Roasted iced coffee review from new world nutrition. By: Scott Dicker

A few weeks ago, I did a post on what you need to look for in choosing a pre workout.  If you missed it, you can check it out here.  One of my recommendations was MN Sports’ Roasted Ice Coffee + Pre workout. I’ve been getting a lot of follow up questions on this unique product so I figured I would do an in depth review.

As I mentioned before, this is a very unique pre workout.  In a category where most products are so similar, it is very nice to find a product that stands out from the competition.  This product stands out because it uses instant coffee for flavoring and caffeine content. I hear from so many people that they hate the “artificial cough syrup” taste of most pre workouts, so this is a nice alternative for them.  Also, the people who like to have their cup of coffee as their pick me up before their workout, this will do the trick while adding some functional ingredients to add concentration and effectiveness.

So what’s in it? While it does not have the very important “open label”, I asked the company owners and was able to find out the quantity of everything.  While this is not the complete list of ingredients, I listed the most important ones that make the product what it is.

Caffeine content220 mg (per scoop):  This is split up with 135 mg coming from caffeine anhydrous and the remaining 85 mg coming from the coffee powder.  To me, this is a good amount to wake you up without giving you jitters.  I like the two different forms as well to have more of a sustained energy feeling and not a huge surge with a crash.

Beta Alanine 1500 mg (per scoop):  This is a pretty standard dose from beta alanine.  Beta alanine is a very proven ingredient best known for providing the “tingles”.  What most people don’t know, is that it is very effective at lowering the pH of your muscles so that you can work out longer.  It is an ingredient that works better the longer you use it.  The recommended dose is usually around 3 grams per day, coming in at least two different doses of 1500 mg.  Having one dose in your pre workout is easy and convenient.

Creatine 1.25 grams (per scoop):  Creatine, the most studied safe and effective supplement on the market.  Creatine is proven to help with strength and power, primarily for short bursts of energy.  The dose here is a little low as the maintenance dose for creatine is 3-5 grams daily.  Creatine is another ingredient that you need to use regularly to saturate your muscles for the most benefits.  I always recommend having a separate creatine because you do need to take it daily. It is so cheap on its own that it is unnecessary to require high amounts in a pre workout.

Taurine 40 mg (per scoop): Taurine has a big list of benefits, however, for the purposes of a pre workout we want to focus on it’s ability to increase focus, endurance and central nervous system function.  This dose is a little low for long term benefits but should be enough to provide extra focus for your workout.

PS (Phosphatidylserine) 150mg (per scoop):  This is one of my personal favorite ingredients.  It is fantastic for improving concentration and focus, as well as modulating cortisol levels.  150 mg is a perfect dose to achieve this and I assume the main reason that my concentration is so fantastic when using this pre workout.

Formula grade: A

Let’s get into my experience with MN Sports first product.  Let me start off by saying that I am not a coffee drinker. My yearly cups of coffee can be counted on one hand.  It’s not that I don’t like coffee, but it usually upsets my stomach and I like to keep my caffeine sensitivity high for my workouts, so I tend to stay away from it. So when I was first introduced to this product, I was intrigued and a little bit skeptical.  I was able to try both flavors; Original Java and Vanilla Latte. Now if you are expecting a gourmet cup of high end coffee, you may be disappointed.  However, I was not and I found them both a nice change of pace from the usual fruity flavors, often very artificial tasting.  I prefer the Original Java to the Vanilla Latte based on it being a little less sweet. I also tried mixing a scoop with a cup of Cold Brew and it tasted better as well.

Taste grade: B

The product works fantastically.  About 15-20 minutes after drinking it, I started to get amped up, super focused.  I went on to have a ton of energy in the gym, starting out doing 20 minutes on the heavy bag to warm up and went on to have a big back lift.  I ended up doing a few more exercises than I planned because I had so much energy.  The energy was clean, meaning that I wasn’t jittery at all (I hate that) and I didn’t crash half way through the lift.  I can attribute that to the caffeine source coming partially from instant coffee powder and not only caffeine anhydrous like most pre workouts. 

A lot of times I have found that I build a tolerance for products quickly, so I tried using this for a couple of weeks straight to see how it would work.  To my surprise, it stayed highly effective the whole way through.  I tried it at different times of the day, full and empty stomach, and for different kinds of workouts.  I found that it generally worked very well in all scenarios.  I did have trouble falling asleep if I took it after 6 or 7 at night, but that’s due to getting hours of sustained energy, can’t really complain about that.  It was a little intense when I mixed it with the cold brew coffee.  For those who really like a high stim product I highly recommend trying that. 

Effectiveness grade: A+

Each container comes with 35 scoops and is $39.99.  While you can certainly find cheaper pre workouts, I still think this is of great value.  You shouldn’t ever need more than 1 scoop so you get 35 actual workouts in.  The ingredients in here are not under dosed and come from high quality sources so you aren’t getting cheated by cheap stimulant cocktails with sprinkled in ingredients just so they can put it on the label. The PS alone is worth the price of the product.  This happens to be a case of ‘you get what you pay for’ and the higher price is certainly a reflection of the quality of product.  This product is also completely made in the USA, which always gives a little bump up the scale in my eyes

Value Grade: A

Overall, this is one of the best and most effective pre workouts that I have ever tried and highly recommend it to all of my clients looking for that next gear to their workouts and progress in their health and fitness journey.  It can certainly be incorporated into a nutrition program for losing weight, building muscle, and improving performance.  Be sure to Like the MN Sports Facebook page for info on how to buy it (https://www.facebook.com/mnsportsusa/) and also Like the New World Nutrition page (https://www.facebook.com/newworldnutritionchicago/) for more reviews, custom nutrition plans, supplement guides, metabolism tests and a little of everything nutrition.

By: Scott Dicker