TomG's Blog

Energy Drink Reviews

criteria: convenience, caffeine, and cost
-200mg caffeine tablets are currently 4-cents each on Amazon. Drop one in a drink of choice, let it dissolve, enjoy Cheapest energy drink available. Tried this in the past, but for whatever reason it just didn't feel right. Doesn't taste good, doesn't fully dissolve. But it's so cheap I might try again
-There are generic crystal light packets with caffeine. Wal-Mart brands are 120mg at about 17-cents each. Seen some others with 160 for only a few cents more.
-other than pills, cheapest option is the instant coffee (crystals, not pods). The Mexican grocers are usually the best here. Make it strong, add the right amount of equal and milk and it's close to being as good as homebrewed.
-Keurig type coffee: weak, not hot enough, usually only one cup at a time, and even at 50-cents per cup more expensive than other homemade coffee
-Home brewed coffee: The original gold standard caffeine delivery system. Make one cup or 12. Can make it strong for the morning, or make it weak and add chocolate for evenings.
-Rockstar: The new gold standard for when out of the house. Usually the cheapest at the grocery store (almost always pay $1.50 or less) and the highest caffeine, a couple varieties are now at 300mg, with others at 240
-Monster: more expensive and less caffeine than Rockstar
-Redbull: the most expensive with the least caffeine. Had no clue how this could stay in business, but learned it was the best for mixing with alcohol, so bars buy it by the pallet
-Gas station: Cans are usually overpriced. In the summer the fountain drinks are pretty good, fill up a 32-ounce cup with Diet Mtn Dew, drink it down, fill it up again, then go pay (a dollar plus some change). Coffee is ok in the winter time. Some of them have energy shots right next to the hazelnut creamer that adds 40mg caffeine.
-Starbucks: Some casino dining comps can be used here - most offer a full quart of iced coffee. Otherwise just too expensive (though just a regular coffee isn't too excessive), lines often long, and doesn't beat the flavor of anything I can get at home.
-Dunkin': even worse than Starbucks. It used to be that they didn't even have milk and splenda packets out for customers to add it themselves.
-Soda: Only about 40mg or caffeine per can. There is one 'X-Treme' version I found that has 70mg and sometimes on sale for 20-cents per can. Two Liters of Diet Mtn Dew for under $1 is good to keep in the fridge
-5 Hour Energy: on rare occasions can be found on sale for around 50-cents. Sometimes a fun experiment to mix them in with other drinks to see how it turns out