Caffeinated Gummi Bears - Loud truck gives great taste and little buzz

Of all the different sweets and treats in the world, there are 2 that don't excite me -- and I am a pretty excitable person. I have a personal hatred of licorice. Something about its very existence that offends me - the way it looks like candy and always comes in a bag big enough to share, but then after you chew one you remember it is lightly sweetened candle wax. Gummis are the other treat that never really did anything for me. It is not the pure loathing like licorice, but more of an indifference to them. There is always the problem of sharing. With most candies, there is a small container for them to come in - gummi bears, jelly beans and licorice come in these big bags that beg you to give some to your neighbors. Especially if you are around kids - is it possible to open a Gummi bag and eat the entire thing yourself? Not to mention, a candy covered jelly bean, gummi bears don't contain enough sweet and chewy for me to really go ape over.

Loud Truck hopes to change that. These new gummis are supposedly bursting with energy, harnessing their power from Guarana and Vitamins. Loud Truck gummis have a problem though. Even though these little bears look good and taste great (as gummis go), there is such little caffeine that I can not see the point of eating these instead of a more caffeinated treat. With only 7mg of caffeine per serving, there is even less caffeine than a big chocolate bar.

Nutrition/Buzz:3
They recommend a pair of gummis make one serving, which has 7 mgs of caffeine, Vitamin C and B and a little Taurine. That means one of these cute packages of 9 gummies have a grand total of 32 mgs of caffeine ( as much as a diet coke). There is more caffeine in a tiny plastic cup of yogurt than this whole bag. So to eat as much caffeine as you would find in a cup of coffee, you would have to chow down through 28 gummy bears. Normally not an issue, but these only come in those cute bags of 9. This means you need over 3 bags to get you any sort of jolt. Other than that, these are about as healthy as your average gummi candy would be. Like the caffeine, the Vitamins in here are not in enough doses to give you any boost at all.

Now according to Ron Hansen, this light boost was specifically designed this way - to give the eater at small lift without "buzzing your brain out - instead it is designed to give you just a light boost and a great taste." While this makes a nice entry for the company to get a name for themselves, I can not wait to see what a more potent product this would become if they upped the dosage.

Packaging:9
The best thing about this whole product is the great package they come in. Unlike going for the extreme route or hitting the younger crowd, Loud truck Citrus goes for the more upscale clientele, using a great vector illustrated package, with bright scripted letters mixed with a grunge font, in very eye catching, high end colors. The color scheme they suggest means they are going after more mainstream adults rather than catering to the usual18-24 year old male demographic. This is a great idea - as this lighter friendlier package would be more appealing to the general population, rather than relegating it to the energy drink crowd.

The size of the package is great too - where 9 gummi bears are just the right amount where you could eat a treat, and keep it all to yourself. According to hansen, they have now increased their packaging to reflect the whole bag as 1 serving, which is a definite improvement over their old bag advertising a serving of 2 gummi bears.
My only wish? a big yummy resealable bag of these, even if it meant I had to share.... (It seems like they sell these by the big pack now on their website...)

Taste:9
Even though they don't pack much of a buzz, The flavor is quite extraordinary. There is only a small hint of aftertaste, but a Gummi bear would have that anyways. The bears are squishy and soft, but still goo up in your mouth ( your dentist will have fits, I'm sure) and the flavor is very pleasant. The citrus is very mellow, not overpowering you with sweetness or sour. Red Bull Gummi bears? Not quite. This flavor is way better than the classic energy drink flavor, most closely flavored like a Lo-Carb Monster, only not as sweet and tangy.

Website:8 http://www.loudtruckgummi.com/index.html
This is a great looking site, if not built a little oddly. It looks very nice, and it was designed rather well, keeping in mind all the things graphic designers do well. the right colors, backgrounds and UI - and you can get all the information you need fast. I love the ease of the shopping cart, as well as being able to get all the info I could possibly want on the company, the gummies, and even links to reviews about it.
My problems with this site are more with how the site is run. First, never give me a popup window I did not ask for. Especially one that links to a video player! If I click on a video, that's cool - but don't force me to deal with pop up screens, a third party's slow loading video half opened. If you want a video on your site, do it right and put it in the dang page. This popup looks like an afterthought - and a bad idea at that.
Secondly, the site is slow. With over 350 k worth of images to pull down, this site is waay to heavy on graphics that don't need to be there. Even the html code itself is bloated, written in nested tables.
I would suggest as the company grows ( and it will - this idea will catch on like wildfire) hire a professional web developer to go along with that great graphic designer.

A BIG thank you to the Candy Blog forthe great photo and another great review


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