On my quest for the tastiest and most unique caffeine products, I have come across all sorts of interesting substances; things to slide under my tongue, shoot down my throat, and eat all sorts of foods that should not be caffeinated but someone thought it would be fun. I am still waiting for my ultimate caffeine fix, a high energy blend of caffeine, taurine, amino acids, and fried chicken with mashed potatoes and antioxidant gravy.
These little chewy pieces by Hydrive are a no-brainer. you can have your portable buzz without having to deal with sticky pieces of gum,the waste of cans or bottles or finding a glass of water to dump your mix into – you can just pop the whole piece in your mouth and away you go. Besides the chews, the company also is known for amazing energy drinks with stupid names, like Hydrive S, T, E, V, X and so forth. I really enjoy this company and the products they come out with – not to mention, you have to appreciate a place who puts out this as an official press release:
“RYE, NY — 07/13/09 — After two months of consumer protests, the management of HYDRIVE Energy LLC, has finally given in and launched an additional flavor of their wildly popular HYDRIVE Energy Chews.
“We originally only wanted to do one flavor,” said Brian O’Byrne, HYDRIVE’s CEO. “After all we are just a small company and really busy rolling out our energy drinks. Launching a totally new form of energy was hard work and one flavor seemed like all we could manage.” But response to the Orange Burst flavor was so outstanding that HYDRIVE knew the only way to quell the angry mob protesting daily outside their offices was to give the people what they really wanted — a second flavor of chews.
“I was sitting there listening to an old Chuck Berry song when it hit me,” said Mike Weinstein, HYDRIVE’s Chairman and Energy Czar. “But when I told our marketing head, Charly-Ann, about my idea, she said that it was a bad idea to name it Chuck and suggested Berry instead. That’s why we pay her the big bucks.”
Taste:10
Plus, these Hydrive berry pieces also have the added advantage of being some of the tastiest things you have ever squished with your tongue ( how much stuff have you squished with Your tongue?) The orange version of this stuff was OMFG good. These berry ones are just a little bit better! You get 4 in a pack, and regardless of directions you will consume them all within a very short time. I even licked and scraped my teeth against the aluminum wrapper (yes – I sucked on aluminum) just to get all the last bits of gooey goodness off.
Nutrition:10
These gooey chunks of goodness dissolve subcutaneously ( in your mouth) instead of your stomach, so it works faster in your system to get you the buzz in just a couple minutes. I was able to try 2 packs of these, and both times received a whopping buzz of energy and alertness. I am glad they don’t sell these in bigger packs like a Starburts, or it would be all to easy to eat 20 of these in a sitting and twitch like I was touching a power line. The buzz from four of these gives you a tasty 160mg of caffeine power, or about as much as your standard 16 ounce energy drink.
Packaging:8
I’ll get to the outside packaging, but the inner foil wrapping each piece was kinda annoying. These treats were just so soft, the foil wrap turned into more of a ball shape, and the chew stuck a bit onto the metal wrapping. Not that I am above licking the foil clean or anything, but if you stick a pair of these in your pocket on a morning summers day, you might end up in a sad sticky situation by noon. The plastic pouch the chews come in is nice enough though, listing the caffeine and all other nutrients clearly. The foil wrap is the only thing that is not excellent with this whole product – and it is really not that big a deal.