Arizona Green Tea Pomegranate Lite

You thought the Arizona energy drink reviews were over, but no. There's one more Chan and I have yet to review, the Arizona Green Tea Pomegranate Lite. I've never known green tea and pomegranate to be a good combination, but perhaps they are. Maybe the earthiness of both blends well together. I don't know; I'm not the expert. What I do know is that I've seen the two flavors paired before in herbal teas and I suppose it's a common mix. What I'm wondering about is whether this drink will have pomegranate juice or rather is simply brewed with pomegranate. A quick scan of the ingredients reveals "pomegranate and apple juices from concentrate." I suppose that's a good thing, but it might mean less pomegranate flavor than straight pomegranate juice. I don't blame Arizona, however; pomegranate is not cheap. Above the nutrition facts, it reads 5% juice, which I'm thinking could be misleading since maybe that juice is concentrated. I'm interested in observing the pom flavor.

I popped the top open without haste and waited for a smell. The smell isn't the strongest I've smelled, but it's quite pungent for a tea. The smell is sweet, leafy green tea mixed delightfully with fruity pomegranate juice. What comes to my mind early is that this smells a bit too luscious to be pomegranate. It turns out the apple in the mix adds nicely to the pomegranate, making it smell much fuller. When I pour this out, I'm expecting a nice amber color with a tinge of pink, buy it turns out Arizona goes all out with a dark, rosy hue. The first sip makes me happy, being crisp and sweet and luscious, but not too sweet, which is a very good thing. It seems either the 18g of sugar is enough or there's some sugar in the pomegranate and apple concentrates, which I had never really considered. No matter, the flavor has lots of presence, tasting like luscious pomegranate-apple juice with no bitterness and a hint of woody green tea. I think it tastes better because of that nice rounded, yet crisp honey sweetness taste. Along with that, there's a small amount of carbonation that leaves the drink early on and the gumminess never becomes a problem. Though this tastes sugary, I know it's not, since 18g is nothing. I can call this a winner, since it's natural, tastes good for what's in it, and apparently is chocked full of antioxidants. If you're a fan of Arizona, I'd advise you to pick one up.

I'm not experienced with Arizona's energy blend, or their "performance blend," but at a glance, it looks pretty nice. 80mg of Caffeine per serving closely matches that of Red Bull, and the Taurine content is at the standard 2000mg per can. All else, including, Panax Ginseng, Inositol, Guarana, and Glucuronolactone is set at 100mg per serving, 200 per can, and it looks like Milk Thistle is thrown in at a measurement of 70mg total. As for vitamins, I'm not so impressed, seeing Calcium, Iron, and Vitamin A listed, but at 0% amounts, which is odd. Usually, you want to specify what is in your drink, not what's not. However, I see 100% total of your daily Vitamin C in the whole can as well as 200% total of Pantothenic Acid (Calcium Pantothenate, B5), Vitamin B6, and B12. The rest of the ingredients are Premium Brewed Green Tea Using Filtered Water, Sucrose, Pomegranate and Apple Juices From Concentrate, Orange Blossom Honey, Malic Acid, Vegetable Juice, Citric Acid, Monopotassium Phosphate, and Sucralose. This seems to be a slightly odd ingredients list. For the first time ever, I see "Vegetable Juice," which I certainly say is a good sign or bad. Also, I don't like to see Sucralose, especially in a tea drink. Though I didn't taste it in the drink cold, I now taste its presence and I feel it doesn't belong in this sort of drink. But no matter, with only 140 calories, it's a decent low-calorie choice tea energy drink. I'm not absolutely crazy about it, but it definitely is worth a try.

Taste: 7.8 - Favorable crisp, honey-like pomegranate-apple green tea
Kick: 7.2 - Nowhere near Monster, but gives some nice jitteriness and alertness
Overall: 7.8 - I can't say anything against this drink

Reviewed by: Jeff

Rush! Lite

Here's a plain example of something I sometimes call a dollar store drink. Rush! Energy Drink Lite. What gives it away has to be the crude can design. The bold, bland, cheesy font above the generic red woodgrain background makes me think it was made in paint or something. Typically, a label like this, printed in English and Spanish, is a sign of a generic, lame energy drink. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a drink nonetheless, and I'm in the mood, since it's been a long day, and I need something to cool me down and perk me up at the same time. I chose the Rush! Lite because I'm feeling like something sugar-free and it's rumored that it has a strawberry flavor, which I could go for. I'm going to find out.

I've missed that sound, the loud pop of an aluminum can. That first smell is lovely, with a very luscious yet also natural strawberry, almost like strawberry ice cream. The smell doesn't quite radiate, but stays near the top. I take a small sip and I can tell there's lots of flavor there, but quite a bit of carbonation and the taste of the sucralose which is undoubtedly in here is masking it. What I can tell is underneath is a semi-artificial strawberry that tastes like it belongs in a strawberry hard candy. When you're swallowing, that flavor essentially disappears and there's lots of sourness tingling down your throat, which I'm betting is because it's meant to hide the bitter energy ingredients. What's bad about this drink is the flavor of the strawberry gets subtler and harder to notice with every sip and it's quite gummy. The drink itself actually seems pretty think and it gives you that "soda or juice teeth" feeling, which is uncomfortable, because you want something that is clean and fresh, not muddy. Also, it's very noticable how the carbonation robs your tongue of surface area with which to taste the strawberry. And as with all drinks sweetened with sucralose, there's that phenomenon dealing with the drink not tasting sweet after about a quarter of the can, though it's holding up relatively well. I can't say I'd recommend this at all. Unless you like spending half your time coping with a gummy mouth from an unsweet and heavily carbonated drink.

It's taken me a while to finish this drink, which, as you should know, impacts the effect of the energy ingredients. What this drink has done so far is provide some alertness, which is good, but not enough from a 16oz energy drink. And even though, I have a suspicion it's just because I drank something, not necessarily because of what's in here. I would say I've almost got enough energy to get up and go for a jog with no trouble, but something in the drink denies me that ability by making my stomach upset just a bit. Actually, it's getting better, but it's never good when a drink makes you sick to your stomach, even just while you start drinking. After finishing this whole thing, now, I can't say I have heaps of energy, but I do feel much awareness and some nice vitality. I think that's because of the l-carnitine. I've read that it's necessary for the breakdown of lipids to produce metabolic energy. That's a great thing to put in an energy drink, definitely, because, as I'm finishing this up, some real nice energy is making my legs restless. As for the rest of the energy ingredients, there's taurine, which does absolutely nothing, d-glucuronolactone, caffeine, Choline, and Inositol, making up for a combined 2901mg of energy blend. Along with that, just like almost all drinks, are an array of vitaimins: C, Niacin, B6, B12, and Pantothenic Acid, all 100% or above per serving, which is exceptional. The rest includes carbonated water, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, sodium benzoate, ascorbic acid, potassium sorbate, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, red 40 and EDTA. Ah, I was close, but not quite correct. The sweeteners are in fact sucralose and acesulfame potassium, or "ace-k." Though I can't say this is the best energy drink in terms of flavor or kick, some of the ingredients I did like. However, by no means do I think it's worth drinking for a relatively weak kick in relation to many other drinks.

Taste: 5.5 - Almost nasty, very artificial-tasting and highly carbonated strawberry
Kick: 7.2 - I liked the focus and vitality, but I'd rather get that from a Vitamin Energy
Overall: 6.3 - Not worth the money, even 60 cents

Reviewed by: Jeff