Wave Sugar Free

Wave is a brand I hadn't heard of until recently. With a stylish, yet simple can design, Wave claims to be the best tasting energy drink on the market today. That's not an easy thing to accomplish, and with my energy drink reviewing experience, I'll be the judge of that. With all natural flavors and some interesting ingredients, I'm expecting something different from Wave. However, as with many sugar free drinks, there's a bit of worry in me over the sweetness. Hopefully, Wave has created the best tasting sugar free energy drink on the market. I'm mostly clueless as to what flavor this will be. The only way to find out is to open it up.

Immediately after popping the top, I smell a rush of something soft and sweet, like strawberry. Taking it in at the opening, I smell less of the sweetness and, unfortunately, an unpleasant bitterness like vitamins. Wave enters my cup with a deep, clear crimson that's quite nice to look at. A big swig invites me to taste that same vague and rounded sweet flavor supported fairly well by the artificial sweeteners. Still, I cannot shake the bitter, vitamin taste. That's not a good sign. It's most prevalent when I take a whiff of the drink, though it's not as in my mouth. I feel bad saying it, but I wouldn't expect the best-tasting energy drink on the market to taste like this. Nor would I expect a brand which sponsors a car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup to taste like this. What is good about Wave, however, is that the artificial sweeteners haven't lost their sweetness, as they do sometimes. Topping off the can, I've proven to myself that Wave Sugar Free is by no means undrinkable, which is a good sign.

As you would expect, Wave contains Carbonated Water, Aspartame, Ace-K, and a dose of B-Vitamins. The rest of Wave's ingredient list is a bit nonstandard, with a few natural ingredients you don't see very often. First of these odd ingredients is Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, which is used to naturally give the drink a dark red. Next I see Elderberry Extract Concentrate. I'm not sure exactly what it's for, but it may be simply for flavor. Purple Sweet Potato is another fascinating ingredient, and it may be present for its color as well, or perhaps it's in here for the antioxidants. The last natural ingredient I see is Red Cabbage Juice Concentrate, which may also be for color or antioxidants. Wave's Proprietary Energy Blend is 2.28g of Taurine, Caffeine, Inositol, L-Lysine, Choline Bitartrate, and Guarana Extract. All of these I've heard of except for Choline Bitartrate. It turns out Choline is a very essential nutrient similar to B Vitamins that contributes to brain development and cognitive function. That's something I like to get from an energy drink, not just energy but lots of focus. Choline Bitartrate and L-Lysine, along with the B-Vitamins found in Wave provide just that. After drinking Wave, not only was I energetic, but I did have a great deal of concentration. That is definitely going to help Wave's score.

Taste: 6.2 - A vague strawberry-like flavor all but ruined by some kind of chalky vitaminy taste
Kick: 8.7 - One of the better boosts I've had from an energy drink, with plenty of focus.
Overall: 7.6 - I can't say this is the best-tasting energy drink on the market

Reviewed by: Jeff

Wave

About a week ago, a distributor from the energy drink company, Wave, offered to send samples of a rather new energy drink. Wave might jog your memory, as its logo is somewhat universal. It's the design on NASCAR driver Mike Bliss's car, and apparently they drive a sedan around with the logo of Wave stickered all around the car. I did a bit of snooping around on Wave's website, and I found out some cool facts: they use all natural flavors, they claim to have lower caffeine & carbonation, and have a Crimson appeal, for "sophistication." It's neat to see Wave post their ingredients list and nutrition facts on their site. Taking a glance, I quickly become alarmed at the sight of 300 calories, and 70 grams of sugar per can. After 100+ reviews, I can't say I've come across a 16 ounce can packed with that much. Nonetheless, I got to sample some Wave before I started this review, which I feel is crucial to accurately review the drink.

All right, so I break open the 16 ounce can, and immediately recognize the homey scent of a Monster clone. I understand I use the term heavily, though I feel it appertains to the situation, especially this one. The color is a beautiful light red/pink color, as I pour it out of the can and into a glass. I won't just judge until I try more, but so far, I find a basic cotton candy, apple, raspberry, and bubble gum, as an initial flavor. However, I'm impressed Wave literally meant lightly carbonated. It's got just enough carbonation to tingly the tip of your tongue, and just enough to allow you to chug without the uncomfortableness you usually get from other energy drinks or sodas. Getting to about halfway done with the drink, I find the flavor to be more dynamic than your average Monster clone, there's less bubble gum/cotton candy flavor, and more dry, wild berry flavor, while maintaining the same sweet and tartness. I hardly found a reason for the high amount of sugar, as this drink is hardly as sweet as I initially expected it to be, and is about as sweet as a Monster, if not less sweet. Overall, a good Monster Clone, but I don't think you're missing too much by picturing old Red Bull/Monster with some added dryness, and sweet-tartness.

Looking at the nutrition facts, there's about 300 calories and 70 grams of sugar per serving, like mentioned earlier in the review. There's about 1.14 grams of proprietary (energy) blend, which contains an undisclosed amount of taurine, caffeine, inositol, L-Lysine, Choline Bitartrate, and Guarana Seed. In one can, there's also carbonated water, sugar, dextrose, citric acid, sodium citrate, natural flavor, black carrot juice, Elderberry extract, purple sweet potato, L-Lysine, niacin, red cabbage juice, D-calcium pantothenate, pryidoxine hydrochloride, thiamin, and cyanocobalamin. A few uncommon ingredients in Wave, such as black carrot, elderberry, red cabbage, and purple sweet potato, all have something in common -- the color. Of course Wave doesn't use these ingredients much for flavoring, I believe, but instead to give it that beautiful, light crimson color. Wave delivered an interesting kick. It wasn't so much based on caffeine, but I felt the utilization of B vitamins to deliver a kick chock-full of alertness, and overall strength revamped in my body. When all is said and done, Wave has a generic Red Bull-like flavor, with just a few added twists, but I have to admit I enjoyed the kick more than anything.

Taste: 7. 5 - A basic bubble gum/berry/apple flavor with few variances
Kick: 8.4 - Fantastic kick, full not just of caffeine, but plenty of vitamins
Overall: 8 - Expect Wave to be a well-known company in the near future. Be sure and grab a can.

Reviewed by: Chan