REVIEW: Gatorade Perform 02 Frost Riptide Rush

Like I said in my review on the Hawaiian Punch 10 ounce bottles, summer is here and that means hot hot hot and we need keep our thirst quenched. For years Gatorade has dominated this market especially in sports related fields and well...they do a good job at it. And what better way to quench your thirst than with a product specifically called Gatorade Perform 02 Thirst Quencher Frost Riptide Rush?

Now this G Series that Gatorade has been doing lately has been out for a few years but basically each level (1 through 3) correspond to various points of time during exercise. So it goes; 01 is prime, 02 is perform and 03 is recover. I really only see 02 Perform in stores and that's my Gatorade series of choice. What is special about this 02 Perform though? Well Gatorade advertises 110 mg of sodium and 30 mg of potassium to help replenish what you "sweat out" aka electrolytes, on top of that it has 15 g of carbohydrates to help replenish energy. All of this is really fancy talk for me but if they are advertising it it must be a fairly healthy drink for you when you're exercising.

Now the flavor that I have today and what I normally get because it's what my girlfriend likes is the pack that has no discernible flavor... Right now I'm drinking Frost Riptide Rush but it comes in the same case as Glacier Freeze and Cool Blue. Now not sure what a frost riptide or a glacier tastes like but then again they all taste similar to me and I just call them the bluish Gatorades or the purplish Gatorades (Frost Riptide Rush being the purplish Gatorade). Now I'm  not hear to really talk about the flavor of Gatorade so much as they have been around literally forever that I'm sure at some point in your life you have had one before. But I will say, I can't really taste a difference between this Frost Riptide Rush Gatorade and another say... Grape/Purple Gatorade. As for the Gatorade taste in general I know some people like my mother who think they are way too salty and just make you more thirsty. I do get this feeling and I'm sure it corresponds to the 110 mg of sodium.

I have this and really all Gatorades classified as energy drinks as I feel that is what they advertise; sports energy drinks. So how does this Gatorade Perform 02 stack up in that energy department? Well. I'm currently drinking it after no real physical activity and they are made for drinking while performing. However, I have had these all the time on my old construction contractor job in the dead summer with 100 degree weather and do say they keep you hydrated and help out a lot.

Overview

Item: Gatorade Perform 02 Frost Riptide Rush
Energy: 8/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Pros: Good source of electrolytes for physical activity or if out sweating in the sun.
Cons: Slightly "salty" taste. Non discernible flavors (what does a glacier taste like?)

REVIEW: Starbucks Refreshers Raspberry Pomegranate

Weird to see Starbucks, the fast food coffee giant, branching out into "healthy" energy drinks but guess its not that big of a stretch for them as they are in the business of waking people up. Starbucks? Energy Drinks? Yea, in case you haven't seen they have recently come out with these new canned energy drinks called Starbucks Refreshers which come in a variety of flavors including; Raspberry Pomegranate, Orange Melon, and Strawberry Lemonade. Now I only have tried the raspberry pomegranate, hence that is what I'm here reviewing.

Starbucks is seemingly trying to market these refreshers as healthy alternatives to the energy drink market which has previously been clogged with rather...unhealthy drinks.They do this with a new patented green coffee extract from the 100% green Arabica coffee beans which the result is an all natural coffee energy with none of the coffee taste. This is vital for me honestly as I hate the coffee taste. Furthermore these Starbucks Refreshers are fortified with three B vitamins and Vitamin C for more healthy energy boosts.

Time to get down to the taste. Like I said earlier, I hate how coffee tastes so I was at first worried that these drinks would have that dreaded taste. Luckily I was wrong and Starbucks held true to their marketing slogan. For these raspberry pomegranate Starbucks Refreshers I could very well taste the raspberry and pomegranate and the drink itself tasted much like every other canned energy drink I've had. Not sure if that is good or bad. Good I suppose as they are right up there tasting like everyone else, but bad because its not special enough. Not sure about the energy effects either but then again I always find that standard kind of hard to measure and therefore fairly inaccurate. The size of these Starbucks Refreshers is pretty good and the can itself has a nice design that is more classy I suppose and colorful than the usual dark and manly looking Monster and Bawlz energy drinks.

Item: Starbucks Refreshers Raspberry Pomegranate
Taste: 8/10
Energy Level: Couldn't really tell a difference.
Pros: Good size can with great design, flavor is good but nothing special.
Cons: Again, flavor nothing too stand outish.