Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Prison Energy Drink Recipe Is Going Massively Viral Because It's Such Wild A Combo, So I Tried It
A creative combination to say the least.
Over 23 million people have watched Gypsy make this drink — which consists of Folgers Instant Coffee, Hawaiian Punch Kool-Aid, Strawberry Fanta, and crushed Jolly Ranchers.
Gypsy turned off the comments to the video, so I'm not sure what people think about it — but I am 100% intrigued. So, I decided to taste test it myself:
I want to note that these ingredients were not easy to find in Los Angeles. I first went to my local Kroger store, and the only ingredients they had were the Instant Folgers coffee and a GIANT bag of Jolly Ranchers for $12. I ended up finding everything except for the Hawaiian Punch Kool-Aid singles at Walmart. They had the Hawaiian Punch Kool-Aid mix so I got that since it likely tastes identical.
Now, the first thing Gypsy said she did was crush up Jolly Ranchers. I decided to go with a combo of watermelon, cherry, and green apple.
Once that was done, I set it aside.
The next step is to mix a heaping scoop of the instant coffee into a little bit of water until it dissolves.
After that, you put in a packet of the Hawaiian Punch Kool-Aid single — or, in my case, the mix.
I poured in the Fanta next. Now, Gypsy didn't give directions for any measurements on the Fanta, but since the Kool-Aid directions said you should mix 2 TBSP of it with 1.5 cups of water, I replaced the water with the Fanta.
Gypsy said the mixture would be foamy and, as you can see, it definitely was very frothy!!!
Lastly, you grab those crushed Jolly Ranchers and dump those in! I did five of 'em.
The foam started to settle once I dumped those in, and then I topped it off with ice!
It ended up being a rich, red brick color, and even though the consistency wasn't thick, it looked like it was as thick as tomato juice in the glass because you couldn't see through it.
It is hard to describe what it smelled like, but I would say kind of like Jolly Ranchers a bit. It wasn't as strong as I'd imagined. I had no idea what to expect in terms of flavor — I just expected it to be overly sugary and disgusting...
However, when I first took a sip, I was surprised that it wasn't that bad! The coffee kind of gave it a hint of chocolatey flavor, IMO. It tasted like a carbonated Hawaiian Punch with a twang of Jolly Rancher, plus some notes of coffee at the end. I didn't hate it!!!
To get a second opinion, I asked my 15-year-old son to taste it without telling him what it was. He willingly obliged and immediately made a face (but didn't spit it out!). He said it tasted like coffee and juice mixed together. I told him to guess what was in it, and he was able to correctly identify that it was fruit punch and coffee but couldn't put his finger on the other flavors. When I told him what it all was, his exact words were, "How do you not feel disgusting drinking that?"
So, my son and I had differing opinions on the drink, but I will say that it is not as bad as you would imagine — and I can see how someone may come to enjoy it if it was the only energy-type drink option. So, in conclusion, a prison-style energy drink isn't the healthiest, but it may be worth a try if you're curious! Thanks, Gypsy, for sharing this fascinating look at prison life with us.
