The Consumer’s Corner

Really enjoyed this brand thus far, they’ve been excellent products. All roses have their thorns though, and OWater Lemon Lime isn’t something that I would purchase again. The flavor is ‘bitter’ and not in a good way, either. I expected it to be a little tart, it’s lemon and lime flavored after all, but as I was drinking it, all I could think about was cleaning products. Not good. It was a nice effort, lemon and lime flavors can be hard to make tasty without adding sweeteners, and that’s against the line’s theology. Oh well.

Don’t hesitate to try one of the other varieties though, on the whole OWater produces a very refreshing product that I really look forward to consuming this summer. Just stay away from this particular variety.

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–Jeremy Hobbs

This will be my last energy drink review for awhile, I need to detoxify myself from all these stimulants. Likewise, this will also be the last coffee beverge I drink; two birds with one stone. I’m nothing if not efficient! Did I pick a good beverage to go out on? Yeah, I think so.

The chocolate tones in Rockstar Roasted Mocha added a bit of the richness that I felt had been missing from the other two Rockstar coffee/energy hybrids. This actually tasted eerily similar to the coffee that I order at my neighborhood coffee shop; my favorite baristas may be seeing less of me when I fall back off the ‘wagon’ and need a boost.

The energy blend worked really well, especially considering I consumed the 2 serving can in about five minutes. 200 calories, 2 grams of fat, 200% of Vitamins B3, B5, B6, and B12. 16% calcium and potassium. The actual energy blend consists of: 2,000 mg of taurine, 300 mg of ginkgo biloba, 240 mg of caffeine, and 50 mgs each of guarana, inositol, L-Camitine, ginseng, and milk thistle. Those numbers are per can, cut them in half if you want it by the serving.

I recommend it, it tastes good, picked me up, and didn’t break the bank. Anyone want to take a bet on how long I can make it without caffeine?

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–Jeremy Hobbs

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No calories, no heavy flavors, just water with a splash of fruit. I like to make my reviews informative, and try to add some personality to them, but it’s difficult when dealing with a product this simple in design.

Simple is not synonymous with ‘bad.’ I really enjoyed drinking it! Just what I needed after a nice tanning session; I was hot, thirsty, and wanted something as light as possible. Owater provided that, with just the slightest touch of strawberry flavor. Real strawberry flavor, not some syrupy artificial flavor.

Owater is not only a product I’ll buy again, but as the weather warms up, I’ll probably be buying it by the case. Great stuff; easily recommended!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

I’ve been reviewing a lot of ‘waters’ lately, but when a water is loaded up with a bunch of other ingredients, does it cease to be a water? Where exactly is that ‘line’ between water, and soft drink? I will not pretend to know; that’s up to consumers to decide, but I do know which side of the line this product will be standing on. It is H20 in it’s (almost) purest form.

Zero calories is a good start, water is supposed to be calorie free. Zero calories means zero fat, of course. No sweeteners, not even artificial ones. The ingredients list is simple; purified water, natural peach flavor, and a short list of electrolytes that I don’t care to type out.

The flavor is very light, like someone just squeezed a few drops of peach juice into the bottle. That’s great, because I really don’t care for peaches, but whatever. That’s not the point. When you’re hot, tired, sweaty, you tend to want something really light and simple, not something loaded up with this, and that. Owater gives you that!

With summer coming up fast, I recommend this. I’ll be throwing out some shorter reviews of the other flavors that I’ve found, but water is going to be the essential element in each bottle. The choice will be which is your favorite fruit.

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–Jeremy Hobbs

When I saw the word ‘Acai,’ I must admit that I cringed a bit. My taste buds have only had one opportunity to try one product flavored with the acai berry, and that was Full Throttle Mother. If you have read that post, it’s not difficult to tell that I didn’t have a very positive experience. So I went into Snapple Antioxidant Water Strawberry Acai with a bit of trepidation.

But, this entire line is just dripping with quality, and this flavor option is no different. Snapple leaned heavily on the ‘Strawberry,’ and that was a wise move on their part. It’s a natural flavor, not the usual ‘candy’ strawberry profile that you find in most other drinks. It even had a bit of ‘green’ flavor to it, something I found unique and interesting. Overall, I really dug the flavor, and the 20 ounce bottle was down the hatch with a relative quickness.

I’ve already gone over the ‘Awaken’ blend with Snapple Antioxidant Water Dragon Fruit. In short, it’s a blend of vitamins, guarana, ginseng, and caffeine to give you a boost. It’s mild, but noticeable. Great product for those of you looking for a pick me up, but don’t want to blast off with an energy drink.

Calories round out at 140 per bottle, coming mostly (entirely?) in the way of sugar. I know it says water, and that is the main ingredient, but you’ll need to figure it in to your diet if you’re on one. Still way better for you than a corn syrup packed soda though.  I recommend!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

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Continuing the Snapple Antioxidant Water line, today’s flavor is ‘Agave Melon,’ and it has the ability to ‘Restore.’ I would like to thank Snapple, and other ‘water’ companies for these beverages; they’re offering cheaper, healthier, often better tasting, and less dangerous alternatives to energy drinks. To make it clear, I like a lot of energy drinks, and will continue to be an energy drink consumer, but the body needs to cleanse from all that ’stuff’ sometimes.

Rant over.  ‘Agave’ and ‘Melon’ are two separate flavors, because agave isn’t a melon. As most American consumers will be, I’m clueless as to what an agave fruit tastes like; if it’s even a fruit. Some might be familiar with Blue Agave, the main ingredient in tequila, but this doesn’t taste like tequila. The ‘melon?’ Take your pick, I guess. There are only hundreds (thousands?) of different varieties of melon. Let’s try to be a little more specific, Snapple.

Snapple Antioxidant Water Agave Melon does taste pretty good, I’m just suffering from a lack of words to describe the flavor. It was a little stronger than ‘Dragon Fruit,’ and ‘Raspberry Acerola.’ Nowhere close to over powering though. Very refreshing.

With the power to ‘Restore,’ Agave Melon takes on some qualities of a sports drink. The label reads like it is athletes that they’re targeting; specifically touting the electrolyte content. If so, and it works as well as one of the ‘ades,’ it is a very tasty alternative.

140 calories worth of sugar per bottle; that’d be the only knock on the drink. When I think water, I think ‘no-cal,’ and that’s not the case. But, it’s less that a 20 ounce soda, has vitamins, so it can be consumed without too much guilt. I will recommend, at a buck and a half, it’s not a serious investment, so even if you don’t like it you wont be out much. I think the chances of that happening are slim though; good stuff!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

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Next up in the line of Snapple Antioxidant Water is ‘Raspberry Acerola.’ Until I had this bottle in hand, and started staring at the label, I’d never heard of ‘acerola.’ Acerola, according to my subsequent research, is a small, cherry like fruit, that is loaded with vitamin C. Raspberry? I was more familiar with that. If you’re not, well, I feel for you. You’ve been missing out.

Snapple Antioxidant Water Raspberry Acerola ‘Defy’ tastes exceptional. Long time readers of the Consumer’s Corner know that I’m a sucker for raspberry products, and I’ve been had again. The flavor isn’t super strong, and it shouldn’t be; this is a ‘water’ product after all. But it was certainly strong enough to get it’s ‘point’ across. I don’t taste anything other than the raspberry, but then again I don’t really know what an acerola tastes like. Kind of hard to find something when you don’t know what you’re looking for, you know?

Each of the Snapple Antioxidant Waters has a blend of vitamins and other additives, that are supposed to help you achieve a certain property of good health. That’s where the ‘Defy’ part comes in; it’s supposed to help you defy aging, to keep your body and mind ’spry.’ Yeah, spry. It does this through a combination of vitamins A, E, and grape seed extract. I cannot tell you how well this actually works; I imagine you’d have to consume those ingredients for a long time to get the full effect (one bottle ain’t gonna do it), but those are healthy ingredients and certainly wont hurt you.

With this being labeled a water, I feel it is my duty to inform you that it is not a calorie free beverage; you’re getting 120 per bottle. That can still be part of a healthy diet, but you will have to figure it into your allowances. I recommend it, I was thirsty when I started, and now I’m not. It did it’s ultimate job in hydrating me, and tasted good in doing so. Price point is reasonable at $1.40ish a bottle. Bottoms up!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

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Snapple is in the process of rolling out a line of waters, Snapple Antioxidant Water. The flavored/enhanced water market is really starting to explode in growth, and you know what? I’m glad. I think the energy drinks are going to kill me any day now. If they do, thank you for reading.

I have five out of the line of seven, and I hope to bring them all to you over the next couple weeks. Each has it’s own unique properties, and Dragon Fruit’s special super power is to ‘Awaken.’ It does that through a blend of Vitamins A, E, and B, caffeine, guarana, ginseng, and electrolytes. It works, is probably a great deal more healthy for you that Red Bull and kin, and well get you properly hydrated.

The flavor is pretty tasty, and stronger than I expected from a water. Dragon fruit tastes similar to a kiwifuit, and that is what I was most reminded of. I consumed the whole 20 ounce bottle, sucked it dry fairly quickly, and was disappointed that there wasn’t more. So, it tastes good!

Only negative, and you’ll find this with a lot of these water products, it has sugar as a significant ingredient. In this products case, 150 calories/per bottle. A bottle is technically 2.5 servings, but you know you’re drinking the whole thing. I wish some/more artificial sweeteners could’ve been used, but that calorie number isn’t that high. Plus, with the vitamins, they’re not completely empty calories.

Bottom line, I recommend. It sits at a nice price point, $1.39-$1.49 per bottle. Tastes great. Gets some nutrients into your system while hydrating you. Solid product. I look forward to trying the rest!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

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I noted that Rockstar Roasted Light Vanilla wasn’t as thick, or as rich in consistency as the ‘Java Monster’ line of beverages. I assumed that was because the ‘Light Vanilla‘ variety was their low fat entry into the market, and I figured the other drinks would be a little heavier. I assumed wrong. After drinking the full fat, full calorie ‘Latte,’ I’ll now assume that’s just the consistency they were shooting for.

And that’s fine, I’m sure there are quite a few people that prefer that; I’m just not one of them.  Monster’s coffee/energy hybrids were filling, and I’d use them almost like a meal replacement shake. Rockstar Roasted is just a bit too ‘milky’ for me, but this is going to be a personal preference.

‘Latte’ tasted pretty good. Little sweeter than I’d take my coffee, but they’re tryig to appeal to everyone, so that’s to be expected. The flavor (just ‘coffee,’ nothing extra) is strong enough to hide any bitterness from Rockstar’s energy blend. That blend works; it’s pretty much proven. Woke me up out of a sleep deprived stupor this morning, and I haven’t crashed. Good stuff there.  220 calories per can, as well as 6 grams of fat.

I’ll recommend it, but not over it’s Monster equivalent; unless you found Java Monster too thick for your tastes. Around $2 wherever other Rockstar’s are sold, but you might also want to check your coffee/dairy section; that’s where I found mine. Enjoy!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

Found ‘em! Been on the look out for Rockstar Roasted for awhile now, and the three new versions of Java Monster. Then I found them, all six, lined up right next to each other in a Gate Station cooler. How awesome is that?

Starting off with Rockstar Roasted ‘Light Vanilla.’ I like the simple names; the Java Monsters (Loca Moca, Mean Bean, and Big Black) had names that made me want to chuckle, not take them seriously. All were great products though; how does Rockstar Roasted compare?

The ‘Light Vanilla’ is a half calorie, half fat product. So, it doesn’t have that rich creaminess that I’ve come to associate with these coffee/energy hybrids. I’m certain some would consider that a good thing, but I’m a bit indifferent. It tasted good, but just seemed to be missing something, and that was probably the other half of the fat and calories.

The flavor leans heavy on the coffee, light on the vanilla, and there’s no ‘energy drink’ aftertaste to be found. It’s not bitter, probably way too sweet for a lot of coffee drinkers, but should taste pretty good to the average consumer.

2 serving per can. Each can contains 100 calories, 3 grams of fat, 200$ DRV of B3-B6-B5-B12, and a general assortment of energy enhancers that work fairly well. Well rounded product that many will enjoy.

I’ll recommend this to folks who were looking for something in this category that is a little lighter. Rockstar Roasted Light Vanilla certainly fills a void. It wont be something I’ll pick up often, but it was good enough that I’m really looking forward to sampling the other varieties. Feedback is always appreciated!

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–Jeremy Hobbs

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