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: 66% [?]

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 Sublime flavour. If you are looking for the Ballistic flavour, have a look at my “Coles Zu Ballistic 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.

The Sublime flavour is meant to be a lime flavour similar to the taste of the standard V flavour. However, in my opinion it is far better. The regular V flavour doesn’t sit too well with me, but Coles Zu Energy Sublime is very nice. It doesn’t taste anything like lime, but it is good.

Each can is an average size of 250ml and as you can see from the photo, the colour of it is not that appealing, but it does taste much better than it looks.

They are currently $1.49 a can at Coles.

Coles Zu Sublime 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.

Coles definitely did something right with this one, it tastes great and has a similar level of energy additives to the more expensive energy drinks. It does seem to sometimes coat your mouth with what I assume is a layer of sugar, I suppose this is something to be expected from a cheaper drink though. It doesn’t always happen, just sometimes, most often when I am eating pizza as well. So it may be something to do with that mix somehow.

Coles Zu Sublime Ratings

Quantity - 250ml
2.5/5

Price - $1.49
4.5/5

Flavour
3/5

Overall
3/5

Popularity: 49% [?]