Fresh off the heels of Panera’s disastrous Charged Lemonade energy drink, Dunkin’ has decided to get in on the action. On Wednesday, Ben Affleck’s favorite dining establishment announced that they’re launching their own caffeinated energy drink line called Sparkd’ Energy. Sparkd’ (that’s going to be so annoying to type) will be a line of fruity flavored fizzy drinks that will contain “vitamins, minerals, and caffeine.”
As you may recall, Charged Lemonades have almost 300mg of caffeine, which makes it more caffeinated (and more sugary) than a Red Bull or Monster energy drink. Unlike their overambitious counterparts, a large size of Dunkin’s new drink line *only* contains 192 mg of caffeine, which is roughly half of the daily recommended limit for adults. Soooo, there’s that.
Dunkin’ is releasing its own caffeinated energy drink line called Sparkd’ Energy, the chain announced Wednesday. The line of fizzy Sparkd’ drinks will come in a variety of fruit flavors and contain “vitamins, minerals and caffeine,” said the brand website. Dunkin’ said the new drinks, along with other limited menu items including churro donuts and a breakfast empanada, will soon be available nationwide for a limited time.
According to the listed nutrition information, a large drink contains 192 mg of caffeine, just under half of the daily recommended limit for adults. The announcement comes in the wake of ongoing controversy around energy drinks sold by Panera Bread, which has been linked to multiple deaths thanks to its high caffeine content, according to multiple lawsuits.
The Charged Lemonades, a set of highly caffeinated drinks in multiple flavors, have been accused of causing serious physical harm to customers who consumed them, even allegedly resulting in death. Two lawsuits, filed in October and December of last year, allege the drink’s caffeine contents caused the cardiac arrests that killed two separate people, while a third filed this year alleges the beverage caused permanent heart issues.
While warnings about the product have since been added in-store and online by the company, the drinks are still available for purchase. Recently, Panera’s request to dismiss one of the suits was denied by a judge, a sign these cases may take some time to move through the courts.
I looked through Dunkin’s online menu and that seems to be roughly the average amount of caffeine that one of their medium size caffeinated drinks contain. It’s not an insignificant amount by any means, but the big difference here is obviously that it’s still within the daily recommended limit. They also aren’t marketing their Sparkd’ drinks as a clean, healthy drink or conveniently leaving out how much caffeine it contains. Dunkin’s drinks also aren’t typically something freely available for refills like Charged Lemonades used to be. Oh, and I think I figured out why the drink is spelled like that and not “Sparked.” Clearly, it was named by someone who was so hyped up on caffeine that they were typing too fast and Sparkd’ was the ensuing typo.
Shoutout to Kismet for alerting me to this news.
Photos are screenshots from YouTube and via Instagram
I like the Refreshers with Green Tea they already have but I’ll try this too. I found a case of True North Seltzer (15 cans!) at Ollie’s for $5 so I won’t be getting any of these overpriced drinks for a while .