I recently heard from a co-worker that the new Starbucks ready to drinks were out at a Starbucks shop near me – so I had to run out and get all the new flavors. I reported back a couple weeks ago about their release of new Ready To Drink cans, supposedly their doubleshot RTD coffee with their +Energy Special Mix packed in.
I rushed past the two Starbucks on my block and a half walk to the corner my coworker mentioned, but did not know if he meant the store on the east corner of the road or the west corner. Alas, I chose the wrong one and it did not sell them, but the convenience store directly connected to it did, stocking all 3 flavors right next to the Monsters and Red Bulls. Since then I have seen them everywhere I looked, from the mom and pop gas stations to the soda aisle of the grocery store. Their partnership with Pepsi on this line ensures it will hit everywhere in the entire universe. At least Starbucks doesn’t have to worry about diluting their brand or anything…

Nutrition/Buzz:7
In terms of buzz, this drink has a punch for energy drinks, but weak when compared to the coffee starbucks serves. According to energyfiend.com, this drink has around 225mg of caffeine in the whole can,although their website lists all drinks at 146. This is nowhere near what their grande coffee with a pack of their new +energy package would hold – and even under the Moster and Rockstar brands. Just in terms of buzz and nutrients, This drink does not even get close to the explosive Frappio or Shock Triple Latte, which easily bests these drinks in every category. The 450mg of L-Carnitine, 180mg of Inositol and 325mg of Ginseng rate this much higher than most of the widely distributed drinks easily found in your local 7-11 – but the disclosure on the lack of caffeine in the drink prings this down a couple notches.
There is no sugar free version of these drinks, and all very similar varieties have 210 calories per can ( about average for coffee drinks). One thing I really appreciated is the lack of HFCS, instead sweetening with sugar, malodextrin and sucralose. The added protein from the milk was also a nice touch, as the other coffee drinks don’t contain very much if any protein.
Taste:7
All 3 flavors were completely serviceable. The Coffee flavor is the only one that actually tasted like coffee, as the others tasted like very nice creamy and smooth but not much coffee taste in them. The mocha is a great chocolate milk, with a slight coffee aftertaste, and the vanilla is a very nice sweet gooey treat, but I barely tasted coffee at all. All 3 had a slight bitterness to them, and an aftertaste of sucralose I could have done without. Still, this is LOADS better than Caribou coffee’s swill or the weak offering by Rockstar. I would not hesitate to grab one of these cans if the pickings were slim, but there is no way this could compete with one of their fresh coffee drinks, or anything not made by the big 3 (Caribou, Monster, Rockstar).

Packaging:8
These were packed in the standard 15oz. can, listing everything but the caffeine content – which does not make any sense. You are buying this for the Starbucks name and the caffeine content, so why hide it? You do get info on all the other vitamins, a cool slogan, a very nice printing job of marbled brownand all sorts of info. Very nice design for a can, being very separate from their other metal and glass RTD varieties. The font and layout are very classy and impressive, if not memorable.

Website:6
This very pretty site gives you all the info the drinks don’t have on the label. It solves the mystery caffeine content, you get 3 new slogans not on the can, and some nice art. The whole thing is flash based for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and they chose an odd chalkboard motif for the whole thing, which fits neither the drink or the marketing. While the layout and UI are easy to get, there is nothing here but a couple new slogans and nutritional content – along with some silly chalk scratching sounds.