Better Run Through the Jungle
Make sure and read my interview with Amazon energy
Sambazon Amazon Energy
Well I know that all the HFC and or sugar as well other unhealthy ingredients in energy drinks are not good for me. I was excited to see a healthy alternative. Now I was looking for a healthy energy drink that tasted good and provided a nice kick to boot. When I saw Sambazon was releasing an energy drink I was hoping it would fit the bill. Sambazon is well known as a quality company who makes some great super healthy juices and smoothies. There main thrust is organic Acai (ah-sigh-ee) berry which is considered by many to be a superfruit packed with powerful antioxidants.
Packaging: Amazon energy comes in a tall slim 12oz can. The can is a nice metallic purple with some background graphic stripes. They might not be stripe exactly look like they might be palm leaves. Acai berries are purple and they grow on palm trees so that explains a lot about the design. On the front is the word “organic” at the top and below that is the Sambazon Logo with some type of Amazon chieftain in green and purple. Below the logo is “Amazon: in white and “Energy” in green. At the bottom is the phrase “Pure Positive Energy” and below that is “Acai Berry” in green. On the back of the can you have a large paragraph about the drink ingredients and nutrition facts. All in all this is a nice can. I like the mix of purples and the green text. They get the message across that this is a healthy organic energy drink. I’m giving them a B for packaging. They did a great job on this one.
Slogan: Well the main one would be “Pure. Positive. Energy”. That really covers what this drink is all about. They also throw in their usual “Get with the purple berry” slogan that they use on all of their Acai products. I’ll give them a B+ for slogan. No it is not exciting but it gets the message across very well.
Taste: I have had drinks with Acai as the flavor but I expect this one to have a little more Acai than your usually Acai flavored energy drinks. It comes out of the can with a nice organic berry scent. It is a purple color with a medium level of carbonation. It has a nice light berry taste. There is some tartness to match well with the Acai flavor. The tartness comes from the Acerola. The carbonation really works well with the Acai and Acerola and makes them better than they usually are. There is also a hint of an earthy organic flavor most likely from Yerba mate and Green tea extract. Really I have enjoyed the flavor of this a lot. It is not too sweet and not to organic tasting. It’s a perfect balance and I could drink this on a daily basis I think. I will give them a solid B for taste. For a healthy drink I don’t think you could find one better tasting than this one.
Kick/ingredients. This is the area where a lot of organic all natural energy drinks fail. It’s supposed to be an energy drink. How does Sambazon Amazon Energy stand up though. Quite well really. You get 80 mg of naturally caffeine which is on par with a Red Bull and many other energy drinks. There are 120 calories, 30 mg of carbs , and 28 mg of sugar. There is also 750% of your rda of vitamin C. You get all this from organic evaporated cane juice, organic Acai juice, organic Acerola juice, organic Guarana, organic yerba mate, and organic green tea extract. Acerola contains 10 to 50 % more vitamin C than oranges! Acai contains 30 times the antioxidants of red wine. Wow those are some top shelf healthy ingredients. I got a good buzz each time I tried Amazon Energy and it lasted several hours and there was no crash. To top that off actually felt like I was doing something good for myself after drinking this. I will give them a grade of B for kick. It’s not over the top but it is average in kick to most other drinks. I bumped it up to a B though because of all the great ingredients.
Web presence: Sambazon Amazon Energy has a nice website at sambazon.com. The site is well laid out and has tons of information about all the Sambazon products. Since the Amazon Energy is so new there is not a lot of information about it there beyond nutritional info and a store to buy it online. Still there is a lot of stuff to look at on the site. There is a blog to check out, a store to buy stuff, a mission statement. You will learn that Sambazon is company that you can feel good about supporting. I will give them a B for web presence. Nice site that is fun to spend some time on and they also have a Myspace page and a facebook page.
Recap:
If I had this drink available at my corner store I think I would grab every day instead of the usual suspects. I really enjoyed it in the morning as a healthy way to get the day started. Give it a try and see if you don’t agree that it one of the best organic energy drinks out there.
Make sure and read my interview with Amazon energy
