THEY are the drinks that have taken the world by storm – with parents paying over the odds to get hold of a bottle for their kids.
The drinks are so popular that supermarket shoppers have wrestled other customers wrestling out of the way to get their hands on one.
8
Their popularity is largely due to the faces behind the drinks.
Two huge YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul, who together have 140million followers, launched the Prime brand in January last year.
There are seven flavours – Ice Pop, Meta Moon, Blue Raspberry, Lemon Lime, Tropical Punch, Orange and Grape – and I tried all of them.
It’s marketed as a “hydration drink”, as it contains coconut water and electrolytes, plus ingredients that they claim aid muscle recovery.
The standard retail price of a single 500ml bottle is meant to be just £1.99 – but we paid more for two flavours online for £7.99 each.
The drink was originally sold exclusively by Asda and then by Aldi has some in stock but it sold out within hours and customers were limited to one flavour per customer.
How did it get so popular?
During a live stream, the pair said they wanted to “rival the biggest companies on earth” with their products – including “Pepsi, Coke, Gatorade and Powerade”.
The drink was then promoted around a string of high-profile celebrity boxing matches.
Most read in Money
KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olatunji, is one of the UK’s most famous YouTube creators. He has also dabbled in celebrity boxing and music.
Logan Paul is an American internet celebrity who found fame, along with his brother Jake, through often controversial online videos.
Prime soon found viral fame in the UK after a TikTok clip showed a girl being charged £145 for six bottles by a shop in Wakefield.
Cheeky sellers on Ebay were later found to be listing a 12 pack for £50,000, while single bottles are currently available for a whopping £10,000.
But what do they taste like? I put them to the test.
Ice Pop
8
Prime’s Ice Pop flavour hydration drink has the best packaging. It’s red, white and blue and looks similar to ice lollies from decades ago – but sadly the taste did not match up.
Before tasting, I took a sniff and was greeted by a soapy lemon sell.
After the first sip, I realised it tasted just how it smelt – a sweet mixture of soapy water with a hint lemon citrus.
The product says that it contains no artificial colours but it didn’t taste like that.
If I was offered Ice Pop again – I’d happily go thirsty.
Taste: 2/10
Meta Moon
8
Now onto Meta Moon, this special edition flavour was released in August 2022.
I was most curious to try this one, as the name is so random and packaging doesn’t give any hints about what it might taste like.
On the first sniff, I got an intense floral scent which then became reminiscent of bubblegum.
The taste was just as intense, like drinking Hubba Bubba bubblegum.
It wasn’t unpleasant, but I couldn’t really get past the phycological block of not swallowing gum, which made the taste less pleasing.
Taste: 4/10
Blue Raspberry
8
Prime’s Blue Raspberry flavour looks enticing – but it was another major let down.
This was the only bottle that truly left me stumped. I couldn’t work out what it tasted like.
On the one hand, the light blue liquid tasted like really sweet flat lemonade but on the other, it just tasted like a purely synthetic mish-mash of flavours.
It did smell of lemonade but I wouldn’t rush back out to pick this flavour again.
Taste: 2/10
Lemon Lime
8
If I closed my eyes, I’d be outside in a pub beer garden sipping lemonade and lime, not Prime’s Lemon and Lime flavour.
The drink has a faint green colour and smells overwhelmingly of, you guessed it, lemons and lime.
It has a pleasant sweetness which is quickly neutralised by a bitter but also pleasant aftertaste.
I could imagine myself reaching for one of these after a run.
Finally, a flavour I would drink again.
Taste: 8/10
Tropical Punch
8
Prime’s Tropical Punch flavour is quite similar to Powerade’s fruit punch hydration drink.
The smell is not super appealing – you get an overwhelming fruity synthetic hit even though the product is flavoured naturally.
The taste on the other hand is worth the punt and you won’t be let down as the tropical flavours hit your tongue.
It’s weirdly the only Prime flavour that actually has a hint of coconut taste even though the brand boasts that all of its flavours contain 10% coconut water.
The pineapple taste is understated but comes through the more you sip – and it’s just sweet enough, to keep you wanting more.
Taste: 6/10
Orange
8
Imagine a glass filled with a very weakly diluted orange squash – that’s exactly what Prime’s Orange hydration drink tastes like.
The orange-coloured drink smells overwhelmingly synthetic but its scent is reminiscent of just about every undiluted bottle of high juice.
The taste isn’t all that bad if you’re after a staple fruity flavour – but it’s far too sweet for my liking.
Worth the cost? Not really, especially when I can get a 750ml bottle of double-strength orange squash from Sainsbury’s for just 45p.
Taste: 4/10
Grape
8
As I’m doing dry January this is the closest grape-flavoured beverage I’ve got to sipping right now and it doesn’t disappoint.
Its dark purple colour might be off-putting but its grapey smell entices you to take a sip as soon as you snap off the cap.
The drink smells very much like Welch’s popular grape juice – which I love.
On the first sip, your tongue is flooded with an overwhelming sweetness.
But the aftertaste is understated and the grape flavours dissolve naturally quite quickly on the tongue.
If you’re not a fan of the bittersweet flavour of fruity sports drinks but prefer just a simple sweetness – then this is the flavour for you.
The only off-putting part about this flavour is the deep purple colour of the drink.
Taste: 6/10
