Marley's - 11 Reviews

They may have dropped the “passion fruit” from the name, but I'm pretty sure this is the same formula as the old Black Tea, Peach, Raspberry and Passion Fruit bottles that I used to drink more often than I probably should have. If it is different it not by much and it's still wonderfully delicious.

It's always a shock when a functional beverage can not only taste like the beverage it's masquerading as, but also be an exceptional version of that style of beverage. If this were a regular iced tea that wouldn't make me sleepy I would drink it all of the time. It tastes fantastic and fruity, without being overly sweet. As it is I drink it sparingly when I need to chill out a bit. I do miss it in resealable bottle form though. A full can might just knock me right out.

When Mellow Mood first came out there were insane. I almost died because I didn't know how strong they were and I drank one before a twenty minute drive home. Shortly thereafter they apparently changed the formula and lowered the effective dosage. I no longer feared going from completely awake to asleep in a few short minutes, but they definitely relaxed me and helped me to get to sleep on many a restless night. My brain tends to go into overdrive sometimes and when that happens my chances of organically falling asleep are slim. Mellow Mood allowed me to have following days that weren't completely miserable due to lack of sleep. It was a lifesaver.

Now there's a new can, and kind of new flavors (there was a light version of this available in the past), but this can did not have the same effect on me as they have in recent times. I'm afraid they changed the formulation again and it no longer works the way I want it to. I blame the lack of melatonin. I ended up lying in bed all night and I remember light creeping around my curtains before I finally fell asleep. I really hope this is still available in the old formula because this simply won't do. I mean this is really delicious, but that was never a problem with these drinks. It tastes like a perfect Arnold Palmer with a little bit of raspberry mixed in. I still don't know what that has to do with Bob Marley, but I love the way it tastes. I just wish it still helped me get to sleep.

As I've said a million times, I'm not a huge coffee fan. I do like coffee ice cream though. It's toned down and it is delicious most of the time. When I saw that Marley now made a vanilla chocolate swirl coffee drink my first thought was “Well there goes keeping up a brand image.” What on earth did Bob Marley have to do with ice cream? Did he ever sing about it? Not that I know of, but I've never really delved into his catalog. My second thought was “Is this really a necessary flavor?” It's like they are marketing coffee to kids. Being a big dumb kid myself I obviously picked up a can. You know what? It actually tastes like someone made a cup of coffee and then cooled it down by letting a soft serve twist melt in it. It has a very accurate flavor, but unfortunately who actually wants that flavor once they try it? It was good for about two sips and then it got to be a bit too much. Also, there is a weird almost banana taste to this. There is no banana in it, unless that's where they got the potassium, but it has this weird underflavor that isn't quite the fruit, but close. With each sip the mystery flavor got stronger and my enjoyment decreased. This just seems unnecessary and only well executed for a short period of time. No banana no cry.

I have no idea what is up with me lately. Up until recently I have never had a problem with falling asleep. For my entire life, any place or time, I could just lay down my head and in a few minutes I would be out in blissful sleep. Things started to change when energy drinks hit the scene. I don't drink coffee, so my caffeine intake is pretty low, so these drinks affect me a lot. If it's in the evening when I drink one, I can kiss sleep goodbye. I'm aware of this issue though, so I know how to control it. Recently though, sleep tends to avoid me for no good reason. There are times when I haven't had any caffeine, or other stimulants, my mind isn't racing and I'm not worried about anything; I just can't sleep. I don't understand it at all. I'll be watching a movie late at night, feeling like I'm about to nod off, so I'll go to bed and as soon as I lay down, BAM I'm awake. Luckily it's not a constant, just once or twice every couple of weeks, but it's still bloody annoying. It's for times like these that I like to keep a bottle of Mellow Mood in my fridge.

Now, as you can see from our older reviews these drinks will make you feel all warm and cozy, while your will to stay awake washes away. They aren't as strong as they originally were, but they still get the job done. It confuses me when I'm on a decent hike and I find a bottle deep in the woods. Who thought that would be a good idea? You're trekking through the woods and you decide, shit I need to sleep right now and then leave my trash behind. Scumbag idiots roam this planet.

There are a handful of flavors of Mellow Mood on the market these days, some are teas and some are sparkling. I am more a fan of the tea varieties. I mean who wants to drink bubbly water before sleep? (Yes I know this is just meant to relax you and not actually put you to sleep, but everyone I know who has drunk them falls asleep quickly.) Marley's has done a great job making functional beverages that actually taste delicious. This is very clearly raspberry tea mixed with lemonade and it tastes natural. Sure it's sweetened erythritol as well as cane sugar, but it doesn't taste very diet and the other functional ingredients are completely hidden from your taste buds. I would drink this even if it didn't help cure my ailments. I'm just lucky it serves other functions as well as tasting nice.

I don't know Bob Marley. I mean, come on, I'm a 29 year old, Jewish, white kid from Buffalo. The only thing I know about Bob Marley is that he's probably rolling in his grave because of the fact that every time you think of him, you think of weed, or how you have a tapestry at home with his face on it, or just tie die. It's unfortunate. I am not going to pretend to know anything about him because pretending to do so will do his life a great injustice. I'm not against him or whatever he believed in and I would like to watch a documentary because I feel that at one point, he was so influential to a people, that he's still as great as he was today. Also, I don't read so a video is the only way that I'm going to take it in. Even Wikipedia is going to be too much to read. That man grew those dreads so we could all see them.

I don't know who's putting out all these Marley drinks, because we all know it's not Bob. He's not signing his name on the dotted line saying, "Yeah, mon. I would love to put me name on dis tea das gonna put ya ta sleep." Someone is forging his name and he keeps pushing out products and the dead Bob Marley is just pulled into it. So "Bob" wants me to drink this coffee drink that he makes and I'll do it.

It's good. It's smooth and doesn't have as strong a coffee taste as many other coffee drinks like a Starbucks. It's not too sweet, and it gives me this coffee stuck to my tongue type deal so that makes it seem genuine and like the coffee you know and love.

Bob, may you rest in peace. If you were here when I was drinking this, you'd better believe that I'd share it. 80/20, advantage you. You win, brother.

There is a very fine line between crust punks and hippies. Seriously there are so many similarities; dirty, smelly, anti-job, and they both like getting messed up. One of the differences is that hippies prefer weed and hallucinogenics, while crust punks prefer alcohol...oh who am I kidding? They will take anything that will get them messed up. Another difference is that most hippies like to relax and "chill to the groove," while every traveling crust punk I've ever known has been obsessed with coffee. Seriously coffee non-stop. I am hereby requesting that for their coffee line Marley's changes their name to either Discharge or Crass.

I was halfway through this bottle before I questioned whether or not it was a relaxation drink. I know the idea of a relaxation coffee is ridiculous, but I was working and I had a shirt order I needed to get done, so falling asleep just wasn't in the cards. It, of course, is not a relaxation drink. It's a regular coffee drink. Maybe regular is wrong, because I am not a fan of coffee per say, but I think this is incredible. That could be because it tastes more like chocolate than coffee, but that's exactly how a good mocha should be. This tastes exactly like what my friend Nina makes me at her place of employment (minus the peanut butter). I seriously love it, but I would love it more if it was called Crass' Systematic Death Mocha.

If anyone ever has any problem sleeping, pause in your tossing and turning, get out of bed and grab a bottle/can or Marley's Mellow Mood. It seems like the most ridiculous thing, like it should be a gag gift, but this stuff works. I mean really works. There are a lot of relaxation drinks popping up out there. Some are more effective than others, but none are as effective as these. There is a reason these are popping up everywhere and other brands fall by the wayside.

This flavor is so smooth as well. It's a half and half that is sweetened with erythritol, but it just tastes like iced tea and lemonade. It doesn't taste diet at all. Okay it does have some regular sugar in it as well, but the weird diet taste usually overpowers everything. A lot of relaxation drinks are carbonated, which can be annoying when it's the middle of the night and you can't sleep. With this tea you don't have to wait for the bubbles to settle. You can pound the whole bottle in about five seconds.

I wasn't overly awake or sleepy last night when I drank this. We were almost through Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and I decided to drink it just so I could write a review for it this morning. About 10-15 minutes after I drank it I was having trouble keeping my eyes open while laying in bed watching the movie. I did win the fight and completed a great movie starring two of my favorite actors.

I hate mid-day naps. I'm busy and if I'm not, I like to relax, but sleep is for nighttime and if I have time to sleep in the day, I have time to play video games or, probably a better idea, work. Today was a nice warm day, too warm for jeans, but whatever. I'm a tough...ish guy.

It was lunchtime and we decided to take a walk to a local deli and grab a sandwich. They just started carrying Marley's and I noticed a while back that we never reviewed the green tea with honey flavor, so today was the day, friends. We bought a sandwich, fruit, and this drink, which came to an astonishing $16 and change and sat down. We must have been hungry because we both finished our sandwich before we even opened the drink. When we finally got around to opening it, it was well worth the wait. It was a very light green tea taste with a nice honey flavor right up front. The bitterness, which was small, was then soothed over by sweet honey and it really made you want to go back for more. We split that bottle right down the middle in no time flat.

Fast-forward an hour.

On our way home, we got about three blocks away and sleep hit us like a ton of bricks. We couldn't get home fast enough. We got home and all three of us passed out. I think my girlfriend put her head on the pillow and was instantly sleeping. I was fighting it because, as previously mentioned, I hate mid-day naps. I couldn't fight it anymore and we all slept for like three hours. Later we realized it wasn't due to lack of sleep, but due to Marley's Mood.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but man, if we wanted to be productive, I would have been pissed that I slept instead of re-paved the front walkway.

I'm going to hold back on the hippy jokes here. I mean I think we pretty much covered it in our last two Marley's Mellow Mood reviews.

For some reason last night I was wide awake at 2am. I tossed and turned for a little bit, until it hit me that I had this stashed away in the back of the fridge. As if here was an imaginary sign on it that said, "Crack open in case of emergency." Glug. Glug. Glug. A couple minutes later I was back in bed under the warmth of my comforter. Since it takes a little while to kick in, I decided to read while I waited. Unfortunately (?) for me, the book was way interesting and I fought through the sleepiness so that I could find out what happened in the storyline. Hours later I finally decided I had to give in and I passed out instantly. Keep in mind that I could have passed out twenty minutes after I drank the can, but that damn book just made me stay up. I was possessed I tell you!

This is supposed to be a carbonated berry flavor, and there is a strong berry flavor when you sip it. The problem is that the berry is quickly washed out by an aftertaste of fennel (which is not listed in the ingredients). I am not a fan of fennel by any means. I do enjoy a visit from its brother-in-law anise in my root beer, but I normally just can't do fennel. I was able to handle it in this. I made it through the can without being completely grossed out. The fruit flavor made it not as strong, and eased my tongue into it. I'm going to stick with the citrus variety myself, but if fennel is your thing I think you would love this.

Everyone who brought your hemp necklaces, hemp bracelets, and copies of Legalize It can leave. You, in the back using your dreads as a pillow, go home. This tea is for the Everyman man.

This tea is delicious. I don't care for peaches. So sue me. I never did. The passionfruit, on the other hand, is quite prominent. You get a nice, subtle bite from the cane sugar, which I am a fan of. I haven't felt any of the effects of the valerian root or melatonin, but maybe I was already a bit sleepy from a large dinner.

This is a legit tea as far as tea goes. Don't think of it as a hippy drink because it's too fantastic to be typecast. Now Ben Stiller...you can typecast him all the darn time.

Wait there are hyper hippies in the world? This is a Bob Marley "anti-energy" drink. It has valerian root, chamomile, melatonin, and various other ingredients in it to relax you, or "mellow you out." I got it because I thought it was a hysterical idea, and packaging. It turned out to be pretty darn delicious. It doesn't have any sort of chemical taste to it, like a lot of energy drinks do. The citrus doesn't just taste like lemon, lime and orange. I taste a hint of pineapple and some others in there as well. I was actually shocked that about fifteen minutes after I drank it, I definitely crashed, and just wanted to lay in a warm cozy bed. I wonder if this will become a new trend, and some terrible companies will pop up with more "city themes." They will advertise that it will help bring you down for a late night coke binge. Until now I guess it will be marketed towards the strange girls who were always in your art class in high school that talked to much about absolutely nothing.