I like coffee and energy drinks, and I don’t like sleeping. The math is obvious, right? And as you can read here, reviewing energy drinks is my thing now.
As a first “properly” tested energy drink the audience chose G FUEL, so let’s go.
A week ago, on Tuesday, after one day of cleansing with no coffee and no energy drinks, I started on G FUEL. How did my week go?
Basic data: I work 8 hours a day (creative job, as a webdesigner), barely sleep, and play a lot of video games. In the meantime, there is another creative bit, which is writing. As for the video games – it’s mostly shooters, so I actually need the focus. I’m fairly good in Apex Legends, good in Battlefield and I like PUBG, even if my average placing is around 20-something.
G FUEL
US-based G FUEL was funded in 2012. The idea behind the product was “the healthiest, most effective Energy Formula for gamers“. And it looks like they’ve succeeded. They’re definitely the most famous ones, with a lot of games Twitchers, and YouTubers advertising their brand. Not to mention the collaborations with game studios and popular franchises outside of gaming as well.
If you’re located outside of the US, you can still order them from the official website, but some flavors will be limited only to the US. They count taxes straight away, so that’s nice.
You can also use one of the few European resellers.
Preparation
Each tub contains 40 servings of 7 grams. It’s enough to make about 470 ml of the energy drink, but of course, you can play around a bit with the amount of water if it’s too sweet.
Sadly, Gamerbulk’s shaker (and many many others) don’t give you too much space after the 470 ml of water, so it’s pretty hard to add ice cubes. Sucks, especially in this weather. G FUEL’s shaker is roughly the same size.
Taste
I use still water, and a shaker with the metal “ball” inside, that helps the mixing.
After a few minutes, it tends to split a bit and I basically have to shake it well before each sip, to make sure that it’s equally strong. That of course affects the taste, that’s very (very) powdery.
At first, I really didn’t like the flavor, but after a few days, I got used to it. You can easily tell it’s Bubble Gum. It’s just… not as smooth, as I would wish it was.
The taste doesn’t change overnight (with some energy drinks it helps a bit with the bitter flavor).
Energy, focus, and all that
It doesn’t kick immediately. I don’t have a very specific drinking schedule, but I usually ended up preparing G FUEL around dinner time (which is 5/6 pm in Ireland). Unless I’m not paying too much attention, drinking it takes me hours. When I’m not paying attention I can drink it all nearly in one go.
I don’t have that cartoonish “kick” with my eyes wide open and the gears in my brain turning with greater speed. Nothing like that. But I do my things and suddenly realize it’s 3 am. Oopsie. And I’m not even feeling tired.
As for the focus part and my brain functions – I think it works really well. I’m writing a lot (in Polish and English) and I just want to do it. I play games, obviously, and I just reached Platinum in Apex, so, it’s great. With sweatier lobbies, next week’s tests are gonna be a bit harder, ha.
No crush. I was heading to bed when I started to doze off (around 4 am) and went to sleep after an episode of a show or a few pages of a book.
Side-effects
None. A few “belly rumbles”, but that’s about it.
Fitbit-powered sleep stats
I thought it’d be a nice addition since some energy drinks actually improve the quality of your sleep. Or so I’ve heard! Ideally, I should do a control week with no energy drinks or coffee (ouch), but I’m not ready for that yet.
Average weekly sleep stats:
- Sleep Score: 83/100
- Sleep Time: 5 hr 14 min
Details
My flavor of choice is Bubble Gum. I didn’t feel very adventurous, but the selection with G FUEL is really great, with more than 50 available options! They’re US based, have loads of different collaborations and undoubtedly, they’re the most recognizable powdered energy drink brand.
Brand: G FUEL
Serving: 450 ml
Scoop size: 7g
Caffeine in serving: 140 mg
Price: 45 EUR / 36 USD
Serving price: 1.12 EUR / 0.90 USD
Label
As with most powdered energy drinks, we will see a low amount of calories, no white sugar, and a lot of caffeine. With 140 mg of caffeine, it’s not the most infused, but it’s very decent.
The powder is topped with some vitamins.
Next to the “energy complex”, we have “focus” and “antioxidant”. While focus and energy are kind of obvious, the antioxidant complex is here to help the vitamins “connect” with our body.
(Full breakdown of the ingredients commonly used in energy drinks and what they actually do is a topic for a lengthy post, and I’ll definitely do it at some point.)
Score: 4/5
Would buy it again? Yes. I’ll definitely try some other flavor.
Pros
+ actually works
+ loads of flavors
+ no side-effects
Cons
– powdery taste
I bought G FUEL on Gamerbulk – a great online store, where European audiences can get different brands of energy drinks in one place. There is no affiliation involved, and I’m just testing the energy drinks out of my own curiosity.