FJ's Verdict:

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Product Name:ZizZazz Explosive Energy Mix
Company: ZizZazz
MSRP: $31.84 per box Click For Lowest Price On ZizZazz Energy!

Availability: Medium-Low (Mainly Online)

Instant gratification. A concept that is an innovative driver and simultaneously the downfall of humanity. Our obsession for instant gratification has led us to some kick ass advancements in almost every aspect of life, and today we have a line of products that give you a swift wake up call whenever you need it. Everyone’s working longer hours at higher intensities (well… most of us anyway) so the demand for a quick boost has obviously become big business. Yes, RedBull® started it all but who said that companies aren’t allowed to innovate?

Enter ZizZazz Explosive Energy. ZizZazz… Weird ass name? Yes. But luckily I remembered the lesson I learnt a while back. Don’t judge a supplement by it’s name. I actually never know if I’m pronouncing this thing right, and it makes my tongue do weird vibrations. I think I’m going to contact the helpful rep whom I talked to and get her to record the name for me. I should have paid attention to phonics when I was little. Pfft, oh well, let’s move on to the core of this little supplement and see what ZizZazz has to say about their little mixture…

Product Claims:

ZizZazz Explosive Energy Powder is consumable straight from the stick or can be easily mixed with your favorite cold beverage to make a great tasting energy drink. ZizZazz is made from powder and not carbonated, which makes it easier to drink and better for the body. ZizZazz is loaded with vitamins: A, C, D, E, B1, B5, B6, B12, Green Tea, Rhodiola Rosea and Ginseng. These ingredients provide healthy, consistent energy, awareness, concentration and hydration. As ZizZazz includes less than 1g of sugar in its ingredients, there is no crash. ZizZazz comes in 4 great tasting flavors: Pomegranate Mango, Cherry Lime, Tangerine, and Lemon Raspberry.

First Impressions:

Although I can totally live without this whole energy bullshit craze, I do tend to get excited for them. Mainly because I rarely use energy products but at times when I need them, they are nice to have *cough* at parties *cough*. Shit, you know my book? The tedious editing process was done at 2 am with apple slices and a concentrated cup of tea (Green & Yerba Mate). Anyways, the box itself is pretty cool. Looks attractive, has the right amount of info on it and can be closed up again. It’s got the tabs on the top just like a cereal box, how nice of them.

The box I got had all the different flavors in there (a good thing when you need to review). These flavors are as follows: Pom Mango, Tangerine, Cheery Lime & Lemon Raspberry (my pick). The best surprise is when you open the box and notice that the product comes in individual sticks. They took the Crystal Light® approach and I think it’s fucking awesome. Bravo ZizZazz. Another thing is that you get 4 sticks of every flavor so you end up with a total of 16 sticks.

Now here’s the interesting bit. When you consider the cost of the box, it works out to be $1.99 per stick. I know what you’re thinking, “This is awesome, much better than most other energy drinks, specially when the sticks are more convenient.” I agree, but it gets BETTER… (at least for some of you). You see, each stick is actually considered TWO servings, so this works out to be about $0.95 per serving. Well spank my ass and call me Sally, because that’s what I call value. But hold on to your panties because this won’t apply to everyone since some people have a higher tolerance to caffeine. If you can’t feel a single thing after drinking a cup of coffee, you might need to take the whole stick. You animal!

Let’s look at the stick itself, here it is in all it’s glory. It’s thin, convenient and has pre-cut edges at the top so tearing it open is a snap. Not much else to say here.

Moving on to the ingredients, the first one we’ll look at is caffeine (obviously). One thing to remember is the 100mg of caffeine stated on the box… which is PER SERVING. If you decide to take the entire stick, be prepared to handle 200mg. Next we have sugar, which is 1g or less per serving… So nothing to complain about here. What I do have a problem with though is that to make up for the lack of sugar, they have included sucralose (something I’m not keen about, but it beats aspartame any day). I’d prefer they used STEVIA… Damn it, no company has gotten this concept yet. Then we have the amount of sucralose, which might be slightly on the higher side because most of the flavors were pretty sweet, although this can obviously be fixed by adding more water.

Following that we have the usual array of vitamins such as C, E, B6, B12 etc. These are now standard in most energy drinks and have served us all well, so it’s good to see them included. Now we get to the trio of ingredients that I think is a GREAT inclusion, it’s just too bad I don’t know the exact amount added. These 3 are: Ginseng Extract, Green tea extract and Rhodiola Rosea Extract. Ginseng and Green Tea extract have a decent backing when it comes to effectiveness, but the Rhodiola Extract is something that’s being debated. It’s supposed to reduce fatigue and in my opinion it looks promising at this time. So why the hell not right?

Ok, let’s ditch the lab coat talk (if you could even call it that) and put this thing through a real test.

Real World Results:

Opening up the stick was simple enough, but before I poured all the glory in my water bottle, I remembered ZizZazz saying something about how you can eat the contents right outa the stick. Brings back fond memories of the days when I abolished a pixie stick in mere seconds. Mmmm.

So the result? Face morphing intensity. I started off with the Pom Mango flavor, and slightly poured the powder on my tongue. I got a slight tingle but everything was OK, the world was still in order. The taste isn’t bad but it’s followed by this odd bitter aftertaste (maybe it’s just the flavor? I duno…). Nevertheless, all hell breaks loose if you accidentally increase the angle of pour and end up with a bit more powder in your mouth. O-M-F-G. It’s just WAYYY to concentrated to eat on it’s own. The bitter after taste also intensifies and you are left with an overwhelming feeling of putting your mouth to the tip of a garden hose and letting it blast your taste buds with a stream of H20 that could probably put out a forest fire.

Yep, I know it all sounds whack, but things take a U-turn when you use the powder the way it was MEANT to be used – By mixing it in a bottle of water. When you do this, the end result is pretty much perfection. The pour is simple since the mouth of the stick is smaller than the tip of most water bottles and the mixability is down right incredible (the best I’ve seen) because all you have to do is give it a few shakes and it’s ready to rock. Oh and the taste? Awesome, but I have one slight complaint – The flavors don’t exactly taste the way you’d expect… They are a little over sweetened in my opinion. But out of the four that you get, Lemon Raspberry gets my top pick.

All this is good, but an energy drink wouldn’t be worth squat if it didn’t deliver the instant gratification kick in the ass most people are looking for. Here’s how it all went down…

I took half the stick on an empty stomach on a day where I kept myself stimulant free (basically I skipped the morning cup of coffee). It took 15 minutes to feel it, but there wasn’t any immediacy to the energy. I felt awake and just “good”. If you’re a regular coffee drinker such as moi, then it’s the exact same feeling you get from your morning cup. It’s not crazy, but it’s not weak either, you just feel “good”. Not bad, But it was time to kick this up a notch.

The next day I skipped my morning up again, did a workout and went on with my day. My energy levels are usually pretty constant through out the day, but I taxed myself a bit more during that morning workout and inevitably I had a little “lull” in energy around 8pm. Bam, mixed up a full stick of lemon raspberry and threw it back. After 12  minutes, I was able to feel a noticeable difference. At first it’s slightly jittery but that subsides in about 5 minutes after which you feel like taking on the world. Awesome.

It lasted for about 4 hours, after which there was a noticeable dip… But it wasn’t as bad as a crash. See here’s what gets most people, they think the main reason most energy drinks/powders make them crash is because of the high amount of sugar. This is only PARTIALLY true, the other part of the equation is caffeine itself. It’s a god damn stimulant for crying out loud, and when it’s effects wear off, there WILL be a slight crash and/or dip in your energy/mood levels. No caffeine product that I’ve come across has been immune to this concept (although some do perform better than others).

Conclusion:

I gota give Zizazz some props because although taking the entire stick is a bit of a roller coaster ride, their powered stick format makes it really easy for you to gauge your tolerance and supplement yourself accordingly. For example, the sticks that I have left will be taken at a steady pace… This will ensure a longer and smoother delivery of energy and should minimize the “dip” that I felt. Still, for testing purposes I just HAD to throw an entire one back. It was quite the experience. Let’s summarize the ZizZazz Explosive Energy Mix.

Pros:

• Convenient and Portable
• Inexpensive at $0.95 per serving
• Tastes Great
• Incredible Mixability
• Decent Energy

Cons:

• Eating the powder seems like a marketing act rather than a feature
• Flavors are a bit “off” the mark
• Amount of sucralose could be reduced

Because of this, I am going to give ZizZazz Explosive Energy a 4 out of 5 stars. Check back soon because I’ll be testing their “Explosive Workout Formula” to see if it can compete with others in the pre-workout supplement category. Oh the excitement!

To Being Fit & Sexy For Life.

-FitJerk

Flawless Fitness Book

P.S- Let’s hear your thoughts on energy drinks & mixes. Give me some names of a few that you’ve tried and state whether they’re effective or complete trash.