From the company most renowned for their organic honey energy products comes Mango Melon Rapid Hydration Mix – a subtle tasting electrolyte powder that comes with a touch of caffeine. I’ve been using this powder for about month in various situations, including:
- post regular running workouts of about 1hr
- as a pit stop drink during longer workouts that included a loop
- during a couple of cross country flights to help ensure I’m ready to roll as soon as I get off the plane
- I also put it to the test alongside Spring Energy Gels during a 40 km trail race
Although no blood content tests were taken during the testing sessions, I found the electrolyte powder to be quite effective. While consuming the drink I never felt any effects of dehydration such as cramps during my workouts and during the trail race, and I felt quite energized after workouts (this might have been partly due to the effects of caffeine along with L-theanine). With that said, lets take a closer look at this new product from Honey Stinger.
Marketing claims
The Honey Stinger family of hydration products comes in three types of products:
Prepare – these mixes are marketed as a way to simply replenish electrolytes and fluids lost to daily metabolic activity (metabolic activity being primarily the activities within your body that deal with converting food to energy as well as conversion of food into building blocks that your body can use to regenerte itself)
Perform – these were the mixes we actually tested, and they are marketed as helping you perform at your best by providing you with energy and replenishing the electrolytes lost due to sweating.
Recover – these mixes are meant to be consumed after workouts to help with recovery and also offer some immune boosting via ingredients like Zinc and additional vitamins.
One key claim of Honey Stinger to the greatness of this product deals with – you guessed it – honey. Specifically the Honey Stinger claims:
Honey is glucose and fructose. But naturally, the gut can only absorb 1 gram of glucose per minute or 60 grams per hour. The added fructose allows for the absorption of an additional 30 grams of carbohydrates per hour. This extra absorption helps maintain blood sugar levels and prevent hypoglycemia during training and competition. So if you’re looking to level-up your health and performance, honey-powered hydration might be the competitive advantage you’ve been waiting for.
Let me go a little deeper into my experience with the electrolyte mix:
Overall experience – easy to consume taste, good boost in energy without jitters
Mango is one of my favorite flavors so I was excited to try the Mango Melon flavor and while at first I found the taste a little underwhelming – it was very subtle. As I continued to consume the electrolyte drink I found the subtlety of the flavor to be a plus – after all if you’re going to be using the drink for a multi-hour event or hard workout, then an overwhelmingly strong taste might get old after a few initial sips.
Note: Most of the time I mixed it per the recommendation of 1 packet (16 grams) to 16 ounces of water. I found it quite easy to mix with just a few strong shakes within my Nalgene bottle.
Regarding performance, I found the drink quite satisfactory in making me feel adequately hydrated even though many of the tests took place on quite warm days. I also did feel a slight boost in energy similar to what I would usually feel from drinking coffee but with none of the jitteriness that sometimes comes from over-caffeination.
Ingredients and nutritional facts
Thumbs up to Honey Stinger for keeping the ingredient list short, here is the label for your reference. Note that although they promote honey as the key ingredient in the marketing claim, it is actually tapioca solids syrup that is the number one ingredient in the list (you can read a little about how to interpret ingredient lists in our what’s inside energy gel article).
Honey Stinger Rapid Hydration Mango Melon Nutrition info:
Conclusion
- I am a fan of this hydration product, I found myself craving it even when I wasn’t working out but when I felt a little bit of thirst creeping into my system.
- I found the packs easy to mix and the flavor easy to consume, even in large quantities, like during my 6 hour trail race.
- The caffeine is a nice touch that gives a positive boost during long runs.
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If you’re interested in learning more about Honey Stinger products check out our Honey Stinger energy gel review, or our review of Honey Stinger protein recovery bar.