So I tried an energy drink for the first time

RaikuFA

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My first thought? OH GOD THIS IS DISGUSTING HOW CAN PEOPLE ENJOY THIS?!?! I mean, I drink coffee so I feel there's a bit of hypocrisy in thinking that. Maybe its because I drink coffee for the taste but energy drinks are not to be enjoyed for their taste IMO. It just seems that it only sells for that "extreme" edge.

What do you think? Am I enjoying it wrong or is it it only sells because of the marketing?
 

MysticSlayer

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Energy drinks are like soda. You can't have a Diet Coke and declare all soda bad. There isn't some single taste universal across all types of soda. (Note: This also extends to the fact that most energy drinks are not meant to taste like soda, yet most seem to think they are.) Heck, you can't even have one brand of a root beer and guarantee it will be a good reference for all other brands. The same can be said of juice: You wouldn't judge orange juice based on tasting apple juice, and since I'm from Florida, I can also say that you shouldn't judge orange juice by what you normally get in the store.

In short, you've had one energy drink. Declaring them all disgusting seems a bit premature.

As for myself: I absolutely love Monster, particularly the standard and Assault (fruit punch) variants, and I often drink it for the taste alone. There's also a lesser-known brand called Joker (I think it is a store-specific brand) that is also really good. Red Bull is an acquired taste (though quickly acquired for me), and I do like their cranberry and blueberry flavors. That said, I don't generally drink Red Bull.

Beyond that, most energy drinks aren't great. Rockstar is absolutely disgusting, and only their fruit punch is bearable. (Side Note: I actually heard of a study where they tested energy drinks by flavor and energy. Both Monster and Red Bull did well in both categories, with Red Bull having the edge in energy and Monster having the edge in flavor. Rockstar failed miserably in both categories.) Amp would be good to anyone who likes Mountain Dew, and Nos is decent enough to tolerate, but I wouldn't recommend either. I've heard Full Throttle is awful.
 

Glongpre

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What's wrong with coffee? I drink black coffee occasionally for the taste.

It was your first one. Did you love coffee right away? I know I didn't. Somethings have an acquired taste.
 

RaikuFA

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MysticSlayer said:
Energy drinks are like soda. You can't have a Diet Coke and declare all soda bad. There isn't some single taste universal across all types of soda. Heck, you can't even have one brand of a root beer and guarantee it will be a good reference for all other brands. The same can be said of juice: You wouldn't judge orange juice based on tasting apple juice, and since I'm from Florida, I can also say that you shouldn't judge orange juice by what you normally get in the store.

In short, you've had one energy drink. Declaring them all disgusting seems a bit premature.

As for myself: I absolutely love Monster, particularly the standard and Assault (fruit punch) variants, and I often drink it for the taste alone. There's also a lesser-known brand called Joker (I think it is a store-specific brand) that is also really good. Red Bull is an acquired taste (though quickly acquired for me), and I do like their cranberry and blueberry flavors. That said, I don't generally drink Red Bull.

Beyond that, most energy drinks aren't great. Rockstar is absolutely disgusting, and only their fruit punch is bearable. (Side Note: I actually heard of a study where they tested energy drinks by flavor and energy. Both Monster and Red Bull did well in both categories, with Red Bull having the edge in energy and Monster having the edge in flavor. Rockstar failed miserably in both categories.) Amp would be good to anyone who likes Mountain Dew, and Nos is decent enough to tolerate, but I wouldn't recommend either. I've heard Full Throttle is awful.
Yeah I had a Red Bull. But I've never heard people say it's good for the taste. Just that "it's good".

Plus those health risks, there's a restraunt I know that throws around more salt than a religion and politics forum and just eating there once makes my heart do the drum opening for "Hot for Teacher", adding a energy drink to that will surely kill me.
 

MysticSlayer

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RaikuFA said:
Yeah I had a Red Bull. But I've never heard people say it's good for the taste. Just that "it's good".
I may be misunderstanding you, but hearing that "it's good" sounds like they enjoy the taste.

Plus those health risks, there's a restraunt I know that throws around more salt than a religion and politics forum and just eating there once makes my heart do the drum opening for "Hot for Teacher", adding a energy drink to that will surely kill me.
If your body can't handle it, don't drink it.

However, from what I've read, energy drinks are basically just a highly caffeinated soda (in terms of health). Probably not the best thing for you, but also nowhere near the scare some people drum up around them. They're still well below the recommended maximum daily intake of caffeine (even Monster, which has two servings in a can, is well below), and short-term concerns generally begin and end at not drinking too close to bed time, but that goes for any caffeinated beverage (including coffee and soda). As of right now, long-term effects appear to be minimal, so long as people don't drink it when their body can't handle it.

But just like alcohol, some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others. Granted, if caffeine is the main problem, might want to think twice about drinking coffee. Generally speaking, coffee actually has a higher caffeine concentration than energy drinks.
 

sanquin

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As said before, different energy drinks taste differently. Granted, most red bull knock-offs taste relatively the same. But there are other option like monster and mountain dew. (despite the name's negative connotations I like the lime taste mountain dew has.)

That being said, eh I like the redbull-like taste every now and then. Maybe the taste just isn't for you.
 

Scarim Coral

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The smell alone can steer me away from drinking them!

Even then I don't need the extra energy, rather I have the oppersite (I don't get enough good sleep).

By all means I understnad the purpose for drinking those. I have a coworker who can drink several of those in a day! She got two jobs, one being a hotel cleaner and the other being a sales assistant in retail and she has alot of work hours!

Also I heard from another co worker who try one and he was too wide awake to go to sleep!
 

votemarvel

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Energy drinks have no effect on me at all. A side effect of being given coffee as a nighttime drink when I was still in junior school I suppose.

I do quite like the taste of 'The Doctor' flavour that Monster bring out. The other chefs I work with mainline energy drinks and seem to get really buzzed off of them. They also seem shocked by how many spoons of coffee I have in my drink and still somehow seem tired.
 

Elfgore

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Which did you drink? Cause if it was like a Rockstar or something, then I understand completely why you hated it. First time I drank a Rockstar I spit it out because I thought I accidentally drank piss.

My two favorites and what I'd recommend are Amp and Monster, all flavored of course. The original are pretty meh. Amp Cherry is very good and pretty much the only one I can enjoy of that. For monster Khaos and Assault are amazing. Khaos is orange flavored and I can't even describe Assault.
 

SweetShark

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Dude.
Leave the coffe out of this Thread.
Coffe is our Lord and Savior which make us Awake to our dificult crucial hours.

That all. I don't drink energy drinks, so I don't know what kind of Enemy our Coffe God will face in the future.
 

Secondhand Revenant

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Lol, this reminds me of when a friend opened a can of Monster around me. The smell alone was kind of off putting...
 

Addendum_Forthcoming

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I can drink coffee. Those energy drinks give me heart palpitations, however. I'm not sure of the appeal myself as I have a friend say they give him heartburn. Still fucking drinks it. I might forgive them if it tasted nice. When I ran a bar, one of the more popular drinks asked of the help was Red Bull and vodka. Each time I heard the order I felt like slapping them.

Tasteless crap.
 

DoPo

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RaikuFA said:
It just seems that it only sells for that "extreme" edge.
Some people do actually like the taste, however, you're still correct - the only reason energy drinks even have popularity is because they are advertised as "extreme".

But here's the thing - they aren't. It's a slightly carbonated water with some sweetener, flavouring and caffeine. The rest of the ingredients are pretty much negligible in terms of effect - both because they aren't really that effective and because the amount put is pretty low anyway.

Some people mistakenly assume that energy drinks are so chock full of caffeine that they...dunno, do miracles. Well, that's also wrong. A can of Red Bull[footnote]and most other energy drinks as well, since most are just Red Bull ripoffs[/footnote] has 32mg of caffeine per 100ml. How much is that? Well, a can is 250ml, so that's a total of 80mg caffeine per can. Monster, which comes in 500ml cans, contains 160mg of caffeine. A normal cup of coffee usually contains between 90 and 200mg caffeine. It depends on the size of the cup and the strength of the brew but still - if want caffeine it's easier to just make yourself a bigger mug of coffee.

And that's...pretty much all of the "energy" part of the energy drinks.
 

visiblenoise

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I have never had an energy drink that I thought tasted horrible. What sorts of things are people comparing them to? Milkshakes? Because you cannot disagree that all energy drinks taste significantly better than cough medicine, for example, so they cannot be horrible.
 

Cowabungaa

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Amen brother, I stay far away from that shit. To try to stay awake when I'm tired I rely on pure grit and when the need is real dire (when I'm at my local geek-pub) I get some strong, black coffee. It's pretty terrible for you anyway so I'm not missing anything.
MysticSlayer said:
In short, you've had one energy drink. Declaring them all disgusting seems a bit premature.
To be fair, I've tried about five or six brands and so far they've all tasted like a chemistry lab dumped in a can. Notably Monster. There was this one kid in my first year of university who insisted on sitting next to me and opening a 500ml can every Friday morning. Dear lord that smell.