Caffiend: Adina Natural Highs

By Niki D'Andrea Mon., Dec. 29 2008 at 8:00 AM

When you're creating a feel-good coffee drink that prides itself on being Fair Trade Certified (that means it's a partnership between the company and local farmers that gives farmers a larger share of profits), it doesn't hurt to have the word "high" in your product name. The idea behind Adina for Life, Inc., the creators of the new Adina Natural Highs energy coffee drinks, is to make a (mostly) all-natural product that provides consumers with a pep-up, and maybe a warm, fuzzy feeling, too.

Adina Natural Highs

Looks like: Some sort of tribal-yet-commercial brew. The Adina Coffee Drink logo features some sort of Aztec-looking, tattoo-faced figure. The drinks themselves all look like very creamy, thin coffees.

Tastes like: Starbucks' Frappuccino drinks, but a little less sugary. There are five different, hipster-sounding flavors -- Mocha Madness, Vanilla Nut Case, Hazelnut Hookup, Caramel Kick, and Double Exxxpresso -- but they all pretty much tasted the same.

Smells like: Watered-down coffee.

Caffeine and other contents: Adina prides itself on being "all-natural," so each eight ounce can contains 100 mg of caffeine from guarana (20 more grams than a Red Bull). Unlike Red Bull, Adina Natural Highs contain no Taurine. They don't contain any high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners, either. All the sugar in the drink (19 grams per eight ounce can) comes from cane sugar.

Caffeine kick: Not much. The drinks cause a temporary sugar rush that wears off in about 15 minutes. -- Niki D'Andrea