificially sweet that it's unbearable and a bit bitter. It has that fake robustness coffee energy drinks try to add. I'm questioning Starbucks in my head, "From such a large coffee enterprise, wouldn't you expect a better quality coffee energy drink?" I guess the flavor in general is a starting artificial, weak, lame coffee flavor and ends with a more intense note of artificialness and a fake version of robust coffee beans. As much as I hate to mention something personal on this blog, I must: this drink nearly made me throw up, and right now my stomach is in more pain than any other energy drink I've tried, sugar free or not. Right now, I frankly don't care what it's sweetened with and how gummy it is because Starbucks already screwed up the whole drink in terms of being sweet, not sweet, etc. About 8 ounces into it, I can easily say that I'm finished with this drink. Email me if you want the rest and I can send it right away. Just kidding. Overall, I say that I've never seen this much abuse to such a valuable and meaningful flavor in the energy drink community.
The ingredients in this wannabe energy coffee are Starbucks coffee (Filtered water, coffee), reduced fat milk, skim milk, sugar, natural flavor, maltodextrin, dextrose, taurine, cellulose gel, L-Carnitine, ginseng, cellulose gum, inositol, Vitamin C, guarana, niacin, Sucralose, Vitamin A, B Vitamins, and caramel color. Hm I know they didn't go wrong with the Starbucks Brand coffee, because that stuff is pretty good, but I do see hidden sugars and unnecessary ingredients. There's reduced fat milk and skim milk, most coffee energy drinks do not need both. there's also a combination of sucrose, maltodextrin, dextrose, and Sucralose. I would only establish sugars that are needed in a coffee, not added in for extra artificial and unappetizing sweetness like Sucralose and maltodextrin. There's an upside to this drink, the kick. The kick is formulated with guarana, ginseng, caffeine (From the coffee), and B Vitamins. I have a good 5-6 ounces left and I can definitely say that I'm more alert. Per can, you get 210 calories, 26g of sugar. and 12g of protein. From what I'm seeing, this drink can be improved by putting more real sugar into the mix, hence giving it a better sweetness and overall imroving the taste. All in all, I can't say I enjoyed this coffee energy drink at all, and until the next energy drink company makes their line of coffee energy drinks, I'm done.
Taste: 3 - The overall flavor was mostly artificial with fake robustness added in, a shame to energy coffees
Kick: 8 - I can't say many bad things about the kick
Overall: This line of Starbucks energy drinks are overpriced and not good for the money, I'd stick with Rockstar Roasted or Java Monster for now
Reviewed by: Chan
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