As far as I knew, Del Monte just did canned fruits and fruit juice. But last year they made the jump into the energy drink market with Bloom Energy.
I found it by accident one day when I was buying an Ito En Sencha Shot and browsing all the super-unhealthy energy drinks – and then I saw this bright silver can with the Del Monte logo.
I checked it out and was quite surprised to see a list of healthy ingredients! A full serving of fruit, vitamins, etc. Naturally, I bought one of each flavor (wild berry, mango passion fruit, and cran raspberry) so I could do a taste test.
Starting with Mango Passionfruit:
The taste? Good. Almost great.
The mango flavor tastes nice, it’s very tropical and flavorful. It’s definitely thick like mango juice but with that lightly carbonated crispness that makes it refreshing.
And now Cran Raspberry:
The taste? Pretty good.
The cran raspberry is nice, but unfortunately it ranks at the bottom of my list. It has the standard cranberry flavor, but a little dull. Luckily it’s not sour or overpowering; instead, you really notice the raspberry.
Finally, Wild berry:
The taste? Great.
Wild berry tastes freaking awesome! Again, there’s that slightly carbonated flavor, kind of like sparkling grape juice, but with a hint of raspberry in there. In other words, really good.
While all the flavors are pretty good, I LOVE the wild berry!
Now we can talk about that energy boost (or “bloom” as they say.)
There’s not much to talk about though, since the energy kick isn’t really there. If you’re drowsy you’ll feel more upbeat and awake, but it’s not a crazy boost like those other energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull.
However it does contain taurine, ginseng, etc, like most energy drinks.
That reminds me, the ingredients…
There’s no high fructose corn syrup or other crap like that. It has fruit juice concentrates that do a great job of sweetening things up. However, hidden towards the bottom of the list is sucralose. I’m not exactly thrilled about that, considering its link to cancer. I just avoid any kind of artificial sweeteners to play it safe.
But what I don’t understand in this case is why it’s necessary. The juice concentrates should provide plenty of sweetness on their own. (After all, it does have 20g of sugar, which should sweeten things enough.)
And that adds up to 100 calories in a 10.5 oz can.
The price.
Retail is $1.99 so at least it’s cheaper than Red Bull.
My final verdict is…
It tastes great, sort of like real fruit juice, but even better with that slight bit of carbonation. And it’s full of healthy ingredients.
But then there’s the sucralose. If it wasn’t for the sucralose I’d drink this all the time. As it stands, I won’t be drinking any more. Seriously, WHY WHY WHY do they need sucralose?? I bet it’s sweet enough with the fruit juice, and it’s full of healthy ingredients so it caters to the health-conscious consumers, unlike Red Bull.
So why does it do all that then turn away those of us who are wary of the dangers from artificial sweeteners???
Del Monte official site: www.DrinkBloomEnergy.com
Company: Del Monte
Product: Del Monte Bloom Energy
Reviewed by: Coach Levi
My Rating: out of 5
Date last updated: 2008-03-06
Obtained Product: Purchased at retailer.
CoachLevi.com Advertiser: No.
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Levi Bloom is an experienced endurance athlete who has been training and competing for over 17 years. A former Cat 1 road and mountain bike racer (professional class on the regional circuit), he is now a cycling coach (USA Cycling Level 3 Certified) and sports nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certified).
When I first saw this I thought that bloom (the food store) had started an energy drink. I was shocked. Then I realized that it is the well established Del-Monte. If I see this I’ll give it a shot, I like sweet stuff and Ifigure that natural sweeteners are just going to rot my teeth why not take a gamble with artificial?
These days just about everything has a reputation for rotting some part of your body 🙂
I enjoyed the bloom drink now I can’t seem to find any in the store .When I taste the drink it was a very good shock to my taste bud because most energy drink give you a soda taste all I taste was fruit and the energy boost was great.I would like to know who are your carry of the drink in the south.
I just tried bloom for the first time.
One word: Amazing.
Even better: They carry this at my local BigLots for 60 CENTS!
Yes…
60 CENTS PER CAN
Ill be drinking this quite often…as I LOVE how it’s not loaded with caffene, but it has just enough to keep me up-beat.
Buy it.
I’ve only tried the Passion Fruit flavor…and I must say…it tastes nearly identical to Squirt, but a little better.
Good stuff, man.