New product in Dallas stores: Odwalla Serious Energy juice drink

by Teresa Gubbins

Look, this energy is serious. No laughs. No frivolity.

Odwalla introduced an energy beverage called Odwalla Serious Energy. It comes in a "tropical fruit juice blend" with pineapple, mango, guava, and passion fruit juices, and is sweetened with brown rice syrup.

Keep-you-awake ingredients include 200 mg of yerba mate ("used worldwide as an excellent rejuvenator, body energizer, mental alertness stimulator and healing process", says this site, which also calls it a "cultural phenomenon" in South America); 100 mg of green tea; and 10 mg of guarana seed, a popular ingredient in energy drinks, sodas, and herbal weight loss pills.

The drink had a pleasing enough fruity flavor, but it didn't seem dramatically lifty; its buzz was definitely subtle.

It's smart of Odwalla to get into the energy-drink scene, since it's currently dominated by soda-type drinks in cans. It has 45% juice, with 60 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein.