2010's Hottest Drinks Chill You Out

Red Bull and coffee drinks give way to kava and valerian root

By Jane Yager, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 5, 2010 9:13 AM CST

Copied

2010's Hottest Drinks Chill You Out — Slow Cow, one of the new crop of anti-energy drinks (?Francis Bourgouin)

Drinks that wake you up are so last decade—the beverage trend in 2010 will be to ditch the Red Bull or latte for chill-out drinks with sedative ingredients. Beverages featuring chamomile, rose hips, melatonin, and valerian root claim to boost concentration; other "anti-energy" drinks include kava, an intoxicating plant root blamed for social problems among Australian aborigines, Salon reports.

Relaxation drinks hitting US shelves this year include Slow Cow, a Canadian anti-Red Bull which will join recent release Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda, profiled in the LA Times. Two controversial anti-energy drinks, Purple Stuff and Drank, pay homage in their names to Purple Drank, a dangerous cough syrup cocktail popular among rappers that gained notoriety when Houston rapper DJ Screw died of an overdose. (Read more alcohol-free drinks stories.)