Energy drinks aren’t for everyone, we know. However, in recent years, some energy drink brands have made serious efforts to capture the attention of more caffeine lovers through aesthetic marketing and delicious flavors. Red Bull just isn’t everyone’s vibe, you know? That’s where Alani Nu found its niche in the market. The vibrant colors, exciting flavors like Hawaiian Shaved Ice and Mimosa, and young-adult-appealing marketing by partnering with beloved influencers like Claudia Walsh have brought this brand so much success.
But style isn’t everything. How does this brand shape up in terms of actual quality, and are the drinks really any good? We decided to try all the flavors (yes, all) out for ourselves to see if this hyped-up energy drink company was, well, worth the hype. It’s worth noting that Alani Nu does offer other non-energy drink products, like protein shakes, but we honed in on just the energy drinks currently available from the brand for this article (including the spooky season limited-edition flavor, Witch’s Brew). We based our ranking of these flavors mainly on taste but also on packaging and overall appeal. Let’s get moving.
Ranking the flavors from worst to best, sadly, the flavor we decided on for last place is Blue Slush. We’ll let you know right now that we’re not typically fans of berry-flavored items, like blue raspberry or blue slushies, but bias wasn’t the reasoning for the ranking here. In fact, some unexpected flavors made their way higher up on the list than we would’ve expected, so it’s not about disliking blueberry here.
Also at the bottom of the ranking but not getting quite last place was, sadly, Cosmic Stardust. We thoroughly enjoyed the packaging on this one, plus the name is just delightful. Cosmic Stardust sounds like a dreamy beverage you’d enjoy on the way to the gym. Unfortunately, the flavor did not at all match the expected vibes. Cosmic Stardust is a combination of grape and other mild berry flavors, but you don’t get much of a fruity flavor from it.
While this flavor isn’t around year-round, we were lucky enough to snag one to try out. Witch’s Brew is Alani Nu’s autumn/Halloween/spooky season seasonal flavor, and the packaging is some of the best we’ve seen on any of its products. It perfectly encapsulates what we’d think a witch’s brew would be, featuring a cauldron, crystals, crescent moon doodles, and purple snakes, among other fun decorative motifs. The purple color of the can is so festive, and the can makes it very obvious that this is a seasonal flavor.
But what is the actual flavor, you ask? It’s none other than caramel apple.
We’ve finally reached the very best flavor of them all — Dream Float. This drink is an absolute dream, and the pun is intended. The first time we ever had a sip of Dream Float, we couldn’t believe what we were tasting. This flavor genuinely tastes like an orange creamsicle float, and not in an artificial way at all. We’re honestly hesitant to hype it up this much for fear that more people will go out and buy it, and we won’t be able to get it anymore. But, alas, we’re not gatekeepers around here, so we’ll share the magic of Dream Float with you. Honorable mention is Hawaiian Shaved Ice.
