My first impression before opening up this can was not that grwat, admittedly. The can is a plain metal, with a wierd logo under a big turkey hill logo. Not being from Pennsylvania, I dont know anything about Turkey Hill dairy, so the little logo looked like I could be drinking something out of a cheap wine distillery, or even a slaughterhouse on the front.
Slaughterhouse Energy – good name!
But I digress. I found out some more information on this drink , and was pleasantly surprised to find out this drink is from an actual dairy in the heart of Amish country. They produce ice creams, milk and the usual dairy goods, and just so happen to make this energy drink that found it’s way to this lovely small convenience store near me. Their site did not even list Colorado as a place they distribute to, but I am very very glad they did.
Now I don’t normally like the taste of green tea in my energy drinks. I have had a few, but they usually leave the taste of concentrated mix in my mouth – like a package of Kool-Aid where you did not use enough water and sugar. But the taste of T-Fusion is much better than that, with enough black tea and other flavors to balance the overly tart green tea flavor. Another benefit is this drink is even Kosher, for those orthodox Jewish friends who are afraid of someone accidentally sneaking in pork into their morning jolt? However, seeing as this comes from a dairy, it makes bit more sense. This makes me wonder, shouldn’t Kabbalah energy drink also be kosher then?
It is also definitely helped by having zero calories. If you are in the area where you can find some of this – and good luck to you – it is worth a try.
Buzz/Nutrition: 7
The caffeine in this drink is not as high as I would have hoped. There is no reading of caffeine on the label, so I had to turn to their site to find there is 100mg in the can. That’s not bad for a tea, but not so amazing for an energy drink. They also put the usual Energy Drink Mix in here (taurine, B, niacin, guarana) and this drink’s special ingredient is a mystery acronym EGCG, which is supposedly an antioxidant found in green tea extract.Without knowing how much guarana there is on top of the added caffeine, there is not exact measurement of caffeine, but the overall kick is not bad. It did not last very long however, and was greatful to the good soul who saw this and bought me a Starbucks to help me through the day.
Taste: 8
The taste is pretty good for an energy tea. There is enough of a mix of red, green, black tea and mango that it tasted more fruity and less bitter than I expected. This is a pretty simple taste here – nothing complex about the flavor – nor should there be. It is a clean flavor with little bitterness. For a zero calorie drink , that is pretty exceptional
Packaging:3
It is really too bad they did not spend any time on this drink – it could have been a more national winner. However, this can is so bad it looks like it was made especially for the Family Dollar market. The can is a this metal, with some really crappy font choices under a picture of their logo. It looks like what you would get by mixing Hillshire Farms and a run of the mill tattoo shop. I cant tell who they are marketing this to, but it is obvious it did not work out at all. The hard to read harley-esque font against a picture of their dairy and I nice big masthead. There was no real information on the can in terms of caffeine or guarana, but did helpfully list EGCG, and tells you where mangoes are from. If this were a cheapo drink I found at the dollar store I would say it was fine, but the taste, the company and the product are worth so much more than this.