Which Energy Drinks Are Vegan?

Last Updated on April 23, 2023 by admin

An energy drink can put some pep in your step so you have the fuel to complete your day or take on a big challenge. If you’ve recently gone vegan, you might have to reevaluate whether you can continue enjoying your energy drink of choice. For instance, some energy drinks contain amino acids that come from red meat, such as taurine and L-carnitine. Which energy drinks have completely vegan-safe ingredients?

The following energy drinks are considered vegan:

• Rise Brewing Co. Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Oat Milk Latte
• Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee
• Wonder Drink Kombucha
• Sambazon Amazon Energy
• Power Dream Soy Energy Drink
• Rockstar Zero Carb

Yes, some of these beverages are more coffee-based than the traditional energy drink you may sip on now, but caffeine is caffeine. Keep reading for more on each of these vegan energy drinks, including their ingredients. You’re not going to want to miss it.

6 Vegan Energy Drinks to Try Today

Rise Brewing Co. Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Oat Milk Latte

Our first recommended vegan energy drink is Rise Brewing Co.’s Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Oat Milk Latte. According to Rise, a can contains 80 milligrams of caffeine, all of which the company says is “naturally occurring.”

If you want to try a different flavor, Rise Brewing Co. also produces a dark chocolate energy drink. The ingredients in that beverage are organic cold-brew coffee, organic sugar, organic cocoa powder, organic oat flour, organic natural flavors, and potassium citrate. All coffee used in Rise Brewing Co.’s products is made of water and coffee concentrate, no dairy here! You’re free to have this drink anytime you need a little pick-me-up.

Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee

Here’s a second cold-brew coffee, this time from a brand called Chameleon. Their specialty-grade organic coffees are not all allowable for vegans, though. Make sure the variety you buy has oat milk instead of whole milk.

The maple-flavored cold-brew coffee includes these ingredients: sea salt, gellan gum, sunflower lecithin, potassium citrate, organic natural flavors, organic gum arabic, organic oat flour, organic high oleic sunflower oil, organic sugar, organic maple syrup, and organic cold-brew coffee with organic coffee concentrate and water.

Don’t worry about ingredients like gellan gum, as its production process never involves animals. The same is true of organic gum arabic.

The dark chocolate Chameleon coffee has the same ingredients except for the addition of organic cocoa powder, making it another smart and safe vegan choice when you need more energy.

Wonder Drink Kombucha

Kombucha is the “it” drink these days. You may want to hop on the kombucha bandwagon too, but some of the ingredients in the beverage give you pause. In that case, try Wonder Drink Kombucha. Their canned kombucha includes ingredients like kombucha bacteria and yeast cultures, organic brewed oolong tea, organic brewed black tea, and organic cane sugar for the Traditional variety.

Other flavors include Concord Grape, Cherry & Black Currant, Green Tea & Lemon, and Asian Pear & Ginger.

Admittedly, some vegans feel a bit iffy about ingesting bacteria and yeast cultures, but doing so isn’t explicitly un-vegan.

Sambazon Amazon Energy

Here’s a more standard energy drink, Sambazon Amazon Energy. No, not Amazon like the retailer, but more like the rainforest. The Low-Calorie Blood Orange Acerola beverage includes organic Stevia extract, organic yerba mate extract, organic guarana extract, citric acid, vegetable and fruit juices, organic green tea extract, organic flavors, organic invert cane syrup, organic acerola juice, organic erythritol, and organic blood orange juice.

Sambazon’s Original Acai Energy Drink is another tasty choice for vegans. It’s loaded with much of the same ingredients as well as organic fair-trade clarified acai juice.

Power Dream Soy Energy Drink

A perfect drink to grab after a tough workout, Power Dream Soy Energy Drink will fill you to the brim with energy. The X-Treme Chocolate flavor includes sea salt, vanilla, gum arabic, cocoa, rice syrup, organic soybeans, filtered water, and organic soymilk.

Rice syrup, especially the brown variety, comes from brown rice and is used as a substitute for traditional sugar. It’s both gluten-free and vegan. Most vanilla extracts should be vegan-safe as well, even the artificial sweeteners.

Rockstar Zero Carb

Rockstar is a big name in energy drinks, and if you liked their beverages when you ate meat and dairy, you can continue drinking Rockstar as a vegan. Just make sure you reach for the Zero Carb drink, which has PETA approval for being vegan-safe.

As a note, Rockstar Zero Carb has both taurine and L-carnitine, the two no-no ingredients you try to avoid in most energy drinks. However, those ingredients can be sourced from either plants or meat, and in this case, it’s plants.

The other ingredients are red 40, cyanocobalamin, blue 1, pyridoxine hydrochloride, yerba mate leaf extract, pantothenic acid, niacinamide, natural flavors, pectin, sorbic acid, sucralose, benzoic acid, acesulfame potassium, glucuronolactone, sodium citrate, green tea extract, caffeine, citric acid, malic acid, and carbonated water.

Although some of those ingredients might sound a bit suspect, each is vegan-safe. With zero calories per can, you can sip on Rockstar Zero Carb and not derail a diet either!

Conclusion

Vegan energy drinks are out there, but you might have to search a little harder to find them. Whether it’s Rockstar Zero Carb, Sambazon Amazon Energy, or coffee-based energy drinks like Chameleon Cold-Brew or Rise Brewing Co. Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Oat Milk Latte, you can stay energized all day and still maintain your vegan diet with these great energy drinks. We hope you try them all!