Energy drinks are beverages with stimulants, primarily caffeine, sugar, and other additives like taurine. Many drink them to increase energy, alertness, focus, and physical performance; lots of students and young adults use them for study or work boosts.

Around 54.7% of US people have drank energy drink at least once. The most popular brands are Red Bull, Celsius, Alani, and Monster.

I love energy drinks. My favorite brand is Red Bull. I love Strawberry Apricot and White Peach, which they recently just brought back from only being a summer edition to now a full-time flavor.

I also love Bloom Crisp Apple, it used to only be a fall edition, but people loved it so much it is in the store’s year around.

Logan Thurston, a North teacher pottery teacher, said his favorite brand is Alani because of all the unique flavors.

Now that energy drinks have made a rise in many lives, several new brands are coming to the stores. Many of these new brands made holiday editions too.

“I tried the Cherry Bomb Alani and the Monster Zeros. Didn’t really like the Cherry Bomb Alani because it tasted like a watered-down Cherry Coke. I did like the Monsters Zeros,” said Thurston.

I am reviewing a couple of new brands. The first one is Unwell created by a podcaster, Alex Copper. She launched these drinks in December 2025 at Target. It was about $2.69 per can.

She has flavors ranging from watermelon to pineapple coconut. I tried the flavor passion fruit orange guava. The drink color was pure yellow. It has 150 mg of caffeine and 20 calories. The can is so cute, but the taste is absolutely vile.

I personally did not like it at all. It smelled like throw-up in a can and tasted about the same. It had a chalk taste that stuck around in your mouth for too long.

I could not drink the full can, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

“The Unwell Passion Fruit Orange Guava is so flavorful and almost taste like juice,” said a Tiktok creator, Hayley Raatsi.

I also tried Gorgie Sparkling Cranberry Party Pop founded by Michelle Cordeiro Grant in 2023, it is available in Target and Costco. It costed about $2.59.

The can design is so pretty with the pink and red colors. It looked like a candy cane.

It contains 150mg of caffeine and 5 calories and is made with zero sugar green tea. It smelled very yummy and a little nostalgic of Thanksgiving dinner with cranberries.

I liked it. It was a little tart but mainly sweet. It has a strong tea taste and seems very healthy. I feel the green tea made it a little bitter. I believe the drink would be better without the green tea.

I can drink the whole drink and would get it again, but it would not be my first choice because I prefer sweeter drinks.

The last drink I tried was the Benny Raspberry Hibiscus created by Vancouver-based females by Paige Cey and Julie Letizia. This drink was $2.79. It is meant to be a cleaner energy drink.

It only has 7 calories and contains about 80mg of caffeine. I really don’t think that is enough. I think an energy drink should contain at least 100mg.

The taste was extremely sour and tasted like cleaner. It was a very distinct taste that burns your tongue. It reminded me nothing of raspberry.

I couldn’t finish this drink because of how sour it was. It almost tasted like a pickle.

I believed that because it is trying to be cleaner, the drink isn’t very sweet, which I don’t like.

I would never but this drink again, this was the worst one I tried.

I love trying new energy drinks, it is so fun and can give you something to look forward to waking up to the next morning.