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Today we’re going to dive into Olly’s “Swift Energy”. We appreciate the use of the word “Swift” here. Just in case you like your energy “delayed” or “lethargic”, there’s already a heads up these gummies probably won’t be for you.
These Swift Energy gummies sometimes occupy the same place in our gummy brain as Olly’s other energy option, Daily Energy (for those who do not want their energy on only a weekly or bi-weekly basis).
But there’s an important, primary distinction between the two Olly Energies: one has caffeine, one doesn’t.
Swift Energy contains the caffeine boost, whereas Daily Energy doesn’t. Daily Energy is mostly mainlining B12 (300 micrograms of it!). While Swift Energy also contains B12, it’s only 0.6 micrograms, not even 100% of your DV.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s look at the creator of these gums, Olly.
Olly Gummies
There are so many small, boutique gummy vitamins out there, but Olly is the like the big box store of gummy vitamins, lining the shelves almost everywhere you go with their signature boxy bottles. Their bulky presence demands your attention, so we have no doubt you’ve seen one or two over the past few years.
We do love their great flavors and quality effectiveness, even though we still don’t understand why they’re using gelatin over pectin. And they’re decidedly not organic. They’re not even non-GMO, as per the Olly website:
“While OLLY does support the non-GMO movement, our line is presently not non-GMO verified. Sourcing exclusively non-GMO ingredients is challenging in the world of dietary supplements as there is a lengthy process and validation required. However, we are exploring having a non-GMO offering in the future that will give users who value non-GMO products a choice within the OLLY lineup.”
So there you have it. Effective, affordable gummies, but with less effort put towards their ingredients than, say, Garden of Life or Mary Ruth’s Organics.
Speaking of ingredients…
In one serving of Swift Energy (three gummies), here’s what you get:
The main event: 60 mg of caffeine from Green Tea, combined with 50 mg of our beloved molecule of calm, l-theanine.
As we mentioned earlier, there’s also a smattering of B vitamins included. While each B offers its own special goodness, overall, B vitamins work to help convert food into energy. And we’re looking for energy anywhere we can get it.
.15 mg of Thiamin, aka vitamin B1
.17 mg of Riboflavin, aka vitamin B2
.2 mg of vitamin B6
.6 mcg of vitamin B12
As well as:
40 mcg of Folic Acid
2 mg of Niacin (don’t worry, this isn’t going to induce a full-on Niacin flush!)
100 mg of N-Acetyl-Tyrosine
And because of the three-gummy dosage, there’s 8g of sugar when all is said and done. That’s pretty high up on the sugar spectrum, even for gummy vitamins! Which, let’s be honest, all gummy vitamins contain sugar, but we try and minimize our sugar intake where we can because over the course of a day it can really add up.
Effectiveness
These work great. It’s caffeine, what more do you want to know? 😹
We actually prefer to take the gummies one at a time and space them out over the course of an afternoon, to keep the energy flow consistent but mellow. (The full dose of 60 mg of caffeine and 8 mg of sugar is a lot all at once for our delicate constitutions).
And while we’re always looking to up our l-theanine intake, we find that taking just one gummy is enough to cut any undesirable buzz or subsequent caffeine/sugar crash.
You might sneer at the thought of a paltry one-gummy dose with only 20 mg of caffeine, but honestly, it’s enough of a little bump sometimes.
Tastiness
Olly calls this flavor “Pineapple Punch”, and it’s a tasty cocktail of tropical sunshine. You get the sunshiney pineapple with a nod to some coconut mixer.
But then something weird happens: Within a minute of chewing this, there is a distinct sensation of your tongue being numb. It passes, and in general is nothing alarming, but it’s definitely noticeable and it’s definitely odd. Maybe that’s the aforementioned “Punch”?
Either way, we did a little digging around Olly’s website, and we’re definitely not the only people experiencing this. This is what Olly had to say about it:
“Caffeine is normally a bitter-tasting ingredient. The flavor used in this product has a natural flavor component that provides a tingling sensation, which some may experience as a feeling of ‘numbness’. This flavor component aids in masking the bitterness of the caffeine.”
A flavor component that makes your tongue feel numb?! What is this flavor component??
The other tasting note we’d like to add is that these are much larger than other Olly gummies, possibly the largest we’ve encountered. It’s quite the lengthy ingredient list, so it’s possible they needed more gummy space to cram it all in there. But these are some Lord Jones style gelatin pillows.
Final Thoughts
So, we’ll admit it: we love caffeine, and these are a great way to infuse your day with a mellow hum of productivity.
There’s not a ton we don’t love about these, other than a full dose is a lot of sugar, and the brief numb tongue thing from an unidentified “Flavor Component” is sketchy.
But, we miiiight prefer our caffeine from sparkling waters and mushroom coffee packets in general. Less sugar, and, well, we’re kind of slow sippers, not just pop a gummy and be done with it.
Maybe we don’t prefer our energy “swift” after all 🤷🏻♀️.
