I got hold of a very juicy can today – Sobe Essential Energy – with loads of nutrients and juices, using both yerba mate, Guarana and caffeine for pick me ups, antioxidants and a great grapey flavor. If you are looking for a great juicy drink and Bing is not available, this would be my next go-to can. It is pretty, has a small boost and is generally a nice safe easy to guzzle drink.

Buzz /Nutrition:5
This drink is loaded with calories, and tastes it. It does have a bunch of good things in here, from loads of antioxidants and Yerba Mate, but it also only contains 7% juice. It would be great if they did this one diet, as I am still not sure that someone who is wanting a healthy drink is going to willingly choose 240 empty calories, without much caffeine content and lacking the “special ingredient” that sepaprates these juice infused drinks from each other. Bing has Acai berries, Guru has a definite grape seed flavor,and this drink has… Pomegranate? Pomegranateis soo popular now – that along with their new facelift, I would see about developing the same drink with either less empty calories or a uniqueness to the ingredient list.

Taste:8
That being said – this drink tastes wonderful. Really, I would grab this if I wanted a fruity pick me up – as it is very sweet and very natural tasting. This drink is very strong grape juice and could be drunk any time during the day. The only thing to keep in mind is that this drink will also fill you up – as much as drinking a couple full calorie sodas will. This is important because as you slow down your consumption, this drink will warm up – and that is actually OK. I would say that 90% of the drinks out there turn to gasoline or some other vile substance if it gets warm – but this one can handle it. I think that is because of the juice flavors – that it does not need to be rushed down your throat.

Packaging:8 and 6
I liked the first package just fine. I thought it was great as it stood out from teh shelf decked out in purple and green. Sure, it was hard to read, but it still gave off a nice fruity flavor. The lizards were still easy to see, and the important info was very clear. The only missteps were the complete washout of dark green against the purple, and their lettering for the promo text came out all fuzzy and distorted. Still is was a very pretty can that did its job well – even listing the caffeine content prominently.
It is easy to see why they switched to the new design however. Now it is completely easy to read anything, but they are trying to FOOL you into thinking these are not empty calories, and even makes it look diet, as it is a light blue against white ( conventionally the color for diet foods) The drink isn’t blue, just the can – which almost makes me call shenanigans again – but not quite. Just clever marketing trying to sucker the energy drink consumer.

Website:http://www.sobeessentialenergy.com : 7
Kinda funny and gives you mort of the info you would want on a website. Seems very corporate however, like they are trying to be a slick marketing campaign that will be “hip” and “edgy”. I refuse to be part of anything in that category. I wish they would just tone down the we-got-this-site-designed-by-hotshots-in-the-valley routine and come up with something more natural and less demographically sensitive.