Energy Drink Review: The Java Monster "Loca Moca"

The Java Monster "Loca Moca" is a blend of coffee with your fairly standard range of energy drink ingredients. The contents are comparable to that of other Monster drinks in the same price range, just with a coffee-and-milk flavor as opposed to the usual carbonated fruity flavors of Monster.

As listed on the can, a "single serving" constitutes half a can and the "energy boost" comes from a heavy dose of B vitamins, 16 grams of sugar, 1,000 milligrams of taurine and 200 mg of panax ginseng. There's also an "energy blend" of 2,500 grams of the following - L-carnitine, glucose, caffeine, guarana, maltodextrin, inositol and glucuronolactose. The actual amounts of each of those is not specified.

As opposed to Monster's other coffee-flavored energy drink, the "Big Black", the flavor of the "Loca Moca" is more like that of a watery latte than strong black coffee with a touch of sugar and cream. Even though the can says they use actual coffee, I thought it tasted much more artificial than the usual non-energy canned or bottled cold coffee drink. It's not bad and easy enough to get down, but I wasn't thrilled with the flavor. The two flavors have virtually the same ingredients, but if you want a stronger and more authentic coffee taste, the Big Black is probably the way to go.

My digestive system just isn't what it used to be so I decided to test half a can in the early morning (since that was the recommended serving size anyway) and then bottle the other half for later. The half can did do a pretty good job of pepping me up and getting me going coming out of too little sleep, but of course about 2.5 hours later I was feeling groggy and awful again. Of course, you can only ask so much of these drinks and there's no substitute for getting enough sleep. But by the results I would say that Monster leans heavily on simple caffeine and sugar for its energy content, which always spells out a crash a few hours later at some point. I also did feel a touch nauseous both times after drinking the beverage.

Apparently Wal-Mart sells these for a little less than two bucks, and you can get similar pricing if you order big cases at once through the internet. A more nominal price is about $2.20 though, which is what I paid for it at Walgreens. That's roughly in the neighborhood of an iced coffee of a similar size now, and probably cheaper than an iced latte at most coffee shops. However, the flavor can't even begin to compare. If you just want the energy rush, this works, but if you actually enjoy good coffee this is no substitute at all.

I thought the Starbucks Doubleshot was a superior-tasting drink, but it's also nearly $1 more per can. The Rockstar Roasted only costs about 40 cents more, however, and I thought that too had a better flavor. The energy content seems to be roughly equivalent in all cases.