A quick trip to my Asian grocer has turned up a real treat. Dekavita C, an energy drink made by Suntory, is a vitamin wonder filled with sweet delicious nectar, nothing like how you would picture it would taste like from the prune juice bottle on the outside. If you are lucky enough to see this one floating around with the cans of coconut milk,canned coffees and odd teas, do yourself a favor and grab a couple of these – you will love them.
Packaging: 9
This one definitely stands out. First, the shape of the drink is unlike any I have seen before. Te closest thing I can think of is a Sun Maid prune Juice, only about ten times smaller. The heavy brown glass bottle is then covered in a bright yellow and red label – looking very sharp and clean. The cute little cartoon character nurse definitely separates itself from the rest of the Asian energy drinks. My only real issue is that they don’t list their caffeine content.
Nutrition/Buzz:8
Although, of course, the ingredients list was in Japanese, I had the cashier read to me the ingredients on the side so I could pass it onto you. There is the vitamin B complex i here – and quite a lot of it too. We found Folic Acid, niacin and even Vitamin P(although I guess in Japan they consider potassium a vitamin)! OF course, figuring the name, this also has a ton of vitamin C as well.
To help perk the drinker, not only do they use caffeine ( decent but not too strong) but also add a generous helping of royal jelly. Sugar is aplenty in here too, which adds to the great flavor, but also adds lots of calories (about 113 calories) for an 8 once drink. It does give a very nice boost too, not too strong but definitely noticeable. My guess is there are at least 80mg of caffeine in here, or the royal jelly is more potent than I would have expected. Either way, this bottle gave out a decent couple hours before I crashed.
Taste: 10
While I appreciated the buzz and the cool package, this was the best thing about this drink. While I appreciate the packaging and the buzz, usually these Asian Brown Bottles are filled with sweetened sugar water – an un-carbonated version of Red Bull meant to be shot down the throat without another thought. I opened this drink with the thought that I just got an 8ounce version of what they usually packaged in the four but was more of the same (like Baccus-d, Lipidovan and the rest) but instead I got a lightly carbonated lemon Mountain Dew. Sure it was syrupy, but it was like a sweet candy going down – about as far from bitter or sour as you could imagine. I could drink this all day – it is just that good. Even writing about it now makes me want to swing by my Asian grocers and pick up another bottle of Dekavita. I don’t know how easy it is to find Dekavita C, but it is worth looking for.
http://dailyyamazaki.blogspot.com/2008/07/dekavita-c.html
suntory.jp/dekavita