Sweden is not short on quality functional brands, whether we’re talking functional food or functional drinks, with popular names like Barebells, Pandy, ProBrands, Celsius Swedish selection, and NJIE. IQ Fuel is another company worth getting to know, which started its journey in the beverage market a little over a year ago and is gradually growing its presence with a different set of products.
IQ Fuel doesn’t make a BCAA-based or energizing drink, or a combination of both, like we see almost all of the time out of Sweden. The brand has two beverages to choose from, with IQ Fuel Focus and IQ Fuel Hydrate. The products confirm their points of difference in their names with IQ Fuel Focus being a drink with focus-enhancing ingredients and IQ Fuel Hydrate putting more attention on hydration.
The IQ Fuel beverages both have no caffeine or sugar and include a variety of vitamins with IQ Fuel Focus also featuring theanine, panax ginseng, rhodiola, a light 200mg of choline bitartrate, and half a gram of acetyl-l-carnitine. As for IQ Fuel Hydrate, it combines vitamins with electrolytes, acetyl-l-carnitine but at a much smaller dose of 150mg, 230mg of HMB, and aspartic acid.
While it would’ve been nice to see IQ Fuel load its beverages with ingredients and dosages as reliable as Ghost Energy, C4 Smart Energy, or our favorite tasting ‘Merica Energy, we do like the approach. The non-energy concept certainly separates the products from the many other functional drinks out there, especially in Sweden, but again, it would’ve been good to see a more robust formula.
IQ Fuel’s Focus and Hydrate drinks are available in two flavors each, two of which are also collaborations. For IQ Fuel Focus, there is Energy/Grapefruit and Passionfruit put together in partnership with professional ice hockey player Jesper Bratt. Moving to IQ Fuel Hydrate’s menu, the options are Mango/Pineapple and Blueberry/Lime from another ice hockey pro in Nicklas Bäckström.
