12 Drinks in 20 Minutes: Reviewing 7 Brew’s Most Popular Energy Drinks

Twelve 7 Brew drinks of different flavors sitting in drink trays in the backseat of a car on March 11, 2026. Photo creds: Grant Painter.

Grant Painter, Staff Writer for the Powderhorn

A coffee isn’t always what you need for a quick pick-me-up. For some, coffee might be too heavy on the stomach. For others they simply don’t like the taste. For these people, energy drinks are becoming an increasingly popular way to get quick energy without drinking any coffee whatsoever. Between Red Bull, Celsius, and Alani, those looking for something sweet instead of bitter have endless options to choose from.

While I personally am a coffee drinker myself, energy drinks have slowly started to make their way into my life. Going through 7 Brew a few times a week for coffee, I noticed I had some other options available to me: their energy drinks.

My sister, Hayley, and I went through 7 Brew with one goal in mind: get as many of their most popular energy drinks as possible and rank them based on our favorites. A small drink from the Arizona-based chain will set you back around $4; including the tip (which was generous), 12 drinks set us back $60 in total. The barista taking our order was beyond helpful in finding the most popular flavors, and they managed to pump out all twelve drinks in less than 20 minutes. 

So we began. Working with the other baristas at the drive-thru coffee shop, we put together a list of 12 drinks to try: Midnight Rain, Cherry Limeade, Pixie Stick, Brew Lagoon, Pink Mermaid, Hula, Black Mamba, Ocean Breeze, Lucky 7, Star Gazer, Blood Orange, and Coco Berry. We thanked them profusely and made our way to the mall parking lot to prepare for the caffeine headaches we were about to induce.

Cherry Limeade easily placed first in our rankings. After the first sip, I commented that it was “a lot of limeade, not a lot of cherry,” but this wasn’t a bad thing whatsoever. We both really liked this drink, despite it being the last drink we tried during our review. The color reminded me of Patrick Star, and the flavor was something I could drink every day. We both gave it a 9 out of 10.

Next in our rankings is Midnight Rain, ranked 9/10 by Hayley and 8/10 by me. This drink was a gorgeous deep purple, similar to the purple accents used on the album this drink presumably got its name from, “Midnights” by Taylor Swift. As personal fans of Taylor Swift--my sister much more so than me--we both had high hopes for this drink, and were not let down. Hayley tried this drink first and was beyond ecstatic, giving it an 8 out of 10 out of the gate. I gave it a 7 instead. I really am unsure of how to describe the flavor of this drink; it’s somewhat artificial grape, if it was really crisp purple grapes. It’s one you have to try.

Placed comfortably third in our rankings is Coco Berry. We both had pretty high hopes for this drink originally and were not disappointed. Originally, Hayley ranked it a 9, while I commented it was “very perfumey” and gave it a 7. Hayley brought her rating down to an 8 after reviewing the other drinks. I said it “tasted very pink,” which was fair considering the drink was incredibly pink: “It tastes the color that it is.”

Placed in fourth place is Pink Mermaid. Hayley tried this drink first and immediately said, “I hope you like coconut!” She was right; this flavor has a distinct coconut aftertaste, a slow burn that doesn’t really hit you until after you’ve taken a sip. We both really liked the coconut application in this drink and thought it gave it a lovely aftertaste, even as the third drink we had tried. Ultimately, Hayley rated it a 6 out of 10, and I rated it an 8.

In fifth place is Brew Lagoon, a deep ocean blue drink. On the first sip, I immediately clocked a distinct, potent lemon-lime Sprite flavoring, which Hayley found appealing. We both gave this drink a 7 out of 10. The Sprite flavor didn’t overpower or outlast the other flavors in the drink, making it a really solid choice.

Placed dead middle in sixth place is Pixie Stick. This drink had a deep red color to it and tasted like my elementary school days; I said it “slaps you in the face” on the first sip. It had that same short burst of sweetness that Pixie Stixs have and quickly got out of the way. Rated an 8 out of 10 by me, a lover of sweets, and 5 out of 10 by Hayley, a party pooper. I ranked it high and said I “really like it, but I don’t think I could drink a lot of it without getting sick.”

In seventh place is Hula, a pink drink. We both thought this was one of the sweetest drinks we’d had at first (we hadn’t tried Pixie Stick yet), and couldn’t really figure out what specific flavor it was at first. After talking, though, we guessed strawberry. We both gave it a 7; the drink wasn’t too sweet and its aftertaste lingered really well.

Placed eighth is Black Mamba, one of the last drinks we tried. Neither of us hated this one. We both tasted a black cherry flavor, like those at shaved ice establishments, and it had a gorgeous deep purple color. We both gave it a 6 out of 10 in the end.

Comfortably low on our rankings in ninth place is Blood Orange. Rated 5/10 by me and 6/10 by Hayley, we both thought it tasted similarly to watered down, flat Fanta. Blood Orange was the first drink we tried in our review, and we had the most time to sit on it. We both said it “wasn’t bad,” and originally thought it deserved a 6 or a 7 out of 10, but brought it down when we tried the other drinks.

Placed tenth is Lucky 7, a special drink for this season. Lucky 7 has a distinct green color, which I thought was indicative of its green apple flavoring. A friend of ours who is obsessed with green apple flavors took the drink from us after our review and was obsessed: “It tastes the color that it is.” Though it wasn’t a bad drink, we both gave it a 5 out of 10 compared to the others on our list.

Placed second to last place is Star Gazer, the second drink we tried in our review. I immediately described it as a blue raspberry Dum-Dum, and a color to match, and commented that I liked that it had a “little more sparkle” than the drink we tried prior, while Hayley immediately said she didn’t care for it. I gave it a 6 out of 10, and Hayley gave it a 4. Star Gazer wasn’t a bad drink by any means, but it didn’t rank high in our favorites.

Finally, placed last is Ocean Breeze. Though this seemed to be an unpopular opinion, Hayley and I found that we didn’t really taste much in this flavor. There was a very slight hint of coconut, like the sparkling water idea of coconut without the sparkling part. In this flavor’s defense, we tried it immediately after Pink Mermaid, which was also an incredibly coconut-y drink. Despite that, we both ranked it a 4 out of 10.

In conclusion, through the caffeine migraines and stomach aches, our top three drinks out of our choices were Cherry Limeade, Midnight Rain, and Coco Berry. We knew we couldn’t finish all of these drinks on our own, so we decided to line them up in the parking lot. We eventually had Watauga students run over from the other side of the mall parking lot to check out what was going on, and they ended up leaving with a few free drinks.

Today, coffee isn’t the only plausible option for someone looking for a boost of energy. Energy drinks are everywhere, including in coffee shops, and 7 Brew’s lineup of energy drinks is something every energy drink lover should try.