Illicit Cola made by Demon Energy is a cola drink with some deep dark secret ingredients from deep in the “darkest recesses of South America” and now available to you in New Zealand.

With their  girl about to kiss a girl, while a guy watches, suggestive website and a big as slogan “It’s good to be bad“,  I’m not sure what they’re selling, but I feel dirty none-the-less.

Taste

Ah…this is a hard one…Cola, seems to come to mind. Illicit isn’t as good as Coke, but has  good cola flavor with some other taste thrown in I couldn’t quite place. Wait, that must be the deep, dark secret ingredient!

Ingredient

Ok, I’ll cut to the chase. The sercet ingredient from South America is Yerba Mate which is why the flavor is slightly tweaked from standard cola. That’s really it and the caffeine content isn’t disclosed.

Effect

Illicit isn’t an energy drink, but a higher caffeinated soda. Something in this drink made my throat and esophagus feel strange which could have been the yerba mate as I haven’t had many drinks with that ingredient in it.

Verdict

Not a bad product as far as cola drinks are concerned, but Illicit in my opinion has gone a little overboard with the marketing of this drink. Come on, It’s just cola with yerba mate in it. It’s not illegal, forbidden, disapproved, unlicensed, or rebellious as the can defines.

The pathogen they have taken to get here has been an interesting one spattered with creative innovation.

Was Blood Energy Potion a successful transfusion made from their positive old ways?  Or have they been engorged by a negative influence?

Taste

Once you get past the initial frenzied rush of images and emotions from the donor’s entire life history, things smooth out nicely.  If fruit punch could curdle without losing its taste, it would be in the same consistency arena as Blood Potion.  As you sip from the bag’s surrogate teet for your nourishment, the liquid clumsily proliferates through your mouth without conviction.  If it weren’t for the sweetly satisfying fruit punch flavor, I’d assume it’s the real thing I’m drinking.

Ingredients

Swimming amongst plasma is the “similar nutritional content to natural blood.”  This makes sense considering that Blood Energy Potion contains caffeine just like my own blood (80mg).  Filling out the rest of the energy blend is a bunch of randomly spelled words with hyphens tossed in to make them sound professional.  Just like Mana Potion which Harcos started with, Blood Potion is also packing an enzyme blend.

Effect

Not being a vampire, I knew that the only way for me to experience Blood Energy Potion would be to introduce it to my own bloodstream via IV drip.  Unfortunately, it seems Harcos had a problem in their production process as the bag’s connection does not properly fit my IV accessories.  I’ve had to settle with drinking it instead, and this only yielded a mild energizing effect for me.  It’s obvious that my mortal digestive system is keeping me from extracting the nutritional value, so I cannot make a solid claim here.

Verdict

From mortal to mortal, I have to say Blood Potion is not for you.  From mortal to hopeless vampire scene wannabe, Blood Energy Potion is exactly what ales your aching artificial fangs.  From mortal to true vampire, I have to say be careful with Blood Potion.  I understand for many it’s effective enough to retire you from the hunt and many have lost century-long relationships with their partners in harvest.

Vampires in the USA can get there Blood fix from ThinkGeek.

UK vampires can transfuse from The Geekest Link.

Reviewed by Dusty Smith

What makes our Caffeine Diet plan unique, you ask? Well, with our plan you not only can lose weight, but lose any desire for sleep as well.

As with any diet plan consult your physician before starting. I can just see her face now when you tell her you’re starting the Caffeine Diet.

Caffeine Diet Basics

Our plan is simple just follow this menu and watch as the sleep sheds away. Now with all that extra time and energy, you may even find time to go to the gym or maybe your sitting aerobic heart rate will do the work for you.

Sample Meal Plan

Pros

• No sleep needed with the caffeine diet.
• Get your work done in 1/3 the time.
• Have conversations in 1/8 of the time.
• Lose weight while resting with an aerobic heart rate.
• Build caffeine tolerance.
• Possibility of seeing dead relatives.

Cons

• Possibility of seeing scary dead relatives.
• Heart palpitations.
• Huge caffeine withdrawal headache when you complete the caffeine diet.
• You may have to get a second job to pay for all the caffeinated products, but  hey, you can work nights since you don’t need sleep!

Conclusions

What are you waiting for? Get started today with the Caffeine Diet from Energy Fiend.  By the way, this post was meant to be a joke so if you take it seriously, I have some ocean front property in Sheboygan to sell you.

It seems Alcoholic energy drinks (premixed) are on the chopping block this time. I know the FDA thinks they are on a mission to save human kind and all, but this measure seems a little silly to me.

Alcohol/ Energy drink hybrids were born out of the already popular Red Bull mixed drinks. Companies just decided to premix what was being highly demanded in clubs and bars. On energy fiend we’ve already covered this debate on how caffeine allows people to drink more, but I would argue people have always done a good job of drinking more with or without caffeine.

Besides, people can still order a Red Bull and Vodka at the club or still mix the two at home, so the only thing this will eliminate is convenience. America is becoming such a nanny state who seems to focus on these petty issues when a blind eye is turned to the real problems facing American society.

The whole controversy stems over the fact that teens are consuming these hybrid energy drinks……. So call me crazy, but shouldn’t the focus be on how these teens are getting alcoholic energy drinks in the first place? Once again punishing all of society for the irresponsible actions of a few.

Reckless Energy Shot is yet another shot to take a stab at getting some of New Zealand’s energy dollars. This 70ml shot promises to give me 6 hours of energy and encourages me to GO HARD or go home so I’ll be typing as hard as I can and then I’ll go home.

Taste

I threw back the orange blitz flavor of Reckless and it was pretty typical for a shot. It was sweet and orange with the not so pleasant artificial sweetener aftertaste. Wasn’t bad though, but of course the shot market isn’t known for awesome tasting products.

Ingredients

Reckless gets some kudos in this category because many of the shots I’ve reviewed here offer caffeine, taurine, and not much else. This shot gives you 2075mg of energy including 125mg of caffeine, 2500% of B6, and 833% of your daily B12. Among the other standard energy ingredients, Reckless energy shot gives you an enzyme blend.

Effect

This is where things can get interesting as there is debate on which is better; more caffeine or more B vitamins? Although Reckless only has 125mg of caffeine, I definitely feel pretty good after drinking it and I am typing HARD! I would say the energy is better than the NOS shot I reviewed a few weeks ago that boasted 250mg of caffeine, but no B6 or B12.

Verdict

If they would just get rid of the artificial sweetener as V Pocket Rocket did,  Reckless would be a top notch product. Will it last for 6 hours, well maybe for someone who has no caffeine tolerance, but the verdicts still out since I had mine an hour ago. So yeah, give it a go as Reckless energy shot is one of the better shots in the Southern Hemisphere.

Who cares, they passed up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to call them Buzz Nutz.  Say it out loud.  Buzz Nutz.  Rarely do circumstances align so perfectly, and these jokesters went with Hyper-Nutz.

Fine, I’ll get on with the review.  Just know I’m disappointed from the start.

Taste

So how do you feel about almonds?  Ecstatic?  Sorrowful?  Aroused?  Hostile?  If you’re like me, you can say, “all of the above.”  That’s normal, right?  Hyper-Nutz are in fact energized almonds.  When it comes down to taste, you’ll never know they’ve been tampered with.  Hyper-Nutz are simply put, great tasting almonds.  Flavor varieties check in as Honey, Salted, and Sweet Onion.  Sweet Onion be my fav.

Ingredients

Aside almonds supposedly offering substantial energy naturally (protein), added is caffeine, taurine, ginseng and lysine.  How much of each you ask?  The nutrition label covers no such topic and my hails to the company have gone unanswered.

Effect

What exactly did you expect to find here?  A bag of explosive almonds that will trigger a Level 5 reality meltdown?  No, I believe you came here expecting to find that Hyper-Nutz are just another sadly underpowered energy food.  Well, guess what?!!  You’re wrong!!  Ok, I’m sorry you’re right.  Hyper-Nutz won’t do much of anything for the average caffeinated consumer.  I just felt bad about confirming the boring expectations.

Verdict

If there’s an almond lover in you somewhere, then you’ll invariably enjoy what Hyper-Nutz has to offer.  Snacked on alongside a Mountain Dew or the equivalent, you may even be lucky enough to feel something happy.

Outside of those states of affairs, I have some gripes directed straight towards the makers of Hyper-Nutz:  Guys (and/or girls), find a new packing method and fix your website.  I got so frustrated trying to open one of these bags that I almost killed a cat.  You know what else irks the average consumer, including me?  Website landing pages that blast sound without warning or choice.  Quite inconsiderate.    And oh, answer your emails.

Reviewed by Dusty Smith

Since then this post has received over 190 comments from mostly those who have experienced some type of adverse reaction to caffeine.

I have painstakingly sifted through all those comments and have derived the top 20 caffeine allergic reactions in order from most common to least common. Note that this is entirely anecdotal evidence so don’t take it as gospel, but rather consider these caffeine allergy symptoms as possible since they were reported by a number of people.

Also, there is a fine line between caffeine sensitivity and allergy, but overall we’re dealing with the body not being able to correctly process the caffeine molecule so whether you want to call that sensitivity or allergy it’s up to you. In most cases these symptoms were reported after only having a little to moderate amount of caffeine.

1. Skin problems such as hives, eczema, rashes, acne, severe itching.
2. Headaches/ migraines.
3. Anxiety and panic attacks.
4. Can’t focus or concentrate
5. Tongue, glands, or throat swelling.
6. Heart racing/ palpitations.
7. Angry, irritable, bad mood.
8. Fatigue.
9. Dizziness.
10. Extreme jitters.
11. Chest Pain.
12. Depression.
13. Numbness in face, hands, or feet.
14. Muscle pain.
15. Shortness of breath/ tightness of chest.
16. Delusions/ hallucinations.
17. Flu/ cold like symptoms.
18. Vision problems.
19. Cold sweats.
20. Eyes swollen shut.

Most people reported several of the above symptoms and some of the caffeine allergy symptoms were quite bizarre. The ones that take the cake were itchy ears and anus suffered by one poor soul and a sweaty butt crack reported by another……..

As energy fiend wrote earlier, Monster has teamed up with DUB magazine to create a drink marketed to the custom car enthusiast.

So did the #2  leader in energy drinks outdo themselves with their recent creation of a custom energy drink?

Taste

Not in a long time have I been so excited to get my taste buds on a  new drink, yet Monster Dub got me there.  So I took the can, popped off the plastic rim, and pressed my lips to the can.  I slowly poured the contents down my throat, and then began a roller coaster of flavor.  As the icy cold liquid hit my mouth, I tasted grape,(ok not bad, another grape drink), yet as it slid past each taste bud I caught a hint of the original Monster, especially in the aftertaste.  Many different feelings and tastes within one can, not sure how they do it, but I enjoyed it!

Ingredients

As with most energy drink, you get your normal ingredients, yet Monster Dub amped up with an extra helping to get you through the day, and night, and probably the following day as well if your a lightweight.  4000 mg of taurine, 800 mg Guarana and a healthy dose of B vitamins.

Effect

To be honest, the Monster drink line doesn’t give me the boost I’m looking for, (maybe just becoming immune) and was slightly disappointed in the boost from DUB.  Don’t get me wrong, It had a little energy buzz, yet only lasted about an hour or 2.  Nothing to get excited about.

Verdict

In my eyes Monster DUB fits right in line with the rest of the family of Monster drinks.  The Taste was there and pleasing, yet the kick was lackluster.  So if you’re a fan of the other Monster drinks, then you will be pleased with DUB, but if Monster isn’t your thing, then save your cash and gamble on another drink.

If you want to try Monster DUB you better act fast because it’s not listed on Monster’s new website so it most likely won’t be around for long. Maybe buy two cans one to drink and one to sell 10 years from now on ebay.

Reviewed by Brandon Trouten

The infamous original flavour that tasted like nothing original at all and of course the Orange flavour that I spent most of childhood downing. This drink, however, unlike the other two had a very definitive taste and aroma.

Taste

So I cracked open a Lucozade Cherry and gave it a good sniff.  As with wine, if energy drinks smell fowl then they normally taste the same. When I did this I got a strong waft of cherry and it reminded me instantly of Cherry Drops and cherry cough sweets. Although a little bit overpowering at first, I took a good long gulp and was pleasantly surprised. It tasted like it smelled. It was like drinking cherry jam which is a really nice feeling to be honest.

The taste itself was really rather sweet and if you lack the sweet tooth this isn’t a drink for you. After finishing the first one, I went straight onto the next and downed that pretty quickly as well and I have to say by this point the taste was getting a little overbearing. I don’t think it’s a drink that can be had in to large a quantity. As with any quick succession of drinks the ensuing belching tasted like cherry ice cream which was pleasant, I guess, but really got on my nerves as it started to make me feel some what queasy.

Now I’m not saying this is the effect that everyone will get,  but I drank Lucozade Cherry like I do after a rugby match which is to just down a couple and I’m good to go. I have to say this had a different effect on me. It was a lot harder to stomach the sweetness in comparison to the other flavours as an after sport drink.

Ingredients

Lucozade Cherry doesn’t have much to brag about in this category, basically glucose, vitamin c and 46mg of caffeine per 380ml bottle.

Feeling

Well apart from the sickly feeling mentioned above (due to my own fault), it gave the same boost as the good old Lucozade  Energy did. There’s nothing different or special in this one ingredient wise. The steady flow of sugar into my system brought me back up to par after going for a run as have all other Lucozade’s in the past.

Verdict

I’m not a massive fan of cherries, but I felt it was my duty to try this drink out and I have to say I really liked it. I think in my mind it serves a different purpose to the other Lucozades. This one isn’t a drink you down at the end of a game, it’s something you drink over a long period of time and savour the sweet taste. Although Lucozade Cherry’s not a drink for me in its own right, I reckon it’s something a lot of people will like and something people should defiantly try.

I was stoked to see Rockstar Punched Guava in New Zealand stores because of the great review Dusty gave it a little while ago.

However, upon closer examination I discovered that it has a different formulation and not in the good way.

The can did create quite a bit of attention as I was sitting at the cafe eating lunch. People seemed to be amazed and strangely drawn to the huge, purple 500ml can sitting on the table.

Rockstar Energy has established a separate Australian Division to their Company and unfortunately for us has to adjust their drinks to conform to the caffeine regulations in AUS and NZ.

Taste

The good news is Rockstar Punched Guava has pretty much the same taste Dusty raved about. From the first sip I new that it was a winner and with later gulps, I had to remind myself that I was drinking an energy drink…Yes, it is that good! Completely void of any mediciney taste whatsoever.

The only complaint about Rockstar Punched Guava would be that I found it a tad too sweet. It was great at first, but towards the end of the can the 83.5 grams of sugar was making my teeth hurt.

Ingredients

Ok, here’s the sad part. This version of Rockstar Guava only has 160mg of caffeine per 500ml while in the USA this energy drink has 254mg/500ml. Also, the down under version has no milk thistle. As for the rest of the ingredients they appear to be the same.

Effect

I’m sure you know the feeling, you have just eaten lunch and now you’re back to work fighting to stay awake at your desk, right? Well, drinking Rockstar Punched Guava with my lunch completely annihilated my desire for a siesta. I’m not crazy energized, but feel pretty motivated.

Verdict

My number one drink in New Zealand used to be Rockstar Juiced, but then last week Demon Killa Troppo toppled it from its throne. Now it seems I have a new contender in Rockstar Punched Guava. I guess it might come down to price when I’m forced to decide between the two.