Tenzing energy drink

An ex-Red Bull executive has created new a natural energy drink that claims to contain half the sugar content of Red Bull. 

A 250ml can of Tenzing has the same amount of caffeine (80mg) as a strong cup of coffee but only contains 13g of sugar, half the level found in mainstream energy drinks, its makers say. 

The drink, named after Himalayan Sherpa and mountaineer Tenzing Norgay - one of the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 - contains all natural ingredients including caffeine from green coffee and guarana, blended with L-Theanine, which is found in green tea and is known to aid concentration and focus.

“The market is saturated with drinks that use artificial ingredients,” Red Bull’s former head of marketing Huib van Bockel said. 

“There’s really no need to synthetically create an energy drink, when it’s possible to source powerful, energising ingredients directly from nature. So, one year ago that’s what we set out to do.”

Van Bockel insisted a ‘great deal of time’ had been spent researching exactly how much sugar to use. 

“The sugar levels in energy drinks currently on the market range from 27g at the bottom, to well over 65g at the top,” he added. “You simply don’t need all that sugar. Another thing we have excluded from our recipe is the worrying artificial sugar replacements. We have chosen to include only 13g of natural beet sugar, enough to give you a nice lift. The natural sugar in Tenzing is proportional to the amount found in coconut water.”

Tenzing made its debut in Pod restaurants yesterday (rsp: £1.49) and has also secured a listing with King’s College University.