I’ve always liked having a cup or two of coffee in the morning, but when I started working out before heading to the office, I found myself craving something cold. So, instead of reaching for iced coffee, I turned to energy drinks like Celsius.
The brand, which launched in 2004, struggled to gain traction at first, but is now the third-largest energy-drink brand behind Red Bull and Monster.
Its rise in popularity can largely be attributed to the distribution and investment deal Celsius struck with PepsiCo in 2022. Celsius doubled its revenue the next year.
In order to find out which Celsius flavor was best, I tasted seven kinds and ranked them from my least favorite to my top pick. However, because Celsius energy drinks contain around 200 milligrams of caffeine, I spaced the test out over four days.
Here’s my ranking of the flavors I tried, from worst to best.
The sparkling Fuji-apple-pear flavor was easily my least favorite.
The sparkling Fuji-apple-pear flavor was way more sour than I expected it to be — my face started puckering at the first sip.
Most of the sour notes were balanced out with the almost overwhelmingly sweet aftertaste, but my first sip was too jarring to rank this one any higher — especially when every other Celsius flavor I tried was so much better.
The sparkling raspberry-peach flavor was only slightly better.
The sparkling raspberry-peach Celsius was better than the previous flavor, but it still wasn’t the best. I expected it to be a strong contender for the top of the list, but after the first sip, it was a bit of a letdown.
Though there were notes of raspberry and peach present, the flavors weren’t as strong as I wanted them to be. I also thought this iteration had the strongest green-tea flavor out of all of the ones I tried.
Celsius’ sparkling wild berry had a bit of a medicinal flavor.
Berry is usually my favorite flavor, so I expected Celsius’ take on it to end up at the top of my list.
However, there was something overtly medicinal about the flavor, making each sip quite off-putting. Once that flavor dissipated, though, it tasted more like a Jolly Rancher and grew on me before I finished the can.
Because the wild-berry flavor didn’t have a sugary or tart note that stuck around, I thought it worked well as a pre-workout drink.
The Fantasy Vibe sparkling mandarin marshmallow tasted like an orange creamsicle.
I had low expectations for the Fantasy Vibe sparkling mandarin-marshmallow Celsius based on the title of the flavor alone. I couldn’t imagine a marshmallow-flavored energy drink, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The drink smelled like the inside of Bath and Body Works, but don’t let that deter you. Because of its sweetness, this is the perfect afternoon pick-me-up. It’s like a sparkling dessert in a can, and I’ll gladly drink this one again.
The Tropical Vibe sparkling starfruit pineapple had a more subtle flavor than the others I tried.
I really liked the Tropical Vibe sparkling starfruit-pineapple flavor because it was much subtler than the others I tried.
There wasn’t a ton of pineapple flavor, but the starfruit really came through nicely. It also tasted much more like sparkling tea than an energy drink — but that’s what I liked about it.
I enjoyed the Galaxy Vibe sparkling-strawberry-watermelon flavor.
The special-edition Celsius flavors turned out to be better than I expected — especially in the case of the Galaxy Vibe sparkling strawberry watermelon.
Both the strawberry and watermelon flavors came through nicely, but were balanced enough to avoid tasting too sweet or tart.
I’d definitely pick this one up again. In fact, I found myself wanting another can as soon as I finished the first one.
Watermelon was easily my favorite flavor.
The lack of energy-drink or green-tea flavor ultimately landed watermelon its spot at the top of my list.
In my opinion, this one also smelled the best out of all the flavors I tried and tasted like real watermelon.
Although this flavor was quite sweet, it was less jarring than some of the more out-there flavors.
The post I tried every Celsius energy-drink flavor I could find and ranked them from worst to best. One clearly blew the others away. appeared first on Business Insider.
