I think this has been the busiest year of my life by far! With school, work, and issues in my personal life, I don’t have too much free time and have even less time to get a good night’s sleep. I used to drink coffee and energy drinks somewhat regularly, but they never really seemed to do anything for me in terms of giving me any sort of energy. For one reason or another, I decided to try 5 Hour Energy, and to my surprise, it actually helped a lot! Because of how well it worked the first time, I kept going back and trying more flavors. I’ve built up quite a catalog so now I give you my personal ranking of all the flavors of energy shots I have tried!
14. Tropical burst (5Hr energy)
Words cannot express how much I hate this flavor. It was absolutely disgusting! A few of the other flavors on this last had some bad aftertastes, and there were others that didn’t have a good flavor at all, but this one was truly terrible. 0/10, would NOT recommend. I couldn’t even finish the bottle. Gross.
13. Cherry (5 Hr energy)
Cherry was such a letdown for me. I was really hoping to like it, but it was just too bitter. It also had a pretty gnarly aftertaste. If this were the only flavor available, then I would take it, but I’d probably have to drink something else right after. Still better than tropical burst, though.
12. Berry (5 hr energy)
The flavor wasn’t THAT bad, but the aftertaste was just terrible. There is nothing more to really say about it. I just wasn’t impressed.
11. peach mango (5hr EnergY)
I tried the peach mango of two different brands, and out of the two, the one belonging to 5 Hour Energy just wasn’t nearly as good as the other. It had a weird aftertaste, and it was also oddly bitter, at least in comparison to the other brand. I LOVE mango, so I was pretty certain that I would like this, but I think it is because I like mango (flavoring) so much that I didn’t, because it didn’t live up to my standards. I was pretty disappointed, I can’t lie.
10. Transfusion (5 hr energy)
Before even talking about how this one tasted, WHAT KIND OF NAME IS TRANSFUSION? Now, maybe I’m just uneducated, but I have no idea what “transfusion” is or what it’s supposed to taste like. Typically, you can just look at the label and see the design on the wrapper, which correlates to the flavor, but the wrapper for this one was borderline hot pink, and it had a golf ball on the front of it. What is that supposed to mean? Not only was I terribly, terribly confused (and pretty hesitant) to try this one, but it also just didn’t taste good. I was hoping after I drank it, I could then relate it to some other kind of flavor, but I really don’t think I have ever tried anything like this. Even now, I have no idea what the flavor was supposed to be. I guess I’ll never know because I am most definitely not trying it again.
9. acai pomegranate (stacker2)
First one on the list that isn’t made by 5 Hour Energy. I don’t have much to say for this one. It just wasn’t that good. I’m sure other people like it, but it just wasn’t for me. It got the job done, though. I would say that 10th to 14th place are all of the flavors that I wouldn’t bother trying again. In comparison to the rest of my list, these ones suck. But in comparison to 10th to 14th place, Acai Pomegranate wasn’t that bad.
8. blue raspberry (Stacker2)
Unlike the past 6 flavors I just listed, I don’t dislike this one; it just didn’t have much of a flavor in general for me to put it any higher than 9th place. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either. If you were just starting to drink energy shots and aren’t sure of what you might like, I think this is a safe choice to start off with.
7. tidal twist (5 hr energy)
Just like the last flavor I mentioned, this one wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good enough to be placed any higher. In general, the flavor wasn’t too memorable. I don’t dislike this one, but it’s definitely not a favorite of mine either.
6. Grape (5 hr energy)
For someone who DESPISES artificial grape flavoring, this really wasn’t bad. The only reason this one isn’t placed any higher on my list is that I DO like all the other flavors that much. I will say, of all the grape-flavored things I can think of, this has to be one of the best.
5. grape (stacker2)
And right here is THE best artificial grape-flavored food/drink to ever exist. I was beyond shocked by how much I liked this one. I would actually drink this one again, WILLINGLY! I would give this a solid 7/10, would recommend.
4. strawberry banana (5 hr energy)
Now that we are at my top four, we have finally reached the GOOD STUFF. (Most) All energy shots have some kind of weird aftertaste, or flavor in general, but I really didn’t notice that with my top four. I was originally a bit scared to try this one because, for whatever reason, I convinced myself that this one would be really sweet (probably because of the banana), but that wasn’t the case at all. If anything, I would describe it as ‘refreshing’. It tasted more like a juice than an energy shot. 8/10, WILL be drinking this one again!
3. Peach Mango (stacker2)
THIS peach mango was REALLY good! I tried this one before trying the 5 Hour Energy Peach Mango, and unlike that one, this was nice and sweet, had little to no aftertaste, and was all in all really good. I can definitely see myself buying these regularly.
2. Strawberry Watermelon (5 hr energy)
YUM. Strawberry Watermelon was nothing short of delicious. There was no weird aftertaste or anything else like that. It was sweet but not too sweet either. It was really good. There really isn’t anything more I can say about it. I would recommend trying this one, especially if you don’t normally/haven’t tried energy shots before, because the flavor isn’t underwhelming or overwhelming. It’s the perfect starter. 9/10
1. Blue raspberry (5 hr energy)
Finally made it to first place! I have nothing bad to say about this one. It was really good. I’m pretty sure my issue with a lot of the other flavors was that I was comparing what they tasted like to what the actual thing they are supposed to taste like (Meaning I was comparing peach mango to how ACTUAL peaches and mangos tasted, and so on and so forth). As we all know, blue raspberries aren’t real, and all blue raspberry flavoring is artificial. I’m relatively certain that was the sort of “saving grace” for this one, because I wasn’t really able to compare it to anything else. Personally, I think everyone who drinks energy shots should give this one a go (though it should be noted, I really wouldn’t recommend just anyone to start taking energy shots if you really didn’t have to). 10/10, no notes!