The packaging for decaf 5-hour energy is very attractive, makes me want to run through the mountains on a sunny day, carrying a half a lemon and half a lime. The bottle's plastic wrapping is primarily sky blue, with green hills/mountains and a hint of sunshine. The cornerstone of the packaging is the now iconic man running like a Frenchman from altercation. The package asserts, "Hours of energy now, No crash later, Sugar Free, Decaf, Only 4 Calories". It goes on to say, "Feel it in minutes, Lasts for hours". The back of the bottle offers the value proposition (in very hard-to-read black on blue) of decaf 5-hour energy, "Sensitive to caffeine? Still need extra energy to get through your day? Decaf 5-hour energy can provide hours of alertness and focus without making you feel jittery."
I'll get straight to the point, this energy shot tastes the best of the lot, but taste is at the bottom of my list when buying energy shots, particularly since the caffeine is what makes the others taste bad. It's pretty easy to make an energy shot taste good, if you drop caffeine.
Since I'm not sensitive to caffeine, in fact, I don't function properly without it, this drink was like a moderately tasty flavor shot that contained no energizing ingredients. My system was very unhappy about the lack of caffeine, I started to get a frontal lobe headache, and I wanted to lie down about an hour after drinking it. After about 4 hours or so I took a 30 minute power nap, and woke up with an even more severe headache. This wasn't a "crash", this was just a "never got energized". As the bottle specifies, this drink is for people sensitive to caffeine; I'm not, but a great deal of our readers probably aren't either. If you came to this website looking for this particular product, I think the Stig would recommend you try it. On the other hand, if you're a regular reader, and you love regular energy shots, or high caffeine energy drinks, this is like putting training wheels back on your bicycle.
About 2-3 years ago, we regularly paid $3 for these 2oz. shots at convenience stores, thanks to online ordering, these are available at a much lower price. I think, even at $1.65, this drink is absolutely overpriced, and will review it as such. In fact, I think it's overpriced at $1, and perhaps even at $0.25. It just doesn't do anything for me, and the unlike an ineffective energy drink, which may still be refreshing and enjoyable, this 2oz. shot offers no refreshment and doesn't taste good enough to drink it for enjoyment. Again, if you're sensitive to caffeine, this may be the product you're looking for, and since (as of the time of this review), you can order 12 bottles for less than $20, it's a minimal investment to find out if it works for you.
I had low expectations for a 5-hour energy product that contains no caffeine, it seemed like an episode of CHiPS without Erik Estrada. Expectations lowered further when I realized that the site had only reviewed 2 caffeine-free energy drinks to-date, N-Motion Caffeine Free (which at the time of this review has the lowest user rating of 0.77 out of 10) and YET "Your Energy Tonic" (6th lowest user rating, and what appears to be the 3rd lowest overall rated energy drink by the site editors). I don't believe either of the aforementioned drinks remains in production. Needless to say, expectations were as low as my expectations for any new M. Night Shyamalan movie.
Directly after chilling, shaking, opening and sipping, I was excited to see that, at the very least, removing the caffeine made this drink much more palatable. It's still tart, but doesn't seem like an overt attempt at covering up caffeine's bitterness, as is the case with the caffeinated versions of 5-hour energy. Goes down smoothly, and leaves you licking your lips and wanting more, like the outside of a warhead candy. Now that it was enjoyably consumed, would it work?
Well, feeling it in minutes is debatable. I wouldn't say there was ever a real "onset" of energy. I felt more alert than without the 5-hour energy. I'll confirm that it "lasted for hours", but I would not say that it lasted 5 hours. Overall, a more impressive experience than I expected from 6mg of caffeine and some other snake oil ingredients.
You can buy Decaf 5-Hour Energy online for about $1.65/bottle, but with the caffeinated versions now available for around $1.70/bottle, I wouldn't recommend this product unless you are hypersensitive to caffeine. For me, it's ok, but I need that extra boost that caffeine offers.