A fancy cocktail, a decent cup of coffee, a glass of champagne – there are a few drinks I would be willing to pay a bit extra for.
But R40 to R500 for a hydration drink created by a couple of YouTube stars? Probably not.
Having reported on ‘Prime Hydration and Prime Energy drinks’ explosive popularity, it was only right that I tried them out to see if they were worth the hype.
Where is the hype coming from? Well, Prime was launched by controversial but immensely popular YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul. The drinks have been heavily marketed to their huge fan base of mostly young males, but today everyone wants to try them out.
Prime isn’t exclusively an energy drink. Prime Hydration is the brand’s sports drink, which contains coconut water, B vitamins, and branched-chain amino acids, which bodybuilders use to promote muscle growth.
The brand’s energy drink is called Prime Energy, which also contains 200mg of caffeine – double the amount contained in a can of Red Bull.
Why the craze over the bottles? Simple - social media.
Teenagers, young adults, and children are following trends on social media, and seeing influencers or their friends with the drink on their social media has made the demand even crazier – highlighting how social media trends and influencers can cause such a storm.
Now what exactly is the hype? Local retailer Checkers Hyper was kind enough to send me two bottles earlier this week; the “ice pop” and “blue raspberry”.
This comes a week after the retailer announced that they will be selling the drinks at a price of R40. Many other shops were selling them at a price close to, wait for it, R500.
I decided to try the “blue raspberry” first as I trusted it to be the nicer one of the two drinks and it definitely was. One of the first things I noticed was that it was not as fizzy as I had anticipated.
This drink seemed somewhere in between an energy drink and flavoured water. It had a Powerade mountain blast flavour with a bit of a sweet aftertaste.
It was refreshing and not too bad on the tongue. I could definitely see myself sipping on this beverage again in the future.
Score: 6/10
I then went for the “ice pop”, which I think has the best packaging of all. On the nose, it produced a “grape-fruity” like flavour but disappointed on the palette.
It has a medicine-like taste, and this time there was not a sweet aftertaste. Instead, a little on the sour side. Of the two it has the worst flavour. If I was offered “ice pop” again, I would happily go thirsty.
Score: 3/10
Final verdict? The drinks are not so terrible but they are by no means anything spectacular and are certainly not worth the price tag in these trying times.