This morning, I stopped by the 7-Eleven for coffee with Michele and saw something new.

Yes, it's a Snickers bar with caffiene and taurine. Of course I picked a couple up for Cruft Labs.

Previously, I've discussed Buzz Bites, but Snickers is a mainstream brand. Mars Company is seriously testing the waters here with caffeinated food.

I love the icon of a charging rhino on the package!

Included with the Snickers bar are the following stimulants:

60 mg caffiene - equivalent to to a can of Mountain Dew
250 mg taurine - 1/4 of the taurine in a can of Red Bull
0.2 mg vitamin B6 - 10% of the RDA
0.6 μg vitamin B12 - 10% of the RDA

I was hoping for something cool on the outside of the Snickers, like a rhino or something, but it just looked like a Snickers bar.

The inside of the Snickers Charged looks pretty much exactly like a regular Snickers bar. Some kind of color or sparkle would have been neat. The Shrek version was at least green...

It tasted exactly like a Snickers. I couldn't detect any of the metallic caffeine taste that I've sometime found in other caffeinated foods. If I didn't know, I would have thought it was just a plain Snickers bar.

The idea is interesting at least. With the candy costing less than a buck, it's a cheaper caffeine fix than coffee, soda, or an energy drink. In the afternoon, the caffeine might actually ward of the sugar crash of the 25 grams of sugar you just ate.

Posted by michael at February 07, 2008 08:53 PM