Still As Life

As with many other products that Coles do their own brand of, Coles have brought out their own energy drink, “Coles Zu Energy”. It is available in two flavours, today I will be reviewing the Ballistic flavour. If you are interested in the Sublime flavour, have a look at the “Coles Zu Sublime Energy Drink” page.

Coles have really been pushing these drinks, at market day back in week 1 of uni, Coles had a stall setup where they were giving out heaps of cans of both flavours for free. There was no other energy drink company present at market day at all, so Coles pretty much had a free reign.

According to the Coles guys giving out the free drinks at the market day stall, the Ballistic flavour is meant to have a berry taste and be similar to the flavour of Red Bull. While I don’t think it is as good as Red Bull, flavour wise, it is still a very appealling taste. It does leave a funny feeling in your mouth though, like a sugary coating, but that goes away soon enough.

Each can is the average size of 250ml and as you can see from the photo, the colour is much the same as the Sublime flavour, though it is a tad lighter.

They are currently $1.49 a can at Coles and Coles Express (Shell) service stations. As far as I know they are not available anywhere else.

Coles Zu Ballistic Nutritional Information

The label indicates the following per 100ml:

It is recommended on the can not to drink more than 2 per day which is a pretty standard warning.

As with the Sublime flavour, Ballistic has similar levels of caffeine, taurine and other additives as the more expensive energy drinks, but at a much lower price, compared to Red Bull, it is a quarter of the price (Red Bull I have seen go for anywhere between $3.80 and $4.80 for a 250ml can).

As you can see from the above, compared to the Sublime flavour, the nutrition information is much the same, however, Ballistic has 10mg more inositol per 100ml than Sublime. This may be why Ballistic seems to leave more of a sugary residue/coating in your mouth than Sublime.

While it definitely tastes great, it could be called a cheap version of Red Bull, which would be true. However, aside from the sugary coating it seems to leave, it is a great drink, and in my opinion, the price difference between Ballistic and Red Bull makes it very appealling.

Coles Zu Ballistic Ingredients

The ingredients according to the can are as follows:

Carbonated water, sugar, food acids (330, 331), taurine, guarana extract, caffeine, preservative (211), glucuronolactone, inositol, colour (150), maltodextrin, vitamins (niacin (B3), pantothenic acid, B6, B2, B12), flavours.

Coles Zu Ballistic Ratings

Quantity - 250ml
2.5/5

Price - $1.49
4.5/5

Flavour
4/5

Overall
3.5/5

Popularity: 65% [?]

V Berry is in my opinion the nicest variation of the V energy drinks. It does however come at a cost, it has a lower caffeine quantity. It is probably also the healthiest of the V range as it actually has some fruit juice in it (thus the reduced caffeine quantities in order to fit the juice).

Taste wise, it does still have the regular V flavour, it is quite prominent, but the added berry flavouring makes it much nicer in my opinion.

Whether this is true or not, I’m not sure, but I have heard that V Berry was intended to provide a V variation that was closer to the Red Bull flavour, and thus creating some more competition with Red Bull.

Like I said, I don’t know if that’s true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

V Berry are currently $2.20 a can at Coles and are available individually, in 4 packs, and occasionally you find them in an 8 pack (6x V and 2x V Berry). V Berry is also available in a 35oml bottle. You can also get it at Woolworths, Aldi, Kmart, Big W, Spar, 7-11, most service stations, most other smaller food stores and many vending machines, and no doubt many more places as well.

V Berry Nutritional Information

The label indicates the following per 100ml:

V Berry has the standard warning not to drink more than 2 cans per day.

V Berry Ingredients

The ingredients according to the can are as follows:

Carbonated water, sugar, reconstituted fruit juice (apple (2.9%), blackcurrent (2.6%), raspberry (2.5%), lemon (0.3%)), acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrate), taurine, guarana extract (0.12%), flavours, glucuronolactone, caffeine, vitamins (niacin (B3), pantothenic acid, B6, B2, B12), ginkgo biloba extract (0.004%).

V Berry is different to the other V energy drinks in that it has fruit juices, but also with the inclusion of the ginkgo biloba extract. Ginkgo biloba can have any of 3 effects on humans, it can improve blood flow; it can protect against oxidative cell damage from free radicals; and it blocks many of the effects of platelet-activating factor (platelet aggregation, blood clotting) (Wikipedia). As Ginkgo supplements are generally taken in between 40mg and 200mg doses a day, I don’t see that the tiny amount in V Berry or any other energy drink is enough to really have any effect at all, except to say that it is there.

Drugs.com lists a multitude of adverse side effects that ginkgo biloba extract can have, including:

• headache
• dizziness
• heart palpitations
• GI and dermatologic reactions
• Ginkgo pollen can be strongly allergenic
• The fleshy fruit pulp may cause allergic dermatitis similar to poison ivy.

Again, I don’t think that the quantities in an energy drink would be enough to cause these side effects, but it doesn’t hurt to be aware of them

V Berry Ratings

Quantity - 250ml
2.5/5

Price - $2.20
3/5

Flavour
3/5

Overall
3/5

Popularity: 48% [?]

Rocket Fuel. Apologies for the mirrored photo. I didn’t realise the webcam settings on my laptop were still set to be mirrored.

Anyway, I noticed this at the supermarket last night and figured it would be good for coffee first thing this morning, since I was going to be at uni at 7am. I remembered dad had gotten one similar to this at some stage and had said it was alright. So I got one.

It is meant to be self heating, and I know that dad’s had heated itself. Mine didn’t heat at all, the only warmth was what was generated by holding it and shaking it. Rhi tried one as well and hers failed to heat itself as well.

I realised after I opened it that there is also no list of ingredients. So I have no idea what was in it except that it is meant to have coffee and guarana. Thats all I know. There is no nutritional information either, I’m surprised they are allowed to sell it.

So the point of this is, don’t try it, it’s bad.

Popularity: 10% [?]