Energy drinks are normally carbonated. They rely on sparkling water to make them bubbly and exciting, but this isn’t always ideal. Some people simply don’t like sparkling drinks, while others find that they get gas from the water. Thankfully, there are some non carbonated energy drinks.
Some of these follow the same patterns as mainstream energy drinks, but use filtered water instead of carbonated water. This means that there are even some pretty strong energy drinks on the list. Others try to be healthier, which often means using natural ingredients and avoiding additives whenever possible.
There’s one more thing to mention before we dig into the drinks themselves. Non carbonated energy drinks aren’t that common. Ones that follow traditional energy drink styles are even rarer. This can make it tricky to find ones that you like.
If you really get stuck, perhaps it’s time to move away from energy drinks entirely. While energy drinks do have their place, they’re not amazing for health. They’re not always effective either. Sometimes they might even make you sleepy. Coffee may be a healthier choice or you might look for something natural and caffeine free.
Non Carbonated Energy Drinks
Guayaki Organic Yerba Mate
Guayaki has two main types of drink. One follows the classic energy drink style, complete with carbonation. The other comes in a larger can and is basically sweetened yerba mate tea, with a few extra ingredients.
This larger can gives you an impressive 150 mg of caffeine. It also focuses on USDA organic ingredients, is vegan friendly, gluten free, and non-GMO verified.
The catch is that most of these contain around 28 grams of sugar. While plenty of other energy drinks are worse for sugar, this is still a considerable amount. Thankfully, their Tropical Uprising flavor is designed to be lighter, with just 11 grams of added sugar per serving.
Celsius Live Fit
Celsius Live Fit is a fairly healthy energy drink brand, especially if you focus on their stevia-sweetened products. They avoid some of the most concerning energy drink additives, like artificial flavors, artificial colors, and preservatives.
Despite focusing on carbonated drinks, they do have a few non carbonated ones too, including raspberry acai green tea, peach mango green tea, and watermelon berry.
If none of these flavors are appealing, you could try their Celsius On-The-Go products. These are powder stick versions of their energy drinks that you can simply mix up with water.
Celsius Live Fit isn’t the only company to focus on healthier energy drinks. However, many of the others offer carbonated drinks only or focus on an alternative style, like yerba mate energy drinks.
Plus, Celsius isn’t an obscure brand. You can order the drinks online or find them in many local stores.
Rockstar Recovery
While mainstream energy brands normally focus on carbonated drinks, Rockstar’s Recovery range isn’t bubbly at all.
These are interesting drinks, as they contain familiar energy drink ingredients, but also offer electrolytes to help with recovery. They’re not sugar free either. For example, the orange version contains two grams of sugar. This sugar isn’t a bad thing though, as it would help with exercise recovery.
There are artificial ingredients in the mix, including artificial sweeteners. However, the same is true for most mainstream energy drinks and you might not have an issue with this.
Also, importantly, these drinks aren’t vegan friendly. Energy drinks often are, but these ones contain bovine collagen peptides as an ingredient.
Proper Wild Energy Shots
Proper Wild doesn’t offer full energy drinks. They have shots instead. However, these shots are very different than most others.
The most important thing is that Proper Wild focuses on being clean. There are no preservatives and no artificial ingredients. Instead, the shots rely on fruit juice concentrate, organic caffeine, l-theanine, and a few other ingredients.
The l-theanine is particularly interesting. This may help to lower any jitteriness from the caffeine.
And, speaking of caffeine, the tiny 2.5 ounce shots give you an impressive 100 mg of caffeine. That’s more than you get in some full sized energy drinks.
Vital Protein Energy Shots
Energy shots are incredibly common, so we won’t go through them all here. But, the ones from Vital Protein are different than most.
For one thing, the shots really do contain collagen. You get 7 grams of collagen peptides per serving, plus 60 mg of hyaluronic acid. There are other interesting ingredients too, including turmeric extract and black pepper extract.
On top of all this, you’re getting 90 grams of naturally sourced caffeine per serving. Pretty impressive for a 2 ounce drink, right?
Krating Daeng
Krating Daeng is an Asian drink, sometimes called Asian Red Bull. The name isn’t surprising, as the drink has two charging red bulls on the logo and the name does translate to red bull.
The flavor is even similar to Red Bull, although Krating Daeng tends to be sweeter and a bit fruitier. Interestingly, the two products aren’t related at all. They come from completely independent companies that target distinct audiences.
You mightn’t find Krating Daeng on the shelves of your local grocery store, but it’s often present in ethnic food markets. You can order it online as well.
The most appealing thing is that Krating Daeng is non-carbonated. It doesn’t have as much caffeine as Red Bull, but it should still give you a kick of energy.
Monster Rehab
Monster Rehab is Monster’s entry into the non-carbonated drinks arena. Many of the drinks rely on brewed tea and keep the sugar content low. For example, the lemonade flavor contains just 3 grams of sugar in an entire can.
However, you don’t need to stick with tea. There are also versions that avoid tea entirely, including a watermelon and strawberry lemonade version. These are still non carbonated and fairly low in sugar, making them an easy choice for anyone who doesn’t enjoy tea.
Like most mainstream energy drinks, there are artificial sweeteners and other additives. Still, the drinks are incredibly popular (to the extent that rare Monster drinks are regularly collected and sold online). Many people love the flavors and the caffeine boost.
Redline
Redline comes from Bang Energy. The main version is Redline Xtreme, which comes in an 8 ounce bottle or a 3 ounce energy shot.
The 8 ounce bottles are shocking for caffeine, giving you more than 300 mg in the entire bottle. This is why you’re only meant to consume half a bottle at a time (although, many people drink the whole thing). There are some other energy promoting ingredients too, plus electrolytes.
There’s another player in the field too – Redline Princess. This is still non carbonated, but is designed as both an energy drink and a weight loss aid for women. The ingredients are meant to not just boost energy, but also suppress appetite and improve mood.
While Redline Princess isn’t as well-known or popular as Redline Xtreme, it could be an interesting alternative if you want something that’s a little different.
Starbucks Doubleshot Energy Espresso Coffee
Why choose between coffee and an energy drink, when you can have both in the same product? At least, that seems to be the motivation behind the espresso energy drinks from Starbucks.
This one is mostly coffee in a can, with some extra energy drink related ingredients. Taurine, ginseng, guarana, and some B vitamins are all present. These ingredients plus the coffee should create a powerful drink.
There are some limits though. First, the sugar content isn’t ideal. You’re often getting around 30 grams of sugar per 15 ounce can. And, despite all that sugar, the energy drink contains sucralose as well.
The caffeine is on the low side for an energy drink – with just 75 mg in the can. Even Red Bull gets above this mark in their 8.4 ounce cans.
Java Monster
Java is another non carbonated line of drink from Monster. They have some interesting flavors, including loca moca, mean bean, Irish blend, and salted caramel.
The idea is similar to the product from Starbucks, so you’re getting a hybrid beverage that’s somewhere between coffee and an energy drink.
Most of these are high in sugar too (mean bean has 35 grams of sugar per serving, while salted caramel contains 25 grams instead). The main exception is vanilla light, which just contains 9 grams of sugar.
There are plenty of additives in the recipe, plus many ingredients to help with energy. If you don’t mind the long ingredients list, then this could a powerful choice for energy.
Bang Keto Coffee
Bang also offers a coffee and energy drink hybrid product – their Bang Keto Coffee. While the style is a little familiar, it’s worth talking about, as they do things a little differently.
First, the product is almost entirely sugar free. There’s only 1 gram of sugar per serving, which probably comes from the milk. This is a stack contrast to the previous two entries, which were both very high in sugar.
Bang’s version also contains 20 grams of protein per serving, making this a surprisingly filling energy drink.
C4 Energy Non Carbonated
C4 Energy has a huge range of different energy products. These aren’t just energy drinks though, they’re also designed to help with workouts. Their non carbonated drinks are pretty exciting, as they’re entirely sugar free, taste good, and include ingredients like beta-alanine and betaine (which comes from beets).
C4’s website talks about how the different ingredients have been chosen to improve exercise performance and cognitive function. Many people find that the energy drinks do offer a boost, without jitteriness or any later crashes.
There are even two selections of non carbonated products – the classic drinks and C4 Ultimate. The big difference is in the caffeine content, as C4 Ultimate offers 300 mg per serving, while the other products contain 200 mg instead.
V8 Energy
Despite being known for its fruit and vegetable juices, V8 does have some other interesting products, including energy drinks. These still contain some fruit and vegetable juice (about 2 ounces of each). This is an unusual style for an energy drink and could be useful.
The peach mango version of the drink contains just 11 grams of sugar and 50 calories per serving. That’s not too shabby for a juice based energy drink.
The ingredients are common for energy drinks, including natural flavorings, some B vitamins, and sucralose for sweetness. It’s a shame to see fruit juice and sucralose in the same drink. Still, the style isn’t particularly unusual.
V8 energy drinks will taste quite different than most other energy drinks. No surprises there, right? Most other drinks don’t include vegetable juice. The drinks are still worth trying though, you might even prefer them to the regular style.
Most Energy Shots
While full energy drinks tend to be carbonated, energy shots are often still instead. After all, the goal is to drink them quickly. Carbonation won’t help with this at all.
Even some of the most famous brands have still products, including 5-Hour Energy. However, you’ll still need to check the ingredients label, as a few companies do carbonate their energy shots.
Powdered Energy Mixes
Perhaps the easiest way to get a non carbonated energy drink is to make your own using a mix. You can simply combine these with water or add other ingredients, like fruit juice.
Crystal Light With Caffeine is a popular example. If you follow the company’s instructions, then a 16-ounce serving will contain 60 mg of caffeine. There are some B vitamins in the mix as well.
The biggest issue is that many of these products also use concerning additives, like artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners in Crystal Light. Still, there are some natural options too, ones that avoid additives as much as possible.
Most of the time, the drink you prepare won’t taste much like a traditional energy drink. Then again, that’s also true for many other entries on this list. The flavor difference isn’t necessarily bad anyway. You might even enjoy this version more than a classic energy drink.
Why Choose Non Carbonated Drinks?
Despite common myths, carbonation itself isn’t inherently bad for you. Some people even find that the bubbles help to settle their stomach and reduce indigestion.
Most of the potential problems come from sugary drinks, particularly those packed with additives. But, as this list shows, you can still get those patterns from non carbonated drinks.
So, why bother?
One reason is preference. Some people don’t like bubbles in their drink. That’s reason enough, isn’t it? Plus, you can drink a still drink faster than a bubbly one, so that’s helpful too.
Other times, people get side effects from carbonated drinks. This is a particular problem for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). While some IBS sufferers may have no problem with carbonation, others find that the drinks aggravate their symptoms.
Some other situations may require avoiding carbonated drinks as well, perhaps if you have regular digestive issues or have a severe health condition. In such cases, you might need to stick with non carbonated drinks.
How To Spot Non Carbonated Products
Most companies should state whether their energy drinks are carbonated or not. You can also look at the container, as energy drinks served in cans are normally carbonated, while those in bottles may not be.
However, there are exceptions to both of those ‘rules’.
The ingredients label is much more helpful. Carbonated products will reference sparkling water or carbonated water, while still ones often contain filtered water instead.
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I tried this recipe and it turned out really good. What else can I add to the recipe? Thanks for the recipe.