Energy Drinks

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Pos.	Year	Brand	Flavor	Tasting Notes
2	1	2023	Bang	Peach Mango	Acidic note up front, gives way to sweetness immediately. Sweetness is stronger and lingers, but not overpowering.
3	2	2023	Monster	Rehab Strawberry Lemonade	Two main flavors start out very distinct from one another, then merge together in a really pleasing way.
4	3	2023	ZOA	Cherry Limeade	Artificial cherry flavor hangs a bit on the back end. Mildly acidic with an underlying bitterness, but sweetness is PERFECTLY on point.
5	4	2024	Alani Nu	Cherry Twist	You know I'm a sucker for a good cherry limeade, and this is one of those. Good cherry flavor without going full cough syrup, and the strong carbonation plays well with the citrus. Sweetness is on point, seems sweeter after the carbonation has died down a bit.
6	5	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade	Really delightful. Sweet and tart in all the right ways, although the tartness does hit a little hard at the start. Flavor thins out on the back end, almost like there's actual fruit in it.
7	6	2023	Monster	Rehab Tea + Lemonade	Non-carbonated and completely enjoyable. Good balance of acidity and sweetness. Artificial sweeteners are masked incredibly well.
8	7	2024	Bang	Lemon Drop Sweet Ice Tea	Sweetness is well balanced, with subtle lemon flavor. Sweetener tastes just the slightest bit phony, but not unpleasant. Remarkably smooth, reminds me very much of AriZona's Arnold Palmer.
9	8	2024	Monster	Rehab Green Tea	Light earthy tea flavor with a hint of tartness and a good medium degree of sweetness. Refreshingly simple and eminently drinkable.
10	9	2024	Monster	Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red	Good grapefruit flavor. Just sweet enough, and pleasantly tart. Faint bitterness, but it's mostly overpowered and smoothed out by the sweetness.
11	10	2024	Monster	Juice Mango Loco	Full-sugar drink. Manages to cram in fruit juice, sugar, glucose, AND sucralose but avoids being cloyingly sweet. Good burst of fruit flavor with lower carbonation. Very sippable and doesn't dry me out.
12	11	2024	Monster	Rehab Wild Berry Tea	Tastes very similar to Monster Rehab Tea + Lemonade — the berry taste doesn't have much presence here, and if I hadn't seen the can, I wouldn't have registered this as a different flavor. It IS slightly less acidic, so it ranks a little higher for me personally.
13	12	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Lemon Lime	Worlds better than I expected. Crisp and sharp, with a strong citrus bite on the front end. Sweetness on the back lingers a bit, but it's smooth and not chemical-tasting. For my money, better than 7up or Sprite.
14	13	2023	Celsius	Essentials Orangesicle	Strong orange flavor up front. Solid cream/vanilla taste on the back end, with a fruitiness that helps break up the flavor and makes it more interesting. Sweetness is perfect. Just genuinely VERY good.
15	14	2024	Monster	Reserve Orange Dreamsicle	Full-sugar drink. Really good orange and cream flavors that both come across well. Taste sort of drops off on the back end, but my only real hangup is the sugar content and calorie count.
16	15	2024	Sprecher	Charged Lemonade	Full-sugar drink. Just sweet enough with light fizz and good tart contrast.
17	15.1	2023	Celsius	Peach Vibe	Clean and smooth taste throughout. Sweetener doesn't taste of chemicals, and overall quite good, but simple.
18	16	2024	Monster	Juice Papillon	Full-sugar drink. VERY lightly carbonated, with a good smooth peach flavor. Sweetness is more than you'd think, but not overpowering. Slight tartness. Overall very pleasant and mild.
19	17	2024	Rockstar	Recovery Lemonade	Non-carbonated lemonade, simply smooth with a good balance of sour and sweet. No detracting notes or aftertastes.
20	18	2024	Reign	Storm Citrus Zest	Orange and grapefruit flavor hits immediately with a punch. Sweeter than I expected, but not overly sweet. Flavor fades in the middle. Aftertaste of OJ lingers, but isn't unpleasant. Really surprised by this one.
21	19	2023	Ghost	Citrus	Tangy bite at the front that subsides quickly as the drink loses fizz. Otherwise a pretty standard lemon-lime soda.
22	21	2023	Celsius	Oasis Vibe	Gentle sweetness from the pear flavor, then a bracing bitter/sour note from the lime. Very reminiscent of Lipton's Green Tea + Citrus.
23	22	2024	Sprecher	Charged Lemonade Strawberry	Full-sugar drink. Extremely low carbonation. Sweeter than I'd like, but not overly so. Good sour note. Sweet and sour combine immediately on sip and fade evenly without much aftertaste. Berry flavor is barely there, but that's a nitpick.
24	23	2023	Monster	Ultra Sunrise	Flavored like a glass of OJ, though it contains none. Has an additional bite to it, maybe grapefruit. Pretty good morning drink.
25	24	2024	Celsius	Essentials Dragonberry	Medium carbonation, strawberry-forward flavor. Clean taste that's never overly sweet. Sucralose thins out on the aftertaste a bit and it's noticeable, but never bitter or unpleasant. Good solid drink.
26	24.1	2024	Celsius	Cherry Cola	Good cherry flavor. A little sweeter than most Celsius drinks, but not overly so. Sweetener does stick around for a LONG time on the aftertaste and comes off quite phony as it fades. Still a better cola-like drink than the original Celsius Cola.
27	25	2024	Celsius	Sparkling Raspberry Peach	Minimal tartness from the raspberry, smoothed over by sweetness from the peach flavor. Nice acidity on the back end. Seems sweeter than a typical Celsius drink, a little dehydrating.
28	26	2023	Ghost	Sour Patch Kids Redberry	Lingonberry flavor is strong and full-bodied, though not overly sweet. Despite "sour" in the name, there's only a mild sourness that helps to offset Ghost's usual powerful sweetness.
29	27	2023	Alani Nu	Mimosa	No champagne flavor to speak of, but orange/OJ taste is strong and HIGHLY carbonated. A better sparkling orange drink than Celsius Sparkling Orange.
30	28	2023	Reign	Orange Dreamsicle	Slight bitter note up front is replaced quickly by distinct orange and cream flavors with a good level of sweetness.
31	29	2023	Ghost	Tropical Mango	Strong mango flavor whose sweetness plays well with the carbonation. No other flavor notes besides mango.
32	30	2023	ZOA	Wild Orange	Starts off like a standard orange soda, but has a pleasant note of acid and sourness on the back end; tastes sorta like thinned orange juice.
33	31	2023	Alani Nu	Tropsicle	Pineapple flavor is prominent, with orange undertones as well. Acidity is well balanced, and overall quite enjoyable.
34	32	2024	Lost and Found	Orange Splash	Very good orange soda-style drink. Smooth flavor off the top, a little tartness in the middle, and a REALLY clean finish. Artificial sweetener never draws attention to itself and never goes TOO sweet.
35	33	2023	Celsius	Tropical Vibe	Says starfruit and pineapple on the can, but just tastes like a re-run of Oasis Vibe. Vague fruit/citrus flavor, no pineapple to speak of. Still very reminiscent of Lipton Green Tea + Citrus.
36	34	2024	Monster	Ultra Strawberry Dreams	Slight bitterness at the start, but a nice strawberry flavor afterward with a good level of sweetness. Seems more complex than some of Monster's other Ultra fruit drinks.
37	35	2024	Reign	Storm Mango	Excellent mango flavor. Medium sweetness, with a bitter note at the end. Mango flavor hangs around on aftertaste. The bitterness isn't bad enough here to spoil the whole drink, but it's not for me.
38	36	2023	Ryse Fuel	Baja Cooler	Smooth lime flavor immediately up front, citric acid bite on the back. Sweetener is present, noticeable, and just a little too sweet for me. Carbonation also seems a little low.
39	36.1	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Cola	Better than expected, a real surprise. Smells and mostly tastes the part, but the flavor thins out a little in the middle, and there's a strange aftertaste I can't quite place.
40	37	2024	Alani Nu	Dream Float	Orange and cream flavors both represented well. Sweetness is on point. The orange is a little more acidic and tart, like actual fruit. Not sure it works as well for this as a smoother orange soda-style flavor would.
41	38	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Mango Passionfruit	Appropriately tropical. Sweetness is on point. Flavor thins out a little on the back end, with an aftertaste that lingers a bit but isn't unpleasant.
42	39	2023	Bang	Black Cherry Vanilla	Perfectly sippable and smooth without a medicine-like taste. Could be a good substitute for Dr. Pepper or cola.
43	40	2024	Celsius	Sparkling Strawberry Guava	Strawberry on the nose, fruit flavors off the top, and the usual Celsius citrus & green tea base notes with a clean finish.
44	41	2023	Celsius	Peach Mango + Green Tea	Very much like Celsius Oasis Vibe/Tropical Vibe, but with peach overtones. Runs a little too sweet for my taste, but not bad.
45	42	2024	Celsius	Essentials Cherry Limeade	Cherry flavor is good, not medicine-like. Lime flavor isn't really there except as an acidic balance. Sweetness is on point, but the flavor does thin out a bit on the back end, and the sweetener hangs around for a long time on the aftertaste.
46	43	2023	Ghost	Orange Cream	The only one of Ghost's drinks I've tried so far that seems to have the right amount of sweetness given its intended flavor. Tastes pretty much exactly like you'd expect: a carbonated, melted Creamsicle.
47	44	2024	Rockstar	Recovery Orangeade	Non-carbonated, with some amount of actual orange juice. Tastes pretty much like an orange Gatorade or Powerade — smooth and uncomplicated, with a little additional tartness.
48	45	2024	GOAT Fuel	Peach Pineapple	Good tartness on the sip, medium sweetness. Middle tastes like green tea with a hint of floral/woodiness, which extends to the aftertaste. Doesn't really taste like fruit, but overall quite pleasant.
49	46	2024	Ghost	EDC Electric Limeade	The lime flavor really shines through here. Complex, with a good mix of sweet and tart. Unfortunately it's still got Ghost's signature super-sweetness, which dried me out quite a bit. Might still be better than their Cherry Limeade, though.
50	47	2024	C4	Ultimate Orange Cream	Slightly too sweet, but has a good tart contrast. Orange flavor is good, but the cream flavor comes off almost metallic. Sweetness and orange hang around on aftertaste. Not bad, though.
51	48	2024	Rockstar	Pure Zero Silver Ice	Citrus flavor is crisp and nicely tart, but too sweet. Quite astringent, and the sweetener tastes a little iffy. Fairly smooth otherwise, though. Similar to Monster Ultra Zero, but without the medicine/chemical taste.
52	49	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Wild Berry	Generic "wild berry" flavor up front, sweetness is on point. Still has an undercurrent of green tea and citric acid, but more distinct as a flavor than Oasis Vibe or Tropical Vibe.
53	50	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Fuji Apple Pear	Same signature Celsius green tea & citrus flavor off the top, then a really nice artificial apple flavor in the middle and back end. Mild aftertaste. Balanced and clean, but not much more than that. I would've preferred a contrasting element like cinnamon or a stronger citrus note to offset the smooth sweetness a bit.
54	51	2024	Celsius	Sparkling Green Apple Cherry	Natural apple flavor, with sweetness considerably lower than a typical Celsius drink. Faintest hint of cherry on the back end.
55	52	2024	G Fuel	Hype Sauce	Raspberry lemonade is the listed flavor here; the berry is good and complex, but the lemonade is barely there aside from a mild tartness. Medium level of sweetener and no real complaints.
56	53	2024	Monster	Juice Pacific Punch	Full-sugar drink. Tastes like red Hawaiian Punch with low carbonation. Sweetness isn't overpowering, but it lacks any real contrasting elements.
57	54	2024	Monster	Nitro Cosmic Peach	Full-sugar drink, no juice though. Nitrogenated and carbonated. Sweetness is lower than typical, flavor is complex with a hint of tartness, but the vibe is ruined by an acidic finish. A completely fine drink that blows its assignment.
58	55	2024	Celsius	Raspberry Açaí + Green Tea	Non-carbonated. Berry flavor is fine with moderate sweetness that builds over the course of the sip. Typical Celsius green tea base, nothing too surprising or noteworthy.
59	56	2023	Monster	Ultra Paradise	Front-loaded with bitter sourness, then sweetness smooths it out. Vague "tropical" taste.
60	56.1	2024	G Fuel	Sonic the Hedgehog Peach Rings	Quite good peach flavor, with a note sort of like black pepper. Sweetness is a little high, but doesn't taste fake or thin like some low-cal sweeteners do. Not bad, but I probably wouldn't buy again since there are several better peach drinks on the market.
61	57	2024	Accelerator	Berry Lemonade	Lemonade and berry flavors are both there, although the berry is somewhat generic. Medium sweetness, although the sucralose tastes pretty phony here. Mild bitterness on the finish.
62	58	2024	ASHOC	Swirl Pop	Orange, pineapple, and cherry flavors. Cherry is a bit more subtle than the rest. Medium sweetness, and doesn't dry me out like some other dessert-themed drinks.
63	58.1	2024	G Fuel	Naruto Shippuden Sage Mode	Billed as white pomelo and peach flavor, but just tastes of light peaches. Sweetener is pleasantly moderate, but tastes a little phony. No sourness or acidity. It's fine, but wouldn't be my first, second, or probably even third choice for a peach-flavored drink.
64	59	2024	Accelerator	Orange Mango	Bitterness off the top gives way to good mango flavor. Sweetener tastes a little phony, but not bad. No orange flavor to speak of.
65	60	2024	Monster	Juice Pipeline Punch	Full-sugar drink. Contains passionfruit, orange, guava, apple, and pineapple juice. Fruit flavors come through well and it's very drinkable, but runs slightly too sweet for my taste, sweeter and more caloric in fact than Coke.
66	61	2024	Monster	Juice Aussie Lemonade	Full-sugar drink. Basically just carbonated lemonade. Decent sweetness and acid, with a bit of bitterness on the back end.
67	62	2024	Monster	Reserve White Pineapple	Full-sugar drink. Tastes more or less like carbonated pineapple juice, but contains no actual juice. Texture is a little plain and too smooth, but not bad at all.
68	63	2024	G Fuel	Sonic the Hedgehog Sour Power	Company says this is a raspberry candy flavor, but it comes off closer to Ghost Sour Patch Kids Redberry to me. Lower sweetness and caffeine level than Redberry, and the flavor here isn't quite as complex.
69	64	2024	C4	Popsicle Hawaiian Pineapple	Good acidity at the start. Sweetness builds over a sip, never overly sweet. Tastes appropriately thin, like real pineapple juice.
70	65	2024	C4	Nectarine Guava Knockout	Smooth fruit flavor with a decent tart contrast. Sweetness is overwhelming, though — too much up front, and it hangs around for a LONG time on the aftertaste. More complexity to the flavor than some other peachy drinks, but the sweetness ruins it.
71	66	2024	NOS	Zero	Tastes of mango and peach. Slightly too sweet, and the sweetener tastes rather fake, hanging around on the aftertaste. No real acid or sourness to speak of, but there is a mild mustiness at the start of a sip. Fairly dehydrating as well.
72	67	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Orange	An orange soda-style drink that starts with a sharp bite and tastes a little too sweet. Fine, but not amazing.
73	68	2023	C4	Orange Slice	Pretty standard smooth orange soda. Flavors thins out on the back end a bit, but not bad at all.
74	69	2023	Prime	Orange Mango	Good balance of sweetness and acidity, enough to make me wonder whether it had actual orange juice in it (no).
75	70	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Kiwi Guava	Generic fruity flavor with the right amount of sweetness. Same usual Celsius base notes of green tea & citric acid. Not remotely bad, but not especially exciting either.
76	71	2023	ZOA	Pineapple Coconut	Tastes almost entirely of pineapple, with slight acidity and tartness.
77	72	2023	ZOA	Strawberry Watermelon	Strawberry is the main flavor, and the watermelon really only serves to mitigate the sweetness. Seems like lower carbonation. Perfectly fine drink with no major hangups.
78	73	2024	Red Bull	Winter Edition	Full-sugar drink. Seems more carbonated and less sweet than most energy drinks. Can says pear and cinnamon flavor; pear is pleasantly subtle, but I couldn't pick up any cinnamon at all.
79	74	2024	Red Bull	Sugarfree	Acid and sour notes up front that last through the whole sip. Relatively low amount of sweetness helps offset it. A flavor in the nose like cotton candy or bubble gum, with a vague fruitiness afterward. Tastes sort of like bubble bath smells, maybe a sour grape or berry soda. Relatively low caffeine level. Not bad, just unexpected.
80	75	2024	Monster	Java Nitro Cold Brew Sweet Black	Slight note off the top that's almost metallic, followed by coffee flavor. Just enough sucralose for a low dose of sweetness. Coffee flavor finishes smooth and sort of vanishes, then reappears in the aftertaste for a bit. Not bad at all.
81	76	2024	Accelerator	Kiwi Lime	Medium sweetness. Initial sip tastes thin. Kiwi flavor comes through okay from the start with a slight note of bitterness. Lime comes in about halfway through, but it's so faint it doesn't give the drink much body.
82	77	2024	3D	Strawberry Lemonade	Medium fizz with okay lemonade taste. Strawberry flavor isn't really there, and it has an undertone of bitterness.
83	78	2024	3D	Galaxy Lime	Decent lime flavor in a smooth sip. Has an underlying bitterness I don't care for, but the sweetness is on point. Completely fine.
84	79	2023	Celsius	Sparkling Watermelon	Appropriately "thin" flavor, but mostly just generically fruity. Sweetness is good, aftertaste hangs around a while. Very similar to several other Celsius drinks.
85	80	2023	Reign	Storm Valencia Orange	Tastes very much like OJ. Bigger swigs or chugs add a bit of the signature Reign bitterness.
86	81	2023	Bang	Whole Lotta Piña Colada	Pineapple and coconut come through strongly, smooth finish. Sweeteners are hidden well by the flavors. Very sippable, perfect for a beach day.
87	82	2023	Monster	Ultra Fiesta Mango	Mango is the only flavor of note. Good amount of sweetness, and a pleasing tartness I didn't expect. Overall pretty okay, but not amazing.
88	83	2024	Monster	Ultra Golden Pineapple	Pineapple flavor is present and appropriately sweet, with mild acidity on the finish. It's fine, if slightly dehydrating.
89	84	2023	ZOA	White Peach	Seems only lightly carbonated, but peach flavor is present and pleasant. Sweet is on point, but there's a mustiness on the back end I don't love.
90	85	2023	Celsius	Cosmic Vibe	Kool-Aid-like burst of overly sweet fruity flavor at the top. The sweetness evens out after that, and the standard Celsius green tea + citrus taste follows, combining with the generic fruity flavor for something akin to marshmallow or strawberry crème in the aftertaste. Not bad, but too sweet overall for me.
91	86	2023	Lost and Found	Cherry Lemonade	Acidic notes up front prevent cherry flavor from going too medicine-like, but it's overall too sweet, somewhere between your average Ghost drink and "just right." Still better than Bang Cherry Blade Lemonade, if only because there's no weird mustiness fouling up the flavor here.
92	87	2024	Reign	White Gummy Bear	A drink that thinks it might be pineapple. Vaguely fruity and VERY sweet, with a slight tartness. Sweetener comes off a little phony and hangs around on the aftertaste a while. None of Reign's usual bitterness, though.
93	88	2024	Alani Nu	Orange Kiss	Decent orange soda-style drink with a surprising, immediate bitterness and a medium level of sweetness.
94	89	2023	Lost and Found	Glacier Burst	Indeterminate citrus flavor that skews a little too sweet. It does have a nice bite on the back end, but is otherwise just sort of fine.
95	90	2023	ZOA	Tropical Punch	Going for a red Hawaiian Punch flavor, mostly successfully. Does seem strongly acidic on the back end, and the sweetener is noticeable, but not unpleasant.
96	91	2023	Bang	Candy Apple Crisp	Very reminiscent of a green apple Jolly Rancher, without any sour note to speak of. Okay, but wouldn't buy again.
97	92	2023	Bang	Cherry Blade Lemonade	Cherry and citrus; what more can you say? Weird mustiness on the back end detracts from the overall flavor, but still doesn't ruin it.
98	93	2023	Ryse Fuel	Sunny D Tangy Original	Mostly sweet, slightly tart citrus flavor. Sweetness is maybe the tiniest bit too much, but not bad after your first few sips. Unlike real Sunny D, it has no texture to speak of aside from the carbonation, and zero actual fruit juice. Not bad, but I wouldn't seek it out again.
99	94	2023	Reign	Reignbow Sherbet	Flavor is very reminiscent of orange cream, with the slightest bit of extra tartness. Completely fine, but nothing to write home about.
100	95	2023	Celsius	Fantasy Vibe	Very reminiscent of an orange cream soda, but the cream/marshmallow taste isn't quite as smooth as you'd hope. More of a sour-sweet fruity taste than the smooth sweetness I associate with marshmallow. Not bad, really, just not an interesting or cohesive flavor.