National Beverage has taken one of the more interesting of their drinks diet. The Sugar Free version of Citrus X is very close to the original, except the substitution of high fructose corn syrup for Spenda and Ace-K. Same weird sickly sweet flavor, same bright yellow muddy color, same scary list of ingredients. This was one of many I found at my local Walmart for a quarter, so I knew I was not getting a something actually healthy. This flavor, like the others in their line has a very soda-ish taste and texture, not at all surprising as this comes from the manufacturers of Shasta and Faygo.

Taste:5
Rather than going for the HFCS, this was sweetened with splenda and ace-K. I found it to be pretty heavily sweetened, perhaps a bit too much. The flavor is definitely strong, super sour and sweet. The Taurine-Rules guru captured the flavor best when describing the taste as “ like an orange Flintsone vitamin mixed with sugar free Sunkist.” My big problem is with 2 ingredients that I can always taste and HATE in drinks, the yellow food dye is VERY strong in here, and the bromated veggie oil gives this drink a gritty gasoline-like texture I really could have lived without. Definitely not the best of the line.

Buzz/Nutrition:6
Taurine 2000mg, caffeine, guarana seed extract. Why even add food starch, glyceryl abietate, brominated vegetable oil, and BHT? surely there are better ways to preserve freshness and stop the ingredients from separating. My big problem lies with glyceryl abietate, BVO and BHT also known as Butylhydroxytoluene. Why put this in an energy drink? It can cause cancer, and is even illegal to put in infant food because of the damage it can do! I did like the caffeine buzz – and 200mgs of it is worth pointing out. This can provide quite a rush – especially if chugged like the soda pop it tastes like.

Packaging:6
You could tell this one from the rest of their drinks, but still using the same blah design as a motif. This can is easier to read than the original, but the bare aluminum still relegates this drink into the Value Brands category. I did appreciate the listing of taurine caffeine and nutrient data, as well as website info.

Website: 9 http://www.ripitenergy.com/
Its a nice clean site – looking very clean and very well developed, from a UI perspective. Its a mix of HTML and flash, as opposed to going very heavy on the techno – which I completely expected from the cheapo can design. If only they hired the same design firm to make the cans that made the site, they could charge a whole lot more for their drink and pull themselves from the bargain basement shelves.