Real Beanz

Product Type:Coffee Drinks; Container: 9.5 oz Glass
BevNET Review: Real Beanz Caramel Focus is a product with two functions. The first is refreshment, which comes in the form of a pleasant tasting sugar sweetened blend of milk, coffee, and caramel flavoring. On that front, the product is quite good, with a flavor that can definitely hold its own against other caramel flavored iced coffees. The body is a bit lighter than some of the other products out there, which, in this day and age of health conscious consumers, seems like a smart move. Plus, this adds in the overall refreshment of the product, making it something that doesn’t weigh you down. The second function of the product is its “focus” formulation, which comes in the form of added eleuthero root, ginkgo biloba, an L-theanine. While these are definitely functional ingredients that are accepted for this purpose, the visual treatment of “FOCUS” on the front panel (which is easy to just glance over), makes us believe that the functional aspect of this product is much less important part of the purchasing decision than the look of the brand or the flavor of what’s inside the bottle. We don’t mean that to sound negative about this product -- we think that it’s a perfectly enjoyable iced coffee even without any added functionality. And that’s ultimately enough to make someone want to buy this product again and again.Reviewed on: 2/10/2012

Product Type:Coffee Drinks; Container: 9.5 oz Glass
BevNET Review: Real Beanz’s Diet Cappuccino is a 60 calorie (per bottle) formulation that has been enhanced with chromium, linoleic acid, and fiber. It uses a blend of erythritol, sugar, and stevia, which produces a noticeably less sweet flavor (compared to the other flavors) and no sweetener aftertaste. The bold coffee and less-sweet flavor makes this product really stand out -- there’s not really anything else out there like it. That said, this was our favorite flavor of the brand. For us, the functional aspect of this product (“Trim & Fit”) seems like it potentially does more harm than good -- someone who doesn’t like coffee or this product isn’t going to drink it just because it has fiber and such in it. Plus, it hurts the design of the product, with extra text covering the front panel. Otherwise, we really like the look of their package. It feels like a product of an upscale coffee company and, therefore, gives credibility to the quality of what’s inside the bottle. Overall, the best tasting of the bunch, assuming you’re not looking for something that’s super sweet. Reviewed on: 9/7/2011

Product Type:Coffee Drinks; Container: 9.5 oz Glass
BevNET Review: Having a solid mocha flavor seems critical to any RTD line, but, for Real Beanz, we think some simplification and refinement needs to be made. The base of the product seems good, with distinguishable coffee, milk, and chocolate flavors. However, in their effort to make this info a “Resist” formulation, the addition of green tea clouds the flavor (and seriously, who wants tea in their coffee anyway?) Ultimately, the desire to make this into a functional product seriously hurts this product. “Resist” eliminates the consumer’s ability to figure this product out by looking at the front panel, instead requiring the consumer to turn the bottle and read the back. Ultimately, we think that their functional “enhancement” is actually going to hurt sales rather than help, especially since the formulation and packaging could definitely stand on their own. Reviewed on: 9/7/2011

Product Type:Coffee Drinks; Container: 9.5 oz Glass
BevNET Review: Using the standard “cappuccino” flavor that’s found in virtually every ready to drink coffee line that has ever existed, Real Beanz’s Cappuccino Energize should be a very familiar tasting product. To that end, we think that their interpretation is done rather nicely, with a medium strength coffee, a fair amount of milk, and a hit of sugar making for something that tastes balanced and smooth. However, like the other flavors, they’ve enhanced the product with functional ingredients, including caffeine, ginseng, yerba mate, and B vitamins to create an “Energize” blend. Given that everyone who consumes coffee knows that it will help you “energize,” putting this on the front panel seems like extraneous information that will likely be overlooked. For this product, we think that’s a good thing, making it seem like a safer bet compared to some of the other words used on the front of Real Beanz’s other flavors (more on that in the other reviews). Visually, the product has a nice design to it, with clean looking graphics that, when combined with the matte printing on the label, feels like something that is high end. Overall, an enjoyable ready to drink coffee that can stand with the best of them.Reviewed on: 9/7/2011

Product Type:Coffee Drinks; Container: 9.5 oz Glass
BevNET Review: Another mainstay of the ready to drink coffee category, vanilla is sure to be one of the more attention grabbing flavors of the Real Beanz lineup. From a taste perspective, blending vanilla and hazelnut makes for something that’s unique and extremely enjoyable. Plus, it keeps the added vanilla flavor from completely overpowering the coffee (a common problem with vanilla RTD coffee). The product is, as part of its “Relax” formulation, a decaffeinated product that has been enhanced with chamomile, lemon balm, passion flower, and calcium. While it’s fine to have a decaf offering (most RTD coffee lines do, although they never seem to be big sellers), making it into a pseudo-relaxation product seems like a big gamble. For one, we think that consumers don’t associate the flavor of coffee with relaxation, so making the consumer buy into this is going to take some work. Plus, adding the word “Relax” to the front panel makes it hard to quickly figure out what this product is all about. Consumers will either have to read the back of the label -- or will simply move on to another product (hence the “big gamble” comment before). Visually, we think that Real Beanz has come up with something that’s attractive to the eye, with a premium looking brand that seems to befit an RTD coffee brand. Overall, really nice flavor and visual execution, but we’re far from convinced that making this into a relaxation product is going to work.Reviewed on: 9/7/2011