Caffeine is highly addictive. So many people rely on caffeine so much to the point they have to drink it every morning (and even a few times throughout the day) in order to function. Some people are die hard coffee drinkers, while others may prefer an iced matcha or hot tea. Nevertheless, caffeine consumes people’s lives. This article is a review on a few caffeinated beverages and which drink was the most popular of the few.
I interviewed three people and asked each how caffeine already affects their day to day. I had each interviewee try three different flavors of Starbucks Double Shot energy drinks, which were vanilla, mocha, and caramel. I also had them try Snapple’s Peach Tea and Kiwi Strawberry juice (which actually turned out to not be caffeinated).
Mrs. Bjorklund, a librarian here at Kempsville, knew from the get go that she would not like the Snapple drinks since she’s “not a Snapple [fan].”
She did, in fact, like the Mocha doubleshot coffee and said that it was very sweet “but it’s very good, I like this one.”
Although Mrs. B (Mrs. Bjorklund) is an avid coffee drinker, she does love sweet tea, but “only sweet tea from the South.”
Overall, Mrs. B stated that she liked all three of the coffees and that the caramel double shot was her favorite.
While Mrs. B prefers coffee, Mrs. Báez, a math teacher at Kempsville, is more of a tea drinker.
After trying the caramel double shot, Mrs. Báez stated that even though she’s not a big coffee drinker it was good and “doesn’t have a strong coffee taste, so I like it a lot. And it doesn’t taste like it would be extra caffeinated. Yeah, so it’s good, I like it a lot. I would drink it.”
Before tasting the mocha double shot, Mrs. Báez said that it instantly smelled like coffee to her, while the caramel one smelled more like caramel. She also commented that the mocha “really doesn’t taste as heavy of coffee as I thought it would, it tastes like coffee with creamer.
The mocha drink did not taste chocolatey nor overly caffeinated to Mrs. Báez either.
“The first one was pretty sweet,” she added.
Next she drank a sample of the vanilla double shot and remarked “yeah, this one’s good, but… it tastes almost exactly like the caramel. You can just barely tell it’s vanilla versus the caramel.”
Mrs. Báez also noted that the coffee taste in the vanilla coffee wasn’t super prominent. Which may be good to people that like their coffee sweet and barely coffee tasting.
Then she tried the Snapple Peach Tea. Immediately after the first sip, she made barf noises. So it’s safe to say that Báez is not a fan of this flavored tea.
Despite not liking the tea personally Mrs. Báez said that “it tastes very sweet and very peach. I mean, it’s good you know, I mean it is tea, but very peachy.”
Lastly, she tried the Snapple Kiwi Strawberry juice. According to Mrs. Báez, it tasted like lemonade. The caramel coffee was also her favorite.
Makayla Walker, sophomore here at KHS, was also asked to try each of these drinks.
After trying the caramel coffee, Makayla commented that she “like[s] the caramel taste of it.”
She thought it would definitely get her through the day and that it’s very caffeinated.
Makayla wasn’t a big fan of the mocha coffee and didn’t think the caffeine would amp her up. She didn’t like the flavor as much as well.
Next she tried the vanilla coffee and said “I like that. You can taste the vanilla. Yeah, I like this one.”
Despite the fact that Mrs. Báez claimed both Snapple drinks to be sweet, Makayla voiced otherwise. She said that it wasn’t super sugary.
Even though she said it wasn’t super sugary (or caffeinated) Makayla did “like this one, I can taste everything… I think it would be a nice refreshing drink to drink.”
She did end up liking the peach tea too. Same as the other Snapple drink, she said that it was very refreshing and not too sweet. Makayla, like Mrs. Báez, stated that “you can taste the peach.”
Makayla shared that she doesn’t typically drink caffeine, and that she definitely does not rely on it as much as other people do. As the other interviewees, she likes sweet tea also. Her favorite drink of the three was the caramel coffee too.
The fan favorite of these five drinks was Starbucks’ caramel double shot coffee. The two other flavors of this same drink were liked by each interviewee as well, but the caramel drink overruled the rest. The Snapple drinks weren’t super popular with the teachers but liked by Makayla. Each was claimed to not be as caffeinated as anticipated. For the most part, the drinks were liked and recommended for other people to try, especially the coffees. This tasting even opened up more drink options for the participants.
All in all, it was a successful experiment to see which drink would be recommended for others to try and how caffeine already affects the daily lives of people. So to all coffee drinkers: go out and try the canned, Caramel Doubleshot frappuccino by Starbucks!
