Level Up Your Beverages with Yuno BioTactical Drinks

Still drinking water? Or maybe fruit juice? Dude, you need to improve your beverage game, and stat! That’s why I was happy to receive a sampler lineup from Yuno BioTactical Drinks to see what all the fuss was about. Can you really have a few teaspoons of a custom blended beverage and feel benefits for hours afterwards? The company says that their six functional blends are made with a total of over 100 all-natural superfood ingredients “scientifically chosen to increase bioavailability, natural absorption and hydration through a healthy mind & body.”

Quite the claim, really. The six blends available through their Indiegogo campaign (and eventually through direct order and retail, presumably) are: Zen, Dream, Memory, Focus, Uplift and Energy. They all come in funky little pouches that look like a mashup between a childrens’ yogurt pouch and an intravenous drip bag from the hospital:

Flip them over and you can read about the ingredients. Here’s Focus and Energy:

Since you probably can’t read that, key to know is that the Focus blend features Yerba Mate, Rosemary, Ceylon Cinnamon, Shiitake Mushrooms, Peppermint, Ginger, Flax Seed, Cocoa Beans, Oregano, Apples, Garlic and Jasmine, among its many ingredients. Energy features Dandelion Leaf, Cayenne, Pepper, Chicory Root, Black Tea, Poblano Peppers, Ginger, Brown Mustard Seed, Papaya, Irish Moss and Mesquite Beans, among its extensive list of ingredients. What it doesn’t have on the back are key instructions like “shake thoroughly before serving” and “suggested use: Mixed with your favorite milk”. Which would be helpful.

Lacking that key information we simply poured two of them directly into shot glasses to give them a taste:

And undiluted they are, umm… interesting. As in one sip is plenty. These really are pretty intense and super strong concoctions. In fact, to be entirely candid, my kids were so shocked and surprised by the super intense taste that they subsequently refused to try any of the other blends!

When I reached out to the company to ask what the deal was, they suggested that the blends would be less overwhelming if we mixed them with a favorite milk. How we were supposed to know that isn’t clear, but try #2 of the biotactical chemistry experiment produced this:

We’re all fans of Oatly Oat Milk (it’s the most dairy-milk-like beverage I’ve found) so were we going to find our zen by trying a teaspoon of Zen Mellow Spirit and 3oz of oat milk? It’s definitely an improvement, a funky taste rather than a smack upside the head, but there’s no question that you’re having a dose of superfood, an energy drink with a specific purpose.

I tried everything, actually, and that was a bit of a mistake. As in dude, you can overdose from this stuff. I felt a bit woozy and lightheaded for about 30min after the grand mixup, and would not recommend it to anyone. 🙂

Ultimately, I have to say that these are really interesting blends. I’ve never really imagined a beverage with such disparate ingredients, and some of them are massively spicy (the Energy drink will leave an aftertaste for quite a while if you can even handle so much spice). If superfood beverages are your thing and you like really intense concoctions, the Yuno BioTactical drinks might be for you. For the rest of us, however, a bit of caution around these might be advisable!

Check out the Yuno BioTactical Indiegogo campaign to learn how you can get a sampler at a substantial discount!

Disclosure: Yuno sent me a sampler selection of their blends for the purposes of this writeup. WHICH WAS PRETTY INTENSE! 🙂 🙂