So it’s obligatory for us to begin any review of caffeinated sparkling water by talking about Hiballs, the life-changing divine nectar that reigns supreme in the bubbleverse. We would drink these all day, every day, if we could.
But tragically, we can’t. We mean, we can, at one point we were drinking three a day. But that’s kind of excessive. Each Hiball contains 160mg of caffeine, which is perfect at the crack of dawn, when we sit down to begin exploring the sparkling water cosmos anew. But it’s always a good idea to keep your caffeine tolerance in check, lest you spiral down into fiendom like we have.
Still, we’ll confess, when we first saw the caffeinated AHAs, we scoffed at the paltry 30mg of caffeine. Like what would that even do? It’s equivalent to less than 3oz of coffee.
But this was a failure of imagination on our part. It’s actually the perfect amount for whenever you might need a subtle lift, and we’ve come to realize that it’s actually pretty genius to have a sparkling energy water with only a tiny amount. We reach for these all the time now.
Tasting Notes
The nose on these is a gentle waft of juicy orange and lemon. It suggests that you’re going to have a juicier, orange-ier experience than the actual taste.
The citrus is fairly subdued in these. The lemon is most pronounced, but it’s an easy lemon, nothing sour about it. It’s rounded by the orange in a pleasant way. These are classic AHA citrus flavors, round, slightly sweet, a little cartoonish, but refreshing nonetheless.
We suppose we can taste a small hint of verdant earthiness in the background, but really, the green tea is almost nowhere to be found. We wonder if they included “green tea” in the name mainly to indicate that these are slightly caffeinated (30mg is also about the amount of caffeine in a cup of green tea). As an aside, did you know that green tea first entered this dimension when a Zen monk tore his eyelids off in a fit of rage at his own sleepiness?
We also appreciate that these contain electrolytes, although the exact amount doesn’t seem to be listed anywhere that we can find. While some claim that caffeine depletes electrolytes, that isn’t really true. But we’re always happy to get a few ‘lytes whenever!
Overall, this is definitely the most Zen of all the AHA flavors. It’s refreshing, subtle, and lets you maintain a little buzz without getting into jitter territory. Our sadness at the last drop of our one Hiball of the day is lessened now, knowing there’s a Citrus Green Tea ready and waiting in the fridge.
ingredients
Carbonated Water, Natural Flavors, Caffeine, Electrolyte Sources (Calcium and Magnesium Chlorides, Potassium Bicarbonate)
caffeine in AHA Citrus + Green Tea
30mg
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