Best Energy Drink: Ranking the Best Energy Drinks

The best energy drinks are flavorful and give you a needed boost of vitality. Energy drinks shouldn’t taste metallic or artificial, and they should provide a relatively instant jolt to your mood and senses. Of course, when you’re taste testing a bunch of energy drinks back to back, it can be hard to determine their individual effects—after a while, euphoria sets in and then you eventually crash—so this ranking of the best energy drinks is based largely on how they taste. Basically, if you’re looking for the best tasting energy drinks, you’ve come to the right place. 

We’re sure you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of energy drink brands on the market nowadays. Just looking at a comprehensive list of energy drinks makes us want to call our dads and work things out. Many of them sound like the names of roller coasters that were shut down after they killed people. Have we tried every single energy drink flavor made by every single energy drink brand? Nay. We would probably be deceased by now. But over the past year or so, as we set out to find the best non-carbonated energy drinks, the best sugar free energy drinks, and the best flavors from Monster, Ghost, Celsius, and more, we’ve tried a lot of what’s out there. Love it or leave it, this is our ranking of the best tasting energy drinks. Please don’t yell at us in the comments while you’re all hopped up on caffeine!

Best Tea Flavored

If you gravitate toward non carbonated energy drinks, Bang Sweet Ice Tea is a good option and one of the best energy drinks we tried in our taste test of energy drinks without fizz. It’s sweet and a little bitter, almost like sun tea that was left to steep too long on the porch. And it has more caffeine than two cups of coffee. Basically, if you’ve ever wished a big ol’ can of Arizona would make you feel like you could punch god, this is the best energy drink for you. —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Red Bull

As we learned in our Red Bull tasting, the coconut flavor in this can of Red Bull just works! It does such a good job at masking the slightly unpleasant, nondescript, almost metallic flavor of Red Bull. I’m quite impressed that a coconut-flavored energy drink can wind up tasting this good. If you don’t fancy yourself a Red Bull fan, this may be the best energy drink for you. It’s certainly the best Red Bull flavor for you. —Danny Palumbo. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Weird Ghost

When I set out to find the best Ghost energy drink flavor, I did not expect to like this as much as I did. An energy drink that tastes like cotton candy flavored gum? Get out of here. But, really, it’s surprisingly good, and it’s one of the best energy drinks because it really nails the flavor that inspired it. To my recollection, this tastes exactly like cotton candy Bubblicious (which I can no longer chew because it would rip out all of my dental work). If Ghost is your energy drink of choice and you’re feeling nostalgic for cotton candy saliva, this is the best tasting energy drink. —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Ghost

This is the best tasting Ghost energy drink we tried, and it’s one of the best tasting energy drinks, period. Honestly, it smells more like mango than it tastes like mango, but it’s the best energy drink if you think a bright, light, fizzy fruit punch sounds good. —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Non-Carbonated

Monster’s Hydro line is perfect for people who love caffeine but get the burps from too much carbonation. They’re bottled like sports drinks and they’re just as refreshing. The best tasting energy drink from the Hydro line is Killer Kiwi. It’s fruity, a little tangy, and not salty like other hydration drinks. It may not be the best Monster energy drink of them all (oh, we’ll get to that), but it’s a chugger, for sure. —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Vibe

Celsius is known for being a “healthy” energy drink and it’s also known for releasing drinks that are inspired by ~ vibes ~ rather than actual flavors. If you want to give a vibe a go, this is the best energy drink to grab. It’s prickly pear-lime flavored and tastes like a canned Margarita with a little extra tang. It’s refreshing. It’s different. It really is a vibe! —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Alani

A bizarre name for an energy drink, but beam me up to space, baby, because this is one of the best tasting energy drinks we tried. The fruit flavor is insane; it tastes more like Starburst than the C-4 Starburst energy drink does! The fake berry flavor just works really well with a sparkling energy drink like Alani Nu. This is low in calories, low in sugar, but it tastes great. Alani Nu Cosmic Stardust is a great, light-tasting energy drink that delivers both caffeine and flavor without too much extra trash, so it’s sure to keep you in high spirits. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Celsius

Another light and refreshing carbonated energy drink here, this time from Celsius. To me, orange is a fantastic fake flavor that works really well (see: Sunny D). This conjures the experience of having orange drink as a kid after a sporting event. The orange flavor is just so juicy and bright. Bottom line: Celsius is a sparkling energy drink with great flavor, only five ingredients, and low calories. It’s got a lot of vitamin C, vitamin B, and ginger root, too. This is one I’d put on ice. It’s just so darn refreshing. This was the best Celsius flavor we tried in our taste test and it’s the best energy drink if you ever wished Hi-C Orange were carbonated. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

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Best Zero Sugar Monster

If energy drinks were intended to be consumed by kids, this would be the best energy drink for kids. It tastes like carbonated apple juice or a nice sparkling cider with some pear thrown in the mix for fun. Plus, it’s sugar free, so you can slam a whole can and not worry about all those calories (remember when you were a kid and you didn’t worry about calories??). It’s the best zero sugar Monster flavor and it’s one of the best tasting energy drinks we’ve tried in our many, many taste tests. (Truly, it’s a miracle my heart hasn’t exploded yet.) —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

9.5/10

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Best Zero Sugar

Zevia makes zero calorie energy drinks that actually taste good and we applaud them for that. After our taste test of sugar free energy drinks, Zevia Mango/Ginger replaced Zevia Raspberry/Lime as the best energy drink we’ve tasted from the brand. As I wrote in that ranking, “The mango flavor is bold without being gross, and the ginger flavor adds just a touch of earthy spice.” —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Monster

If this list is all about finding the best tasting energy drink (it is), then the top spot has to go to Pipeline Punch. It’s an utterly delicious fruit-flavored energy drink that managing editor Gwynedd Stuart ranked number one in her Monster energy drink taste test. The fizz of a Monster energy drink is exceptional, and the tropical guava flavor is aromatic and delightfully fruity. They use a lot of natural juice concentrate to achieve the awesome taste (pineapple, apple, orange, and passionfruit), and it pays dividends. Yes, there is a lot of sugar in this energy drink. No, you probably shouldn’t drink it every day. But it’s the best energy drink in terms of taste and overall experience. —Danny Palumbo

Rating:

10/10

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