Do the thing the industry counts on you skipping: read the active panel line by line. Caffeine anhydrous. Taurine. L-carnitine. Inositol and glucuronolactone. B-vitamins at label doses. Nothing hides behind a proprietary blend — the whole formula fits on a recipe card, and every line of it is a bulk powder.
What follows is the same label, rebuilt at cost — each ingredient weighed, each dose printed, each price on the record.
Three builds
The full clone
FROM SCRATCH| Caffeine anhydrous | 200 mg | $0.07 |
| Taurine | 1 g | $0.05 |
| L-Carnitine | 500 mg | $0.10 |
| Inositol + glucuronolactone | 500 mg each | $0.10 |
| B-complex (niacinamide, B6, B12) | label doses | $0.05 |
| Citric + malic acid (2:1) | ½ + ¼ tsp | $0.05 |
| Sugar + dextrose (or sucralose) | 2–3 tbsp | $0.08 |
| Carbonated water | 1 L | $0.10 |
≈ $0.40–0.60 per liter
Mirrors the canned label almost line for line. Chill hard, carbonate hard — the fizz does half the work.
The batch dry-mix
SCALES UP| Caffeine anhydrous | 3.2 g | 32 × 100 mg |
| Taurine | 32 g | 32 × 1 g |
| Potassium citrate | 7.7 g | electrolyte |
| Salt | 3.5 g | mineral |
| Citric acid | 4.8 g | tang |
≈ $0.10–0.20 per can-equivalent
One jar, 32 servings. 1.5 g of mix into 500 ml of sparkling water — ten seconds, done.
The zero-effort
10 SECONDS| Caffeine tablet (pre-dosed) | 200 mg | $0.05 |
| Flavored sparkling water (MiO, True Citrus) | 500 ml | $0.40 |
≈ $0.45 per can
Crush the tab, drop it in seltzer, done. No scale required — the safest possible build.
The acid blend, disclosed
The 'energy drink flavor' is not a flavor — it is a ratio, and both halves of it sit on the ingredient list: citric acid and malic acid, weighed at roughly 2:1. That pairing is the signature tang. The sweetener line is a fork in the formula — sucralose for the zero-sugar build, sugar plus dextrose for the classic one — and a pinch of salt sharpens either.
Read the B-vitamins while you're down there: at label doses they are cosmetic — tint plus the vitamin-y bite. Riboflavin is what turns the glass fluorescent yellow. Weighed, printed, priced: that is the standard every ingredient on this page is held to.
The dose-first checklist
- Caffeine is the one line that demands a milligram scale — 200 mg weighed, never spooned
- Taurine and carnitine are gram-scale lines — bulk powder, weighed out, printed
- If a mix hides its doses behind a 'proprietary blend,' put it back — every row here prints the number
- Even the zero-effort build prints the full label: 200 mg pre-dosed tab, 500 ml seltzer, ≈ $0.45