I’m diverting from my usual web development topics to day to write about what I consider to be a very serious development in our nation’s energy crisis.  No, I’m not talking about the price of gasoline which is hovering near $4/gallon.  I’m talking about caffeine.  I was in Trader Joe’s this morning to buy myself a supply of Trader Joe’s Energy Drinks.  I’ve been having trouble finding them lately.  The Orange Passion flavor, my personal favorite, is completely out at every location that I’ve visited (about 6 stores total at this point), and many locations are out of the Wild Berry flavor as well.  As I was checking out at the Culver City, CA store, I asked the clerk when they were expecting the Orange Passion flavor in.  He said that they weren’t!!!  The manager then spoke up and said that they were discontinuing the product due to poor sales chain-wide, although he confessed that it was actually a pretty big seller locally.  (I was walking out with 16 cans this morning.)

This is a very serious matter.  I’ve never been a coffee drinker, so my morning pick-me-up was traditionally a tall glass of Mountain Dew.  After some minor health issues started popping up, I decided to cut out soda pop from my diet, or at least the high-fructose corn syrup variety.  As I searched for an alternative, my wife suggested looking at Trader Joe’s for an alternative.  They carry a lot of organic and healthier “alternative” products, so we went and checked it out.  Lo and behold, there were the Trader Joe’s brand energy drinks in Orange Passion and Wild Berry flavors.  I picked up two of each to try them out, and have been buying them ever since.  Now it looks like I’ll have to start that search all over again.

I would urge anyone looking for a good energy drink to try Trader Joe’s brand, if you can still find it.  Let the store management know how much you like it and tell them to send the message on up the corporate food chain.  Drop them a note on the Trader Joe’s web site asking them (nicely) to continue producing the product.  Hopefully, they’ll see reason and continue making this fine product and keep me from falling asleep during my morning status meetings.