Needcoffee.com - Ten Years of Insomnia: 1998-2008!
SCIENCE! Sugar vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup
Posted on 07.22.09 by Widge @ 12:25 am

After checking out a recent episode of Skeptoid regarding the health risks (or lack thereof) of high fructose corn syrup, it occurred to me to question my own taste preferences. Can I actually taste the difference between sugar and high fructose corn syrup in cola? To answer my own question, I setup a blindfolded triangle test between Pepsi and Pepsi Throwback as well as Coke and "Mexican" Coke. The results might surprise you. Some of them surprised me.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Categorized as: Drinks
Comments: 9 Comments





Steak n Shake's Red Bull Freeze - Drink Review
Posted on 07.18.09 by Widge @ 5:45 am
Red Bull Freeze from Steak n Shake

So when Miss Destructo mentioned on her Twitter account that this existed, my destiny became clear. After all, it's no secret that I love ice cream. It's also no secret that Red Bull is a good friend of mine and has been there for me when many others, including my consciousness and sanity, have fallen by the wayside. So when you put the two together, it seems like a recipe for disaster, stimulation, insanity, palate destruction or all of the above.

Thus, I found myself calling the closest Steak n Shake to see if they had this as an offering and they did. So first chance we had, it was in the car and going there with the sole purpose of trying it. Again: destiny.

I wasn't sure what to expect. After all, it's called a "Red Bull Freeze." People were asking, is it a slushie? A milkshake? Something else? It wasn't until the waitress brought it out--that's it, of course, in the pic--that I could see it was indeed a Red Bull milkshake. And it doesn't look like anything special at all, does it? It looks just like a vanilla milkshake. It's unassuming. That's how it draws you in.

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Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
Comments: 8 Comments



Berry Crunk - Drink Review
Posted on 06.21.09 by Widge @ 6:44 pm
Berry Crunk

I have to admit that I felt a little foolish buying Crunk Energy Drink for the first time. It's tied to hip hop and rap music by its name and its co-founder, Lil Jon. And that's about all I know. So it's the same sort of poseurish feeling one might get purchasing Pimpjuice when one is not a pimp nor does one want to know how a pimp is juiced.

The thing about Crunk is that...well, it seems to work. For me, anyway. Is it the caffeine? The ginseng? Or is it some sort of weird placebo effect you get when you drink something that has horny goat weed as an ingredient? Good question. Regardless, Crunk is always a good source of energy. Your mileage may vary.

Still, now I get to feel foolish just saying "Berry Crunk." Because that to me is like taking this subgenre of music and flavoring it not unlike a General Mills cereal. The main thing about Berry Crunk is that it, like regular Crunk, works. But the taste is interesting. At first, you get the regular Crunk underpinnings, which I can't quite explain to you except that it's different--to my palate, at least--than most other energy drinks that appear to be Red Bull clones/wannabes. But the flavoring they've laid down on top of it reminded me of the horribly sweet drinks from childhood that had some form of "Aid" in the title. Kool-Aid, figured I. Flavorade, figured Doc. It tastes fake--but it's real enough, apparently, as the drink has natural flavors, along with real acai and grape juice. If there's an artificial flavor in there, I overlooked it.

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Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
Comments: None



Whynatte Latte - Drink Review
Posted on 06.10.09 by Widge @ 4:36 am
Whynatte Latte

Whynatte Latte is an interesting beast. I've complained before about coffee beverages, and when you start to get into coffee/energy drink territory, it's terribly easy for things to go wrong. And I have to admit, after having the drink recommended to me, my heart sank a bit at the sign of my mortal enemy: sucralose. As has been well documented here, I have a sensitivity to sucralose--i.e., I can taste it quite easily and the taste (and its aftertaste) can turn me off of a drink in about a half a sip.

Beyond that, though, the drink looked fantastic. Per the can, they have no artificial hormones in the milk they use, plus 1000mg of Taurine, 175mg of L-Carnitine, 100mg of ginseng, 90mg of caffeine, and 25mg of guarana seed extract. Plus you've got 100% of your RDA for riboflavin, niacin, B6 and B12. And some real sugar, but still that damnable sucralose, smirking at me from the ingredients list.

Still, I went into my first can of Whynatte with high hopes. And I'll admit something else to you: I was pleasantly surprised. Is there the sucralose taste? Yes, but they've managed to beat it into submission with the coffee. In fact, the drink tastes more like an actual latte than most canned lattes--not too sweet, but the taste of coffee and milk are both there. Aftertaste? Not really, no. I think, beaten down by the coffee, the sucralose just sort of slinks off to a corner of your throat to sulk.

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Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
Comments: 3 Comments



Wendy's Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty - Drink Review
Posted on 06.06.09 by Widge @ 3:46 am
Wendy's Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty

Two things I have a weakness for have combined forces under the Wendy's logo in order to make my arse even wider than it already is. Dastardly.

And honestly, the only disappointing thing about the Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty is the name. Because if you can say it out loud without feeling foolish then, well, good on you. When I ordered it I left out the "twisted" part. I figure it's inherent: if you really want an milkshake-ish drink that tastes like a touch of coffee added to chocolate with bits of broken-up toffee in it, then you're already pretty twisted.

The drink itself is tasty. It's sugary and has a nice coffee mocha taste to it, which is punctuated every time you suck a fragment of toffee up the straw. (I eschew spoons when it comes to Frostys. I know, I'm weird like that.)

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Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
Comments: 1 Comment



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