RATING: 7.7 OUT OF 10.
This is actually quite a special review I have for you today. For day two of energy mint week, I am reviewing the indisputable first caffeinated mint. That's right, Penguin Mints were introduced in 1998 (I was only 5 years old at the time) and are the very first mint to contain caffeine. This sparked a massive chain of events resulting in the caffeinated mints, gums, chews, and other edible caffeine goodies we know today. Personally, I think it's a blast being able to review the genesis of energy mints. The first energy drink is quite controversial, but I think Lipovitan (introduced in 1960) is the first, but many people consider Red Bull to be the genesis of energy drinks. Penguin Mints come in three flavors: cinnamon, chocolate, and peppermint. I will be tackling the peppermint flavor first. The packaging is very nice, coming in a tin box similar to Altoids. The mints inside are flat and oval-shaped and have a nice glossy finish. Popping one in my mouth I get a great cooling minty flavor with absolutely no caffeine bitterness. I have mentioned before that I like a strong mint flavor and these Penguin Mints delivered. And with only 7 milligrams of caffeine per mint, you can each a bunch before you start getting a little jittery. That's it for the energy blend, so how do these mints perform? Well, that depends. I had about 8 or 9 throughout the day and that gave me 42 milligrams of caffeine. You would have to eat 12 of these in order to equal that of a Red Bull, and since the mints are quite flavorful, eating that many is easy to do. But really energy mints aren't about the caffeine, unless it's Foosh or MPower. According to the Energy Fiend Database, the average caffeinated mint contains just 8 milligrams of caffeine. And that's when you don't consider extremely caffeinated mints like Foosh (100 milligrams) and MPower (120 milligrams, the highest of any mint). So, if you've been paying any attention you'll probably notice that I haven't told you if the kick was good or not. The answer is yes, you just have to eat about 10 of them. I recommend munching on a few at a time every half hour or so to keep a sustained buzz. 7.7 out of 10. As always, you can find these minty goodies at Chemical Evolution.
