Rockstar - Roasted Coffee & Energy - Light Vanilla Review

Rockstar's Roasted Coffee & Energy energy drinks were on sale while walking down the clearance isle of a local Walgreens. And I do mean on sale - they were 74 cents each. Being a coffee drinker and an energy drink drinker, and with a positive experience with the original Rockstar drink, why not? Unforunately, Rockstar Roasted Coffee & Energy Light Vanilla is not a rock and roll winner, but more like a rock-down loser.

Each bottle of Rockstar Roasted Energy, regardless of the flavor, contains 15 ounces. This is an actual energy drink, not a sports drink, so it contains plenty of B vitamins (notably B3, B5, B6, and B12) and a large amount of taurine and caffeine. An 8 ounce serving of the light version of this drink is only 50 calories and very low in both fat and sodium. The can says it has 80% less calories than the original, so the original would still only be a modest 90 calories per serving.

I was looking forward to the taste. After chilling the energy drink overnight, I opened up the bottle, looked at the color and consistency, and thought, "It doesn't seem that bad." I took a taste and thought it had a pretty good coffee and milk combination, but slightly too sweet. But what aftertaste came up afterwards was far less than sweet. The aftertaste I got was a strange, almost liquid medicine-like flavor. I was only able to drink a quarter of it before I marked it intolerable.

So all around, Rockstar Roasted Coffee & Energy is a good idea with a poor execution. The idea of bringing coffee taste into an energy drink would be a great accomplishment, but Rockstar failed on this one. I can't recommend it; there are better options all across the board for everything Roasted Coffee & Energy does, at least the Light Vanilla flavor.