There are so many thing which are going right for Peppod, an energy product produced by a small company in Boulder, Colorado. These little alka-seltzer-like tabs are perfect for so many people. They are not easily destructible, taste absolutely fantastic, dissolve quite easily and fit easily into a normal opening of a water bottle. I would not hesitate to buy a box of these – as they provide great energy and decent nutrition in an easy to handle pack.

The design, marketing and thought process behind this one is that it is for healthy people needing a boost, more than your average caffeine junkie. Everything about the formulation of ingredients is all about health, from keeping a body hydrated to only using 80mg of caffeine per pill – so it is not an extreme dosage. For the market they are trying to reach, this product is golden. If the caffeine gods were listening to me, this product would be the next big thing.

Buzz/Nutrition:9
In terms of healthy, it helps that this pod has only 1 carb, 1 calorie, low in sugar. IT also is more appealing to those who are doing physical activity with the addition of electrolytes to help rehydrate the body. The 81mg of Caffeine turns out to be very nice – although not as powerful a dose as I could handle. So in my case I just dropped 2 in the 12 ounce water and had a VERY nice boost then. This pod also has 200mg of Taurine , Ginseng, Ginko Biloba, Inositol, Glucuronolactone and the usual overdose of vitamin B. The really cool thing about this drink was the addition of a bunch of vitamin C and CoQ10, an antioxidant. I felt more alive for a good 4 hours after downing the 16oz drink – like I was finally waking up for the day. It was refreshing to have something that acts as healthy as it looks.
Taste:9
This is where things can go wrong quickly. There have been other mixes and pills I have tried, many with disappointing side-effects. First, it needs to dissolve and not leave a big froth at the top, like Zipfizz shots did. I dropped the Peppod into a small glass of water, and in under 2 minutes one was completely dissolved and the water looked and tasted like a nice slightly carbonated citrus-y drink. It tastes very grapefruity – and the citrus seemed more natural and crisp than what I was expecting. The sweetener was used lightly, and I could almost not detect any sucralose aftertaste. You could tell that lots of effort went into not making this quickly and rushing through the steps.
The next big challenge is the Sodium Bicarbonate taste. Many of the Zenergize flavors I tried before, and a good number of energy drink mixes use citric acid and baking soda to bubble things up, but taste overpoweringly baking soda. Whether it was the strong orange flavor or just the right mixture of all ingredients, this one did not taste at all like sodium bicarbonate – even a little.
The third, and most important test was to drop this into other things besides water and see how well it could make a bad drink good. First up was Brain Toniq, an energy drink with no caffeine, supposedly to stimulate your mind. In actuality, it just manages to taste like a very expensive pop. In the hands of PepPod, however, I ended up with a fantastic flavor profile, plus a boost of energy. The flavor held up in almost everything I tried, even making a cool martini when dropped in with some gin and a sliver of lime.

Packaging:9
I like what they are going after here. The design is very clean and very crisp – appealing to both women and men who are physically active. It is certainly one of the more beautiful packages I have seen, from an aesthetic and practical reason. I love the airtight foil pack being the only tablet I have tried that comes in an airtight pouch – rather than a canister. This thing it soo much easier to carry around than a plastic container – and the low waste thing is really big in Boulder County. They are even working with their packager to get their little foil packages recyclable as well!
I can see this fitting into health food stores, gyms and athletic shops very easily, like mixing footballers and gatorade. The only thing on the package I thought might need some touching up is an actual listing of the caffeine content, rather than the “1 pod = 1 energy drink” listing shown.
Website:10 www.peppod.com
The folks at peppod should be proud. I normally scorn full flash websites, as they by and large go for form more than function. Not the case here – as they have pulled out all the stops and still had a very unique and informative website. In terms of the technical elements, I love that even though the site is all flash, they still have location information, sharing links, a contact form and an updated newsfeed. This site is full of technical cool, yet is displayed thoughtfully with elements appearing and flowing without any jarring for the viewer.
On a stylistic level, the site is truly beautiful. The message is clear, the colors are perfect and the layout is superb. The shopping cart is the only thing which breaks the site out from the design and into a more formal and much less pretty interface. The only question I have is
why BLhUE has not won any awards yet.