Other than the jitteriness, heart palpitations and insomnia, the energy drink Celsius offers a variety of flavors with different tastes, sweetness levels and even texture. While Celsius offers other products, such as Celsius Essentials, a more extreme version of Celsius, and powder stick packets, the Oak Leaf’s taste test compared the original Celsius to the fizz-free Celsius and selected the best flavors of both original and fizz-free.
The Celsius energy drink brand, first created in 2004, was launched to the public in 2005 by Steve Haley. It rebranded in 2012 and 2016 to be less weight-loss focused and more fitness-centered. For many college students, Celsius can provide a better taste than coffee, and it’s great for on the go when you’re running late and need some quick energy.
Celsius drinks have become a staple for athletes, students, caffeine addicts and people trying to lose weight but still needing to satisfy that sugar craving. In short, anyone trying to stay awake is a customer.
While Red Bull and Monster have dominated the energy drink market, Celsius is gaining on them, as it provides a sugar-free drink with 200 milligrams of caffeine that is low in calories, all for around $3.50 a can. In comparison, a Red Bull has 27 grams of sugar and 111 calories, while Monster has 54 grams of sugar and 230 calories.
We analyzed four flavors from both the original Celsius and the Fizz-Free Celsius to determine which flavor is best for each. For the original Celsius, we drank Peach Vibe, Arctic Vibe, Tropical Vibe and Playa Vibe. For the Fizz-Free Celsius, we sampled Pink Lemonade, Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Peach Mango Green Tea and Dragonfruit Lime. Our judging criteria covered the level of sweetness, drink texture and how accurate the flavor was to its name.
Original Celsius
Peach Vibe: Arguably the sweetest Celsius. While it’s marketed as a peach-tasting drink, it puts the peach fruit to shame. It was almost too sweet to determine the taste, and as we kept drinking, we started to forget the flavor as our taste buds felt like they were burned off. Despite its cloying sweetness, it does prove to be a refreshing summertime drink and sizzles with every sip.
Arctic Vibe: Arctic Vibe, with a more conspicuous name, offers flavors of sparkling berry with an undertone of cotton candy. It is our preferred Celsius, and while it still has a similar sweetness to Peach Vibe, it credits its name with its cooling taste. Although Arctic Vibe does have that candy-like taste, it doesn’t overdo it in sweetness and instead tastes like a blue slushy — minus the ice.
Tropical Vibe: Tropical Vibe is the truest to its name by exuding the citrusy taste it suggests. It would be our top choice if citrus were our top flavor, and someone who enjoys the taste of a tropical island melting on your tongue will like this one.
Playa Vibe: Out of the four Celsius tasted, the Playa Vibe is the most revolting Celsius we’ve ever tried. With its sparkling Pin֘a Colada and cream taste, every sip made us gag, and by the time we were finished, at least one of us was nauseous and almost ready to vomit.
Fizz-Free Celsius
Pink Lemonade: A great refreshing drink that reminded us of summertime. Not only does it smell and taste exactly like a sweet pink lemonade, but there’s also no added sugars or artificial flavors/colors. This is a great fizz-free option that tastes good and offers a boost of energy. We personally like the fizz in the drinks, but this flavor was our favorite.
Blue Raspberry Lemonade: Although the Pink Lemonade flavor is delicious, we cannot say the same for the Blue Raspberry Lemonade. Not only is it overly sweet, but the fact that it doesn’t have fizz made us gag; it’s like drinking pure syrup. The Blue Raspberry is so overpowering that you can hardly even taste the lemonade.
Peach Mango Green Tea: The Peach Mango Green Tea tastes exactly as it sounds. It’s a sweet beverage that actually tastes like iced tea and is by far one of the best fizz-free flavors.
Dragonfruit Lime: This drink was more on the plain side, lacking any strong flavor to make it memorable. The more we drank, the more we tried to decide if we enjoyed it. The dragon fruit and lime flavors were equally distributed, so the beverage didn’t taste like one or the other. It was bland and simple; we wouldn’t reach for it again.
After subjecting ourselves to a variety of Celsius flavors, we concluded that while the original Celsius provides a refreshing mouth-feel, one can’t discount the option of fizz-free Celsius.
In competition, the original Celsius vastly overpowers the fizz-free. The original Celsius’s best flavor is Arctic Vibe while the fizz-free’s best flavor is the Pink Lemonade.
If SRJC students are ever in a hurry and need a quick energy drink, Celsius offers a variety of flavors at affordable prices.
