Boy is Big Lots a great place to get energy-providing beverages! On the same haul that produced the Red Rain drink featured in a previous review, I also found Big Jak Iced which, as the name implies, is an iced tea/energy drink hybrid.
This one also has a very fakey flavor that consists of peach and iced tea. It really tastes like a bad canned tea knockoff, but it goes down easy and doesn’t have a bad aftertaste, so I have to give it some recognition for that. I also just realized that it has no sugar, and only 5 calories per 8 oz. serving (or 10 in the whole 16 oz. can). It’s sweetened with sucralose, which I’m sure is linked to cancer somehow, as every artificial sweetener seems to be, but this at least partially forgives the flavor, as it essentially makes it a diet tea. I’m actually pretty shocked they don’t make a bigger point of mentioning this anywhere on the can (at least, not anywhere I noticed) as it could be a big selling point these days.
At $.50 a can at Big Lots stores, presumably while supplies last, this is quite a value. It’s not nearly as smooth as Arizona’s Drive (also available at Big Lots, and for the same price), but where it may lack in smoothness, it makes up for in caffeine: There’s 120 mg…per 8 oz. serving. Since there’s two servings in here, that means there’s a whopping 240 mg inside a whole can. For fifty cents?! It’s certainly a super-cheap way to get a big boost. Due to my low tolerance for caffeine, it only took me half a can to get super-hyped, so that took my savings even further, as I only paid a quarter per sitting. Easily an amazing value in the world of energy drinks!
Overall: 8/10. I could do without the intensely fake peach flavoring, but the tea part is very good and it goes down easy, with no medicine aftertaste. There’s a lot of caffeine (240 mg per can) in here for not a lot of dough ($.50 per can at Big Lots stores), so this provides an excellent source of value for those looking to get a nice energy rush on a budget. It only took me a few sips before I started feeling it, and I only needed half the can to really get going, so it works. I would get it again, for sure. It does what it’s supposed to do, does it well, and only costs two quarters…what’s not to like? Besides the ultra-lame peach flavoring, that is.
