Zenify

With the holiday season wrapped up and all the orange soda consumed the stress level among the human population is now steadily declining.  If only there was some way to hurry up this stress relief, some sort of… soda.  Thanks to the fine folks at Zenify there just might be!  Zenify calls itself “the live stress free drink”, and says this no less than 4 times on each can.  This is apparently due to the active ingredient L-theanine which “increases serotonin and dopamine levels, promoting relaxation and concentration.”  This ingredient is followed up with the 2nd active ingredient Gaba which is “a natural calming agent that enhances relaxation and memory support.”  Something that amuses me about this “if the 90’s were still the future” can design is the fact that there are no capital letters in the primary design or explanation of the drink.  I was also told by the Zenify PR firm (this was given to us by them, btw) that it was sweetened with Stevia.  Now if you’ve read any review I’ve written about an only Stevia sweetened beverage you know I haven’t liked any of them.  Here’s the e-mail conversation that always happens between me and whoever is peddling the Stevia sweetened beverage.

Company X: Would you like to review this drink?  It’s sweetened with Stevia.

Totally Awesome Me:  Thanks!  I’d love to, but I’ve never liked a soda sweetened only with Stevia.

Company X: Yeah, me either, but ours is completely different and I actually like it.

T.A.M.:  Ok, can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Then I usually drink the beverage and dislike it, thus completing the Stevia cycle.  The folks at Zenify said that the citrus taste of Zenify should mask the terrible parts of the Stevia it’s sweetened with.  I think I’ve babbled long enough about it; it’s time to see if they’re correct.  Off we go!

I will say that Zenify smells a bit like grapefruit juice mixed with mango so they’re already off on the right foot with the old nose.  C’mon Zenify… wow me.

Thank you for not lying to me Zenify, the citrus flavor does indeed cover any terrible Stevia aftertaste that I might have experienced otherwise.  It’s light, fruity, and one of the more enjoyable “lifestyle beverages” I’ve had to date.  The primary taste to me is that of grapefruit, but I can’t seem to shake the mango off of my palate either.  I can’t tell if either of these fruits were used in making it because the ingredients list the ever vague “natural flavors”.  What I can do is tell you that this has a ridiculous amount of Vitamin C, B6, B12 and only 13 grams of sugar. 

Looking at the tiny print I noticed that Crystalline Fructose is also included in the ingredients.  According to Old Man Internet, Crystalline Fructose is 98% fructose and the rest are trace minerals and water.  It’s also apparently 20% sweeter than table sugar and 5% (not sure how you measure that) sweeter than HFCS.  However sweet it is I’m sure it’s helping cut into this Stevia aftertaste as well.  We once had a 50/50 drink sweetened with Stevia and Sugar and it was fantastic.  I really wish more companies would use Stevia like that instead of relying on it solely to sweeten their drink. 

Zenify isn’t a very sweet drink at all, relying more on the flavor of the fruit to carry the drink.  I don’t know if it’s due to the drink but I do feel more relaxed now that I’ve finished the can.  We don’t usually review the “affects” of a beverage, just the taste.  I’ll let you decide for yourselves if Zenify actually calms your body.  As for me, I’ll be drinking this again.

~A

(This beverage was supplied to us by Zenify)

Why is there an adorable monkey in this swag picture?  That's the kind of power Twist yields.