“Nah, they all went within minutes of being put on the shelf,” an unenthusiastic shop assistant told me as I began my quest to find Prime - a drink that has taken the world by storm in recent months. Upon starting my journey, I must admit that I was blissfully unaware of Prime’s popularity. While I had come across the name in passing, I did not realise the craze that it had become.
Prime is an energy drink developed by YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul and ever since its launch, it has been flying off the shelves. Shoppers have queued in the dark to get their hands on them, and the scramble at some stores has been described as "absolute chaos".
So although I knew this would be tricky, I had no idea that it would be quite so difficult to acquire a bottle of Prime. My first point of call was Aldi, as I’d read online that this is where the craze began. I’d assumed that the hype that greeted the initial launch had died down a bit. I was wrong.
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A realist, I entered one of the Cardiff branches with feelings of trepidation. I initially tried the cold drinks section and Prime was nowhere to be found. Maybe it was elsewhere in the supermarket?
Aldi is renowned for its random ‘middle aisle’ - a section with no specific purpose but popular nonetheless. Maybe it was there? Up and down I walked in search of the drink and I could not see it anywhere.
The time had come to ask the shop assistant, who was clearly very busy on this Saturday afternoon. “Excuse me, I wonder if you can help me,” I said and she looked at me as if to say, “Can’t you see I’m busy?” but I continued anyway. “Do you happen to have this Prime drink —” and before I could utter another syllable, the shop assistant shut me down. “Oh, sorry love! They went out of stock just as soon as they came in.” It was a resounding ‘no’ from the first store but I was not about to be defeated. I left Aldi with my head held high and continued my search.
Living on a main road, I am not short of corner shops. Aldi had let me down so it was now time to try somewhere smaller: the Co-op. They have everything, I thought, so they must have Prime. I went in and this time felt a little more optimistic. This sense of optimism wasn’t to last as yet another shop assistant told me that they didn’t have the popular energy drink. I left and headed to another shop close by. Again, the same scenario: I went in, had a scan of the aisles, no drink. This process would be repeated three or four times and each time, I felt my confidence dwindling.
Defeated, this didn’t look like the day I was going to try Prime. Perhaps I’d never even get to try it, I thought, as maybe the same thing would happen every time that KSI and Logan Paul decided to drop another batch. Was I too bothered? Not really. Energy drinks aren’t really my thing but I now felt a sense of duty to the cause.
My saviour eventually presented himself in the form of colleague Ben Summer (who's just written a wonderful piece about a hidden Cardiff flea market that you should definitely read here). On this particular Saturday afternoon, Ben had been working on a story in Hirwaun at the top of the Valleys and had stumbled upon two Prime bottles in a shop there, stashed away on the top shelf behind the counter next to the Penderyn whisky! They’d cost him an extortionate £6 each. The RRP is closer to £2. Aware of my quest, he’d grabbed them for me before anyone else could get their hands on them. At the end of his shift, we arranged to meet so I could finally seize the precious nectar.
I had them! They were mine! My precious. I immediately darted home to try them. At this point, I was tired and the sweetness of an energy drink was probably not the wisest thing to do at 9pm. I did it anyway. I tried the raspberry flavour (the blue one) first, slightly apprehensive as I generally avoid raspberry-flavoured things. An experience of raspberry-flavoured vodka in 2015 had put me off for life but I won’t divulge any more than that. Upon taking my first sip of Prime, I was immediately hit by the sweetness of it. This packed a punch!
Was it anything special, though? In short: no. In fact, it didn’t taste any different to squash that you can pick up from anywhere else. Don’t get me wrong, it was flavoursome and a pleasant experience but I just don’t get the hype. For a drink that youngsters had literally been queuing up for, I don’t really know what I was expecting. Maybe I’d built this up to be something more than it was.
I then gave the green, lemon lime one a go. Opening the bottle, there was a lovely scent. After trying it, this one was a bit more me. The smell also translated into taste. Again though: did it taste wildly different from any other ‘squash’ that I’d tried? I can’t say it did.
Maybe I’m giving Prime a hard time. Don’t get me wrong, the drink claims to be a healthier option to the likes of Lucozade and Gatorade. It’s made from 10% coconut water. One thing I will say is that the drink’s packaging is more appealing than the average beverage. The vibrant colouring certainly pulls you in and if this was on the shelves, I can certainly see why someone would want to pick it up.
While I was not blown away by the taste, I understand why younger people would want to follow in the footsteps of their YouTube idols. If it really is as healthy as it says it is, then Prime can’t be a bad thing in the world, can it? Let us know what you think of the drink in the comments.
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