Ola Loa Energy Drink

Test Series by Jennifer Koles

March 13, 2010

Personal Information

Name:  Jennifer Koles
Age:  35
Gender:  Female
Height:  5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight: 140 lb (64 kg)
Email address: jennksnowy at yahoo dot com
City, State, and Country: Orange County, California, United States

After getting into the outdoors scene camping while 4-wheeling and day-hiking, I switched to backpacking in the early 2000's. I have backpacked extensively in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho along with California, Pennsylvania and Nevada. I have slowly been cutting my base weight to be able to go longer in duration and distance. I have done so mainly by using better gear and dumping heavy luxuries. I backpack year round in all weather, and usually take a free standing tent and a gas stove on all my trips. I love trying out new gear.

The author in the Narrows at Zion National Park, Utah.

Initial Report

November 12, 2009

Product Information Manufacturer: Ola Loa Year of Manufacture: 2009 Manufacturer Website: www.DrinkYourVitamins.com Flavors Available and Tested: Tropical, Orange, Cran-Raspberry MSRP: $34.99 US for 30 packets Product Description The Ola Loa Energy effervescent multi-vitamin, amino-acids are the flagship product for this company. It is the first multivitamin-mineral-amino acid supplement to combine advanced nutrition research into a convenient “drink your vitamins” delivery system. The Ola Loa Energy mix contains 40 mineral complexes, 6 amino acids, CoQ10, B-12, TMG, NAC, vitamins A through K, and 1000 mg of vitamin C. These powdered vitamins are indicated to be an energy booster, have immune support, anti-aging properties, lowers homocysteine, and have fast absorption. Ola Loa Energy is recommended by the manufacturer as a once a day multi-vitamin, great for natural energy production and anti-oxidant protection. They are indicated by the manufacturer to provide quick recovery for stress, sports, and the rigors of daily life.

Initial Impressions The Ola Loa Energy boxes that I received contained 30 packets each of the vitamin mix. The packets are small enough for me to fit several in a backpack, day pack, biking pouch, or biking jersey. The packets have what appears to be a plastic coating to protect the vitamin mix from moisture. There is no notch to tear the packets open; however I was able to open them easily. The inside of the packets are foil lined. To see how the product worked, and for a taste test I mixed each flavor in 6 oz (0.18 L) of water. I added the vitamins to the glass and then added the water. There was a slight fizzing while the vitamins were effervescing when they were dissolving. It took about a minute until the barely audible fizzing stopped. I mixed the drink with a spoon to dissolve the small amount of remaining vitamins that were on top of the water. After my initial tasting of all the flavors I would have to say the orange is my favorite, followed by the cran-raspberry. Both of these flavors have a mild vitamin taste. I am not a huge fan of the tropical flavor mixed in water as it has a strong vitamin taste. I found it more tolerable mixed in orange juice.

Testing Locations

The Ola Loa Energy drinks are what I consider to be a dietary supplement. I consumed them in the morning to start my day or at work and they were not used on the trail. The energy drinks were used in Southern California and on a vacation to Utah and Nevada. There were times I carried two packets inside my larger day-pack to use in case of a need while on the trail (such as if I had a feeling that I was getting a cold/or already had one).

Performance in the Field

Most of the time I mixed the Ola Loa Energy Drinks with 6-8 fl oz (0.18-0.24 L) of juice. There are a few occasions that I mixed them with water. However, I found that they tasted much better when mixed with a juice. In my opinion they have a strong vitamin taste. I consumed all the packets over the testing period. I tried to drink one packet a day. I am really bad at taking a daily vitamin. So, I took some of the packets to work to have them handy if I forgot to drink it at home. On the days that my co-workers or other people around me were sick, I would drink 2-3 packets. When I was sick I drank 3 packets.

The cran-raspberry flavor tasted great mixed with Shasta Cranberry soda, Naked Berry Blast juice, and Naked Red Machine juice. I mixed the orange flavor with just regular orange juice most of the time. Sometimes I would mix it with an orange-pineapple juice blend. The tropical flavor tasted best mixed with Naked Tropical juice.

Hands down I would say that the cran-raspberry is my favorite flavor, followed by the orange. The tropical flavor is my least favorite. I found this to be odd, because I enjoy tropical flavored drinks. With the tropical flavor I could not taste a tropical flavor at all; it tasted more like a vitamin mixture.

Since I am bad at remembering to take a daily vitamin these single serving packets are great. I can keep some at work and in my car. When I mix them with a juice I mask the vitamin taste, plus I can have my favorite juice mixed with a healthy dose of vitamins. When I started drinking these I could immediately tell when I missed a day. I would start to feel more sluggish at the beginning of my day.

I think the Ola Loa Energy Drinks helped me fight off colds. When my co-workers were sick and sneezing I would increase the amount of packets I would drink per day. I was able to avoid getting a bad cold all winter except for one occasion. I came down with a respiratory infection that required antibiotics to treat. I initially tried to get the infection out of my system by drinking more of the packets, but after a week I was still sick and had to get some medical treatment. Most of the time people were sick all winter at work; I do not think getting sick one time was all that bad.

Summary

I have been very happy with the Ola Loa Energy Drinks. They are pre-packaged in a single serving package, the cran-raspberry and the orange flavors taste good, and I can get my daily vitamins while drinking; without the hassle of swallowing a bunch of pills.

Things That Rock:

• Pre-measured serving size
• Individual packets
• Tastes better mixed with juice

Things That Are So-So:

• The vitamin taste
• Kind of pricey

Remarks

This concludes my reporting on the Ola Loa Energy Drinks. Thank you Ola Loa and backpackgeartest.org for providing me with the opportunity to test these products.