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Mountain Dew Instead of Coffee? PepsiCo Unveils New Caffeinated Fruity Breakfast Drink to "Kickstart" Mornings
Move aside coffee, tea, milk and orange juice. Mountain Dew is introducing to the world "a new way to do mornings" with Kickstart, a bubbly fruit-flavored Mountain Dew beverage made with 5 percent juice, B and C vitamins and "just the right amount" of caffeine.
PepsiCo on Monday announced that it has been working on its Kickstart breakfast drink for some time and that the drink will be available in Orange Citrus and Fruit Punch flavors starting Feb.25. The Kickstart drinks will contain 80 calories per 16 oz. can and offers people a "fresh alternative to the age old morning question of 'coffee or juice'," the company said in a news release.
"Our consumers told us they are looking for an alternative to traditional morning beverages - one that tastes great, includes real fruit juice and has just the right amount of kick to help them start their days," Greg Lyons, Mountain Dew's vice president of marketing said in a statement.
The Purchase, New York-based company said that it doesn't consider their new breakfast drink to be an energy drink, saying that it still has far less caffeine than energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull and that it contains none of the ingredients that have recently raised concerns among lawmakers and consumers.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Kickstart has significantly less caffeine than energy drinks, with 92 milligrams for a 16-ounce can compared to PepsiCo's Amp energy drink, which has 142 milligrams of caffeine, and a 16-ounce cup of Starbucks coffee, which has 330 milligrams of caffeine. The same amount of regular Mountain Dew would contain 72 milligrams of caffeine.
While Mountain Dew's Kickstart will only be made available until Feb. 25, the company said that for those who want to taste it before then could go to kickstartfirsttaste.com to request a can.
However, people eager to get a taste before everyone else might have to wait. Associated Press reported that by early afternoon on Monday the Kickstart website said "Thank you so much for your interest in MTn Dew Kickstart. We have reached our available quantity and the offer has ended."
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