Energy Drinks

Homemade Energy Drink Recipe

Generic Energy Drink

And 7 Steps to Market It

Do you have an idea for an energy drink and want to market it to the masses?

Have you dreamed about making a homemade energy drink to your exact preferences and tastes?

Well, hopefully this article will get you started in the right direction for crafting your perfect homemade drink and give you 7 steps to take your new creation to the next level.

Ingredients You Will Need

  • A caffeine source: Grind up or dissolve a NoDoz for a metered 200 mg of caffeine. Other caffeine tablets can work as well.
  • Flavorings: Try Capella Flavor Drops as they have many flavorings to choose from.
  • Taurine: This can be bought as a powder or a liquid, but the powder is much cheaper.
  • Liquid B vitamins: I would recommend ordering a liquid B vitamin complex.
  • Glucuronolactone: This comes in powder form.
  • Herbs: Now this is where you can be creative, but this can also get expensive to purchase the liquid extracts of herbs as you don’t want a salad floating in your homemade energy drink, now do you?  Suggestions; Ginseng Liquid and Ginko Biloba Liquid.
  • Sweeteners: Here you can dissolve table sugar in some hot water or use sucralose or stevia if you want it sugar free.
  • Carbonated water: You can just buy this pre-made or try making your own, which is explained below.

Putting the Homemade Energy Recipe Together

soda-siphon

a soda siphon

Now here is the fun part in constructing your tailor-made energy drink. Why not use a can of Rockstar or similar as your rough guide to ingredients, but feel free to experiment with amounts. It would be handy to have a metric food scale on hand to measure out all the ingredients.

Be careful with the caffeine powder and probably to be safe, use no more than 200mg at a time unless you are a serious caffeine addict. The caffeine has to be dissolved in boiling water, which would also be recommended for any powders you are using in your homemade drink.

As for the carbonated water you can make your own easily by using a soda siphon and soda siphon charger cartridges. In the long run this works out to be cheaper than buying the pre-made and you will have a fresh supply each time. (Another option is using a Soda Stream™)

So make a concentrate using a small amount of boiling water, into which, mix in your caffeine, taurine, sugar, flavor etc.. Allow the mixture to cool and then add your seltzer water a little at a time until you have a great tasting ratio. You may have to make a few attempts to get your homemade energy drink just right, but hey,  that’s part of the fun, right?

7 Steps to Market Your Energy Drink to the Masses

It’s all about marketing as the energy drink giants have shown us. Here are some steps to take that have worked for other companies in the past. Please read this with tongue-in-cheek…

  1. Think of a name.
    This is tough – there aren’t many names left. Hint: Don’t include the word Red (after all we already have Redline, Red Bull, Red Rain, Red Devil, Red Flash, Red Eye, Big Red, and Red Jak). Bonus Hint: Name your drink after an illegal street drug. This will ensure instant (but short-lived) publicity.
  2. Design a label.
    Find an artsy mate who knows their way round Photoshop. Hint: Try not to knock off the Red Bull design.
  3. Get hold of a private label energy drink company.
    For example some companies offer the following. For a minimum order of 160 cases, you can get your own energy drink manufactured for you. Cost: $1.23 per can, 24 cans per case. Hint: See if you can sneak in some extra caffeine. Remember – it’s a numbers game.
  4. Take some photos.
    We’re looking for action shots here – the sort of shenanigans that appear on Youtube every other day. Guys on skateboards and BMXs. Hint: Make sure you enlist your photoshop friend to paste in a few pics of your newly minted energy drinks into the pictures.
  5. Build a website.
    Find a geeky friend who knows their way round the interwebs. Hint: Make sure the site is in Flash, has some loud and obnoxious music – and make sure to paste in all those photos you took. Bonus Hint: Get some merchandise up onto the site. Cafepress will do anything you want for a small fee.
  6. Get Some Publicity.
    As long as you got Number 1 right, you can get a press release knocked up, contact a few blogs, and you’re all done.

If you fail to make your millions… then join the multitudes of others who have failed. At least you tried.

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Warning: Caffeine isn’t something to be played around with, so measure carefully and keep your energy drink at a safe level.

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