A ‘Bang’ of caffeine

Kaitlynn Breeden, Reporter

Red Bull has been the most consistent thing in my life. I drank two Red Bulls every day my senior year of high school. So, that being said, I consider myself somewhat of an energy drink connoisseur.

My roommate’s boyfriend, Elliott, drinks Bang energy drinks. I’ve never seen Bang in stores in my hometown, so I never really knew about it until I moved to Wayne and saw them in Pac N Save.
On the totem pole of energy drinks, Monster and NOS are on the very bottom. I don’t want to get into it, but Monster Energy is garbage.

One reason why I’ve converted to Bang is because of the price. For a 16 oz can of Red Bull, it’s $3.27 and a Bang is $2.29.

Some energy drink side effects include increased blood pressure, anxiety, panic attacks, dizziness, irritability, and nausea. I have been diagnosed with anxiety and energy drinks affect me differently.

Red Bull doesn’t make me anxious until the couple hours after drinking it. Bang doesn’t affect my anxiety at all when I drink it, so I’ve never had any issues with that. I’m usually more focused on being a little hyper, so Red Bull takes away my anxiousness.

The main reason I drink energy drinks is for caffeine. I usually sleep for six hours a day, so I drink them to help me stay awake. A lot of people also drink Bang as a substitute for pre-workout supplements or coffee.

A regular can of Bang (16 oz) has 300 mg of caffeine, which is equal to over three cups of coffee. It also has 0 g of carbohydrates and 0 g of sugar. A regular can of Red Bull has 160 mg of caffeine, 56 g of carbohydrates and 56 g of sugar.

Bang also has more flavors to choose from like purple guava pear, cotton candy, purple haze, sour heads, star blast, blue razz, pina colada, etc. Red Bull has different flavors like blueberry, cranberry, tangerine, tropical fruit, and kiwi apple.

I prefer the Bang flavors over Red Bull—blue razz and purple guava pear are the best, in my opinion.