Energy Drinks: Part One

We all know that hydration is crucial when you are exerting yourself for long periods of time, but there are so many energy and electrolyte mixes on the market today to choose from. What are your choices and how do they stack up? We did the work for you, and in this two-part series, we’ll review some of the energy and hydration mixes available today and let you know what we thought.

Part one is broken down into two categories: electrolyte hydration tablets and energy drink mixes. This distinction is important—electrolyte hydration tablets have very little calories per serving (less than 10) but loads of vitamins and minerals, and energy drink mixes have carbs and salt to re-hydrate and refuel your body.

Electrolyte Hydration Tablets

Nuun: Tri-Berry

Nuun is marketed as “portable electrolyte hydration” and comes in a dissolvable tablet form—just drop one tablet into 16 ounces of water. It dissolves completely and leaves a slight effervescent quality to the drink. With less than three calories per serving, Nuun contains no sugar but does have plenty of vitamins and minerals. It had a refreshing and subtle flavor, and a pleasant color. A benefit of Nuun is that it does not leave a flavor or sticky residue behind on containers, making it a lot easier to reuse the container for other purposes without having to wash with soap and water.
Other available flavors: Citrus Fruit, Lemon Lime, Kona Cola, and Orange Ginger.

Natural Hydration: Goji Berry Green Tea

From the makers of Nuun, comes an all natural vitamin and electrolyte-enhanced drink tab. The directions are the same as the Nuun tablets (dissolve tablet in 16 oz of water). Natural Hydration has slightly more calories (7 vs. less than 3) than Nuun and a longer list of vitamins and minerals. The tablet did not dissolve as completely as the Nuun tablet and left a hazy quality to the water. It was considerably sweeter than the Nuun but left a distinct metallic aftertaste on the tongue—not something to be desired in a hydration beverage. In search of the metallic aftertaste (which could be attributed to the many minerals in the tablet), we discovered that one of the ingredients is Stevia Root Extract, a natural calorie-free sweetener that can leave a metallic aftertaste.
Other available flavors: Lemon Chai and Tangerine Ginger.

Energy Drink Mixes

Clif Shot Electrolyte Replacement Drink: Cran-Razz

Before even mixing this up, our first impression was that this was going to be more concentrated than competing energy drink mixes. A single serving of Clif Shot has a ratio of 1.5 ounces of powder mix to 16 ounces of water and provides 80 calories. The flavor that was tested dissolved nicely in the water and had no graininess but it did have a very intense hot pink color (in fact, the same color as the packaging). As for taste, it was sweet and not as refreshing as we expected. Like most energy drinks, we expected a salty aftertaste, but there was none. A distinguishing factor of this product is that unlike other energy drinks, Clif Shot gets it’s calories from organic brown rice syrup solids and organic evaporated cane juice, and boasts having 92% organic ingredients.
Other available flavors: Crisp Apple, Hot Apple Cider (add hot water), and Lemonade.

GU2O: Raspberry

Unlike the other mixes tested, GU2O’s single serving packet mixed with 21 ounces of water (compared to 16 ounces for the others). The instant electrolyte replacement mix dissolved completely into the water and had a hint of color, but did not turn the water cloudy. The flavor was much more subtle than other energy drinks and had a hint of tartness. It was refreshing but left a mild metallic aftertaste on the tongue (most likely attributed to the high sodium content–315mg–and maltodextrin).
Other available flavors: Orange, Lemon Lime, and Tango Mango.

Gatorade Instant Mix: Fruit Punch

Gatorade is the original electrolyte drink, and though less common in outdoor retail stores because of the availability of more specialized drink mixes like Clif Shot and GU2O, we included it in the taste testing because we already had some on hand. The mix did not blend with the water as well as the other drinks tested; it left a fine layer of sediment at the bottom of the Nalgene bottle. It is the sweetest, saltiest, and most artificial tasting of the energy drinks, but its wide availability makes it the old standby.
Other available flavors: Lemon-lime and Glacier Frost.

Final Thoughts

Whether to choose an electrolyte hydration tablet or an energy drink mix is up to you and the intensity of your activity. We loved the ease of portability that the hydration tablets provided, with their space-saving (and reusable) tube packaging. There were high hopes for the Natural Hydration tablets because you get a few more tablets for the same size package (16 tablets per package vs. 12 tablets per package of Nuun), but the metallic aftertaste was off-putting. We won’t completely write it off until we test the other flavors available. Overall, we loved the idea of a low-calorie flavored electrolyte tablet. On long hikes this would be a pleasant break from drinking plain water, but we would probably supplement it with an energy gel or chew for on-the-go refueling. In the category of energy drink mixes GU2O topped our list because it was the only drink mix to use maltodrextrin. We liked this feature because maltodextrin is easily absorbed and turned into energy by the body, something that the other energy drinks did not provide. We’ll always keep Gatorade on the list because of its widespread availability, but we were not impressed with Clif Shot—the combination of intense color and unpleasant aftertaste left us disappointed.

You can read more about maltodextrin and brown rice syrup in our article about Performance Nutrition.

Stay tuned for part two of this series, where we will be reviewing hydration products by Accelerade and Camelbak.