XUA (pronounced shoo-AH) Superfood Energy Drink is a recently launched energy drink that blends superfood ingredients and juice to create a formulation that’s low in calories but big on flavor. The brand currently features a single SKU, Brazilian Berry, which is packaged in a slim 8.45 oz can.

Key ingredients include camu-camu, ginseng, yerba mate, guarana, acerola and green coffee extract as well as 13% juice from added raspberry puree. The juice serves as both a flavoring and sweetener alongside added monk fruit and erythritol. The end result is that the product has 100mg of caffeine along with 15 calories and 20 grams of carbohydrates (sugar does not appear in the product’s Nutrition Facts panel).

Flavor is definitely one of XUA’s stronger attributes. The product has a very clean taste with notes of mate and raspberry and a moderate level of carbonation and sweetness. There’s no bite or burn to it – just a slight tang and tartness at the tail end. And for a product that has only 15 calories per can, the sweetness – and lack of aftertaste – is pretty incredible. The use of juice, monk fruit and erythritol works extremely well together. 

Moving on to the packaging, Xua utilizes a pressure sensitive label with a metallic matte finish. This leaves small areas of the bare can exposed at the top and bottom, which, at least in the current market conditions of can shortages and other brands using this approach, is fine for the moment. 

The label is divided into two sections. Covering the top third of the label is an area with a black background that contains the words “SUPERFOOD ENERGY DRINK” as the dominant element. Directly beneath is a two-column list of hero ingredients. 

Below this – and covering the other two thirds of the label – is an area with a red background. Here you’ll find the XUA logo, the SKU name (Brazilian Berry), an illustration of Brazil that calls out “responsibly sourced.” The lone graphic element are some abstract illustrations on the left side of the label that appear to be berries of some sort. Finally, at the bottom, you’ll find callouts for the caffeine and calories.

In our opinion, the top black area is a bit too technical looking and takes away from the slick and modern appearance of the red area. We feel that the two-column list of ingredients could also subtly create the notion that this product is going to taste medicinal – which it certainly does not. That being said, figuring out a way to more subtly incorporate some of these items into the larger red area (and reducing or eliminating the black bar) would definitely be helpful. 

Beyond that, we do wonder what they’ll do for additional SKUs. It seems like there are a variety of options, including zero calorie, different flavors, or different superfood formulations. Either way, we do think that this is something that they’ll need to address in the not so distant future.

Ultimately, XUA should be able to utilize their strength in flavor and on-trend ingredients as a framework to carve out some space in the natural energy set. There’s definitely room to refine that packaging, but this is a great start for the brand.