I don’t wanna be a pinhead no more
Jones GABA Nectarine Tea-Juice
Ok se we are stepping out a bit here. This drink is not truly an energy drink. Sure I have reviewed energy drinks that were caffeine free but they were still supposed to be energy drinks. This drink is part of a wave of “Functional” drinks that have a purpose. The purpose of this one is to help you focus and pretty much think better. Will it help me focus and be clear headed? It’s not something I’m usually good at.
Packaging: I will come right out and say it. This is one awesome design that caught my eye right away. You start out with a 12 oz slim can. The majority of the can is orange and white laid out in a unique format. There is a black strip at the top of the orange section that has the name “Jones GABA Gamma Amino Butyric Acid” in silver font with the GABA being in a white larger font. Further down in the orange section it reads “Focus + Clarity” and also includes a paragraph about what GABA is and is supposed to do. The flavor is also listed in this section. The rest of the can has this super cool orange and black swirl pattern. The swirls are like wind or clouds. I am not sure what they are but they look damn cool. Grade A- for packaging
Slogans: Not much to go by here. “Focus + Clarity” is nice but it is not really a slogan. Grade D for slogan. Surely they could come up with something catchy that fit well with the functionality.
Taste ect: Nectarine is a cool flavor that you don’t often see in drinks. Sure it’s pretty close to peach but the name has more of a sophistication to it. I pop the top and get a nice sweet Nectarine/peach scent that has my mouth watering right away. I pour some in a cup and it comes out a dark cloudy orange color that resembles juice with no carbonation. I take a sip and get a taste of tea mixed in with some mild nectarine and a hint of white grape. The finish is kind of water like and the drink is not very sweet at all. It’s like drinking a weak tea with just a hint of nectarine and very little sugar. It’s not bad and is easily gulpable and thirst quenching. I would like to get more of the nectarine flavor in there. The flavors in this drink are good but there are just not enough of them. Grade C-
Functionality/Ingredients: So I changed this portion to functionality/ingredients since kick is not really the purpose of this drink. I really was expecting to be under whelmed but surprisingly after drinking this drink I felt a level of calmness and clarity. Really I think it improved my focus. I was at a point in my day where I would be expecting to be somewhat fuzzy in the brain and distracted. I’d say for at least 2 hours I got a lot of tedious work done without my mind wondering. Really it is hard to describe the feeling but my mood was relaxed and I was feeling good. This drink is fair trade certified and fairly healthy. The main ingredient for the functionality is GABA and you can read up on that all over the net. Otherwise it is made with water, cane sugar, white grape juice, and natural flavors. There are only 90 calories oer can and 22 grams of carbs. Grade B for functionality/ingredients I was a bit disappointed there was no real nectarine juice listed in the ingredients
Web presence: There is a site just for this drink from Jones Soda company at jonesgaba.com. The site is a nice clean looking site with info on the drink and its ingredients. The site works well but the info is a little sparse. You can order some of these drinks there and you can also read a bit and catch some video clips. Nothing ground breaking or time consuming here. Grade C for web presence
Recap:
So this drink surprised me with its functionality and how it worked. The packaging is awesome but the taste is only so so. The good news on the taste is that they have 3 other flavors. I can see this drink coming in handy while testing or studying and maybe at work where you need focus. If is sounds like something you need then you should check it out and let me know if it works for you.
