REVIEW OF BODY GLOVE SURGE TROPICAL BERRY

CAFFEINE CONTENT: 140 MILLIGRAMS PER 2.5 OUNCE BOTTLE.

RATING: 7.8 OUT OF 10.

     I cannot even begin to fathom how long it's been since the last time I reviewed multiple flavors of one energy drink company. Nevertheless, I'm here to bring you my review of Body Glove Surge Tropical Berry. Yesterday I evaluated the grape flavor and was pleased with the flavor. Let's see if Body Glove can nail it again with this one.

     The packaging is almost identical to the grape version apart from the red portion on the right side of the bottle. Eager to discover what specific flavors would hit my palate, I screwed off the top and allowed the drink's contents to flow down my esophagus. I noticed an amalgamation of berry flavors, with no specific berry stealing the spotlight. This flavor profile is common among energy shots and energy drinks who advertise their flavor as being tropical berry. Once again, Body Glove did a wonderful job in creating a smooth energy shot that can be consumed easily.

    Naturally, you'll find the same energy blend that you'll see in the grape flavor. There's still a plethora of berry extracts, including uncommon ones like chokeberry and bilberry. In each bottle, you'll find 140 milligrams of caffeine, which would put it on par with most energy shots. Other than that, there's no other energy ingredients to speak of. As I mentioned in the previous review, Body Glove has decided to go the all natural route and leave out all of the ingredients you find in most energy shots.

     With the aforementioned caffeine amount, you can expect a decent uplift depending on your tolerance level. I happened to notice a moderate increase in energy and alertness that lasted for a few hours before tapering off.

     Once again, Body Glove Surge delivers another pleasant energy shot. Much like the last review, the flavor is this drink's strong suit. Although it does have less caffeine than 5 Hour Energy, if you're looking for a great tasting energy shot with some exotic berry extracts inside, I suppose Body Glove Surge wouldn't be a bad place to start.

REVIEW OF BODY GLOVE SURGE GRAPE

CAFFEINE CONTENT: 140 MILLIGRAMS PER 2.5 OUNCE BOTTLE.

RATING: 8 OUT OF 10.

     The energy shot market, much like the energy drink market, has rapidly become more and more congested over the past couple of years. Over 254 million energy shots were bought in 2013, which means that not only is this a profitable business, it can be difficult for companies to remain competitive. On the reviewing table is an energy shot that is trying to do just that. It's an all natural shot that claims it has "more energy than the leading shot" (I'm assuming that's 5 Hour Energy). 

     The first thing you'll notice about Body Glove Surge is the design of the bottle. While it isn't totally unique, anything different than the 5 Hour Energy bottle shape gets a plus in my book. I'm not entirely certain why companies choose to copy the bottle shape of 5 Hour Energy, but I'm assuming it must be a cost cutting measure. The flavor advertised on the bottle is grape, which can be alarming since energy shots tend to have a medicinal flavor, and if you've ever had grape flavored medicine, you know how appalling the flavor can be. Thankfully, Body Glove understands how to make an energy shot that doesn't abuse your palate. While it still has that artificial grape flavor, it goes down smoothly and isn't hard on the esophagus. For an energy shot, this is actually quite pleasant. 

     The claim of being an all natural energy shot holds true when I examined the ingredients. There's no barely pronounceable ingredients you commonly find in Monster or Rockstar. There is 140 milligrams of caffeine from green coffee beans, which according to the Caffeine Informer, is significantly less than 5 Hour Energy. However, it appears Body Glove's claim is that by adding extracts of grape, cranberry, pomegranate, blueberry, apple, mangosteen, bilberry, chokeberry, and goji berry, these natural energy boosters will give you more of an uplift than the leading energy shot. 

     Unfortunately, I haven't consumed a 5 Hour Energy shot in quite a while, so I cannot compare the effects of Body Glove Surge to it. However, I can tell you that the uplift from this was well received. I did notice a moderate increase in alertness and energy, comparable to a lot of the energy shots on the market today. 

     Body Glove Surge is an energy shot that doesn't receive a standing ovation by any means, but I admire their efforts in creating an all-around solid product. It's rather pleasing when you come across an energy shot that you don't have to choke down, and while I do sometimes like a bunch of crazy energy ingredients in my drink, I'm also a huge supporter of going the all natural route. The only flaw is that their claim of it having more energy than the leading shot may not be justifiable. I mentioned earlier than it can be difficult to stay afloat in such a congested marketplace. If Body Glove to get proper distribution, they should have no difficulties staying in the game.

REVIEW OF STEEM

CAFFEINE CONTENT: 170 MILLIGRAMS PER 2 TABLESPOONS.

RATING: 7.7 OUT OF 10.

For those of you who have been hoping for a new review since January, you're finally in luck. I never announced it officially, but I had retired this project due to loss of interest and lack of new products. However, it appears that 2nd reason is completely illegitimate because I have received several emails from companies asking me to try their product. What's interesting is that none of them were actual energy drinks. Instead they were items such as caffeinated gum, energy shots, and even caffeinated peanut butter. It almost seems as if energy drinks are going out of style and the cool innovative products are here to stay. You see, when you've reviewed nearly 400 products, there's not much that surprises you. Unless it's something like caffeinated peanut butter. Apparently the folks at Steem thought it was a good idea to jack up peanut butter with some good ol' fashion caffeine. Let's see if they're right.

Judging by its initial appearance, Steem has gone for a fairly simplistic design, which fits well with their ingredients list, which I'll discuss in the next section. I decided that it would be best to use this product while making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but first I had to try it on its own. The texture of the peanut butter isn't quite crunchy, nor is it creamy. It's somewhere in the middle, like finely ground. It has a natural peanut flavor and isn't overly sweet like Jif. There is some caffeine bitterness peaking through, but that is to be expected and it isn't overpowering. As for being on my sandwich, I thought the peanut butter worked well with some raspberry fruit spread. So far, Steem has received the seal of approval when it comes to flavor. Can their ingredients do the same?

If you want taurine, glucuronolactone, guarana, and all that other stuff commonly found in energy drinks, you should look elsewhere. Steem provides a very simplistic ingredients list, which I find very satisfying. The only stuff in here is peanuts, salt, peanut oil, organic agave nectar, and caffeine. Specifically there is 170 milligrams of caffeine per 2 tablespoons. I commend Steem for using agave nectar as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. It really shows that they created a quality product.

I did not measure out how much peanut butter I put on my sandwich, but it was easily enough to completely cover 1 side of bread. At least 100mg of caffeine, probably more, was in my sandwich, and I must say the effects weren't too drastic. There was a slight increase in energy and alertness, but nothing too serious. Then again, the efficacy of this product depends on how much of it you consume. I could have slapped on a ton of it on my sandwich and gotten my socks knocked off.

The folks from Steem did a nice job here. I appreciate their efforts in making peanut butter that is of high quality. In fact, the only flaw is that there is some bitterness from the caffeine. Another complaint of mine is that I wish it was a bit crunchier, but that's just my personal preference. It's not very often I see a product that makes me think "wow, I haven't seen that before", but Steem has successfully pulled that off.

REVIEW OF KIRKLAND ENERGY SHOT

CAFFEINE CONTENT: 180 MILLIGRAMS PER 2 OUNCE BOTTLE. 

RATING: 7.1 OUT OF 10.

     I never thought it could happen, heck I'm even breaking out in hives as we speak, but a new review is being written on Addicted 2 Energy. As you may have noticed, I told you guys that this website might not have any new reviews, and that I had lost interest. To be honest, I have lost a lot of interest, and it seems as if most of my colleagues have too. Possessed By Caffeine hasn't reviewed anything since October 27th, Edjunkie is completely shut down, and Energy Heaven's latest review dates back to mid April. As depressing as it may be, the energy drink review blog is slowly dying. So before it can die any further, here's a review of a private label energy shot from Costco.

     Kirkland, which is the private label brand for Costco, has manufactured an energy shot to sell to the masses. The packaging isn't too striking, but I must admit it does pop off the shelf more than 5 Hour Energy does. Kirkland lists the flavor as Pomegranate which isn't a very common flavor among energy shots, so I was eager to give it a try. When you've reviewed hundreds of energy drinks, you kind of know what to expect when it comes to flavor. Energy shots are usually very medicinal and almost unpalatable at times. Not this one. There is some medicinal qualities peeking through, but for the most part it's a sweet and tart flavor profile. Is it better than a major label energy shot like 5 Hour Energy? I would say yes.

     Under the cap of this little 2 ounce slammer is 150 percent daily value of niacin, 2,000 percent daily value of vitamin b6, 100 percent daily value of folic acid, 8,333 percent daily value of vitamin b12, and 200 percent daily value of pantothenic acid. Well that's the vitamins and minerals side of things, as for the energy blend, we have n-acetyl l-tyrosine, taurine, glucuronolactone, malic acid, l-phenylalanine, caffeine, and alpha glycerylphosphorylcholine. The energy blend totals 2,150 milligrams, but none of the ingredients have specific amounts listed. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Alpha-GPC is used to enhance memory and cognitive function.

     Believe it or not, I've really cut back on my energy drink consumption over the past month or so, so this energy shot should have provided a decent effect. As it turns out, the effect was in fact decent, but nothing too spectacular. This makes a lot of sense, considering this probably doesn't have that much caffeine in it. The mild buzz lasted for about a couple hours and tapered off with no crash.

     I want to say it's good to be back, but I'm not sure if I'm officially back yet. I might go another month or two without reviewing anything, or I might not. It all depends. As for the energy shot, Kirkland provided a decent drink that is on par with pretty much every other energy shot. It doesn't set itself apart, but then again it doesn't try to. It's just your standard private label energy shot.