28 Black - Acai & Sugarfree product reviews

28 Black came in a four-pack, with four 250 ml cans - two white cans (sugar free) and two black (containing sugar). The main ingredient in both is acai berry which is a natural stimulant. This makes it a good alternative to caffeine-based drinks for those who prefer not to use energy drinks based on cola and similar products.

The drinks are effervescent so they work well as mixers - I tried the sugar free version with fresh orange juice, and the sweeter version with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Both worked well when served like this.

I also tried the drinks as standalone summer refreshers, and here the difference between the two was more obvious. The sugar-free version relies on stevia which is, in my opinion, not nearly as successful as other alternative sweeteners. It has a slightly metallic after-taste. For this reason I would drink the black (sugared) version if taking it neat, but would be happy to use the white (sugar-free) version when using it as a mixer.

I tried one of each at room temperature, and on another occasion chilled them first. There was little difference in flavour, but chilled was definitely preferable on a summer day! I did like the idea of packaging the two items together so that as a consumer I had a choice and was able to evaluate and compare the benefits of both products.

When I first came upon the Best beverage 28 Black natural energy drink I was a bit skeptical but I was also intrigued It might seem frivolous but I really liked the packaging and the cans. They look distinctive and memorable with the simply stated 28 Black words and golden bird logo. 28 black smells like berries and tastes sensational. You get a real berry taste coming through it is slightly tart (I think that is from the lemon juice concentrate) but has the lovely flavor like a raspberry or blackberry I felt like it gave me a little extra pep and I felt energized. Not buzzed or hyper - just more lively

For me (and my family of 2 adult sons - youngest not an energy drinker yet) 28 black by the Best Beverage company tastes fantastic, there is no sugar high and the feeling of crashing like some energy drinks give you. Being a migraine sufferer I am wary of some energy drinks but 28 Black gets a huge big thumbs up from me and I did not get a migraine or even a headache. The gamers in the family drank the 28 black and sugar free and reported back that they liked the taste and found that they did not get sugar rush like they normally got but found their concentration was better and they felt alert and on their game.

$3.25 seems a little steep but I think it is a fairly reasonable price to pay compared to the price you pay for other energy drinks but I think it is worth the price considering the fact that it tastes lovely, has no artificial sweeteners and there is no aspartame or other nasties. I also liked the fact that the 28 black sugarfree is sweetened with stevia which is a plant and means that the drink has only 5 calories whereas some energy drinks are loaded with sugar. The stevia as a sweetener does not leave an unpleasant taste unlike other drinks with aspartame.

So whichever you choose to buy and drink I think you will be happily surprised and love 28 Black acai or sugarfree. I recommend it. Especially to those whose migraines can be triggered by some of the colourings,(the colouring it does have is from carrots) flavourings or artificial sweeteners in some energy drinks.

28 Black is a natural energy drink. Compared to other energy drinks, this is lightly fizzed so may take a little getting used to, but it can be gotten used to.

The drink has a nice taste and there's no nasty after taste which is great. This isn't the best energy drink that I have ever had, taste wise, but it is far better than some and so ranks up near the top of the list. The energy kick in this wasn't that much of a hit and so based on that I wouldn't buy this again, I just need to have a bigger energy hit than what this drink had to offer.

28 White is the sugar free version of 28 Black. I don't generally do sugar free, simply as I find that I find I end up with a nasty after taste in my mouth. This drink did leave me with an after taste in my mouth, but it actually wasn't all that bad, so I wouldn't turn it down based upon the taste. It gave me a slightly better buzz than I got from the 28 Black, so out of the two I would go for 28 White.

Not sure I would buy this,but not bad overall.

Love the taste of this stuff because I have diabetes and too much sugar is really bad for me. Loving my all-night gaming sessions means needing something that is packed with energy not sugar and this fits the bill pretty well. It means I can eat a proper meal and still get enough zoom into me to blast away until the small hours without risking a bad reaction. In the past I would have to eat a very low-sugar meal so I could have a regular energy drink without a sugar spike.

The taste is really mild and almost herbal which is strange at first but if you sip it then it quickly becomes quite tolerable or if you are like me you can throw it back and hardly notice it at all.

To be honest about it, I didn't think these were going to do me much good at all so I was a bit dumb about it and threw them both back about 20 minutes apart. Of the two I liked the White (28 Black Sugar Free) can more mainly because I have come to prefer the less sweet tastes because of my sugar issues. Still the Black can was pretty tasty too. I had these at 6pm on Friday thinking I would still be hitting bed around 2am.

I played a kicker of a game with razor sharp focus right through until 7am when everyone else went to bed then stayed up to play some FPS until I finally went to bed at 8am and hads trouble falling asleep until somewhere near 9am. So word to the wise, do NOT drink this stuff on a Sunday night eh.

Pretty surprising drink, but too pricey for me to keep lying around. I will buy these only when I have a big campaign or tourny coming up though because they are really very effective.

I was once a huge consumer of energy drinks, especially the ones in the green bottles/cans. I am an even bigger coffee drinker. It is my staple, and I will often choose coffee over food. But recently I have been trying to ween myself off both energy drinks and coffee, or atleast reduce my intake. However when KIWIreviews were looking for people to try and then review the 28 BLACK and 28 BLACK sugar free I did a little investigating and was then more than happy to put my hand up :)

I was instantly drawn my the funky and cool packaging, but more than that, the natural extracts and acai berry instantly caught my attention. I have to be honest in saying though, I was not really expecting anything amazing. And again I must be honest in saying, when tried blind, I couldn't tell the difference between the sugar free version and the other :( but then I rarely can when it comes to sugar free versions of products.

When these arrived I popped them straight in the fridge...I like my drinks chilled.
Once chilled and in the company of my brother and hubby we all had about a third of a can of each (in the afternoon). No one noticed any major boost in energy...but lets just say by 4am the nxt morn Iwas still bug eyed, while hubby snored away quite happily...nxt time...don't drink coffee on same day maybe lol

I honestly was not a fan of the taste, and neither were my brother or hubby. I am unsure as to why I did not like them as I am a fan of fruit drinks etc. I think perhaps they were actually to tart for me. I also felt they smelt kind of weird lol For me personally I would not buy them. The fact I could not sleep, even if it was most likely unrelated, combined with the odd taste, and what I believe to be high pricing does not do it for me unfortunately. But I do really like the cans though ;)

Frankly, I have been drinking a prominent Cola brand for so long, I think my body has given up on making blood, and instead just diverts the cola straight into my arteries... I have a bad day if there's too much blood contaminating my colastream. To get a 'kick' I need to either consume huge amounts of chocolate - which I haven't been able to do in years thanks to my sweet-tooth reversing direction - or drink something like a double-strength energy drink, the majority of which are so packed with artificial crud that I may as well just upend a random lab beaker.

So, to come across not one energy drink, but two, that proudly promotes that it's made from natural ingredients... this I had to try. And to my great surprise, I found them quite tasty! Quite to the contrary of my expectations, I really liked the Sugar Free version, and I would have loved to have taken it into the #FoodLab and had a play with it, but alas, I only had one can and it just vanished in a single gulp, after the initial test sip.

Spacing these drinks at least a day apart allowed me to test the relative effects of each, and though I didn't get any sudden rush of energy that was in line with my expectations based on my track record with energy drinks. I did however notice that my energy levels didn't flag off as quickly as most days, and since these were the only change in my routine I can fairly safely assume they caused the extended patch of productivity. The down-side... having consumed these at 6pm, I was still wide awake at 2am... a good 2 hours later than I normally would have been dragging myself to bed for slumber.

Overall, these are both interesting new energy drinks to try. Without the masses of sugar and artificial additives, they will be an acquired taste for some, readily acceptable for others. There's really only one way to find out... my only gripe is the price - at half the volume and about the same price as a big can/bottle of the leading energy drinks, this isn't the greatest value for money, but if you value 'natural' over 'cheap' then it's a worthwhile variant to try at the very least.

I'm going to have to write very different things about these two drinks, while in theory one has sugar and one doesn't my experience with them was that they are totally different drinks.

First off I like the designs of the can, it just works for me. I had the 28 Black while driving back from Hastings when a little tired. It was quite nice, I liked the flavor. It didn't give me a big hit of energy like some other drinks and seemed quite understated, but it did raise my alertness levels.

Later on in the week I tried the 28 Black sugarfree which comes in the white can, I liked the look of the can and that is about the only thing I liked about that one. For me personally it tasted foul, I couldn't take more than two mouthfuls before chucking it. For me it seemed to be really bitter in taste, and I just couldn't handle it.

So to sum up, the normal one with sugar is good, and I could see it working as a mixer with alcohol, and well for the sugar free one I will be keeping well clear of it, but it is personal preference and it could actually be OK. It's a bummer that they are both listed together as the scores are quite different, and I will have to just meet in the middle to give each one justice.

When I was given the 28 Black and White drinks I placed them in the fridge to wait for a day where I needed a pick me up. A couple of days later I found myself yawning at lunchtime and thought I'd give one of these drinks a try. I selected the black one. My first impression was it was a small can at only 250mls. The taste wasn't what I expected. It wasn't sickly sweet like most energy drinks. It had a distinctive berry flavour. Initially I didn't think it was my sort of flavour but before I realised the can was empty.

Today was a sunny day that I found myself thinking I could fall asleep in the sun so decided the White sugar free can would help me get through the rest of the day. I poured it into a glass and saw the bright crimson colour. Thankfully the kids didn't notice me drinking it as it would have appealed to them. I could taste the sweetener in it but didn't put me off. I would prefer this than the extra calories of the black can.

With both cans I could hear the fizz when I opened it but was surprised that it was only slightly fizzy. It didn't feel flat. It actually suited the flavour. I did surprise myself and the kids with the belch it produced. Perhaps it was fizzier than it appeared. Neither gave me a buzz but instead I found it allowed me to keep going and the tiredness slowly wore off. This allowed me to continue my work without the lethargy that I had. I also found that I was thirsty after drinking it so rather than quenching my thirst I found myself downing a glass of water straight after.

If you're after something full of fizz then this isn't a drink for you, this is lightly carbonated, which took a little getting used to, but once I did it was a nice and fruity taste.

I poured my can of 28 Black out into a cup, (as I needed to share with my energy drink mad husband) and it has a lovely purple colour to it. Of course, this made it more attractive to my two year old who kept trying to grab my cup and take a big ol' sip from it.

It has a nice taste, no after taste that hangs around, it isn't the best tasting energy drink that I have ever have but nor is it the worst that I have ever had. My husband liked the taste and agrees that it's up closer to the top of the flavour line than the worst.

The energy kick in this wasn't quite what I expected in that it didn't really seem to do anything for me nor my energy levels. If it has given me any energy I can't feel it running back to me. In saying that, I liked this enough that I may buy it again.

28 White is the sugar free version of 28 Black. I have gotten used to some drinks that state sugar free but I am still always a bit wary as I find so often that they leave a not-too-pleasant after taste in my mouth.

My first reaction to this upon tasting is that whilst I do have an after taste in my mouth, it isn't hideous nor does it take away from the taste of the drink as a whole, in fact, I could get used to and enjoy the 28 White far more than the 28 Black. It has a bit of a sweet taste to it, but it isn't one that I dislike.

Now, the buzz, the energy kick, that which is all important when spending your money on something designed to give you that wakeup call. Couple of mouthfuls and I have a slight buzz from this, which is good considering that I'm falling asleep, struggling to think what to write and have to go and pick up the children from school and kindy in a matter of minutes.

Dependant on price and availability (I won't go out of my way for it) I would buy this one again, it has given me that slight buzz that I really needed right now as well as having a nice enough taste that I would drink it again. Anything natural also gets a tick in the right box.