Neuro Review: How Does It Taste, And Does It Work?

By Natalie M.

Caffeinated gum and mints?! 

Neuro popped on my radar when Joe Rogan (perhaps the most famous podcaster ever) mentioned the brand on his podcast and said that he loved it. And no, it wasn’t a sponsored ad or anything. It was totally organic and THE Joe Rogan was a fan.

Apparently, Joe Rogan’s whole team is obsessed with Neuro because this caffeinated gum gets them through their long work days.

I knew I had to try them out. Immediately.

The Brand

Neuro makes functional gum and mints for different purposes (energy, focus, calm, etc.). The company started out with their flagship Energy & Focus Gum, which contains natural caffeine and other vitamins, but have since expanded their offerings to other products like their Calm & Clarity mints and Health & Vitality mints. Founders Ryan and Kent met in college at UC San Diego, during which Kent was creating energy supplements for himself out of his own apartment. He was mixing together caffeine and other supplements for a clean energy boost, but was making a mess each time and had to carry around Ziploc bags full of white powders. The idea for Neuro was born when the two friends realized they both needed a more convenient and accessible solution to keep themselves energized throughout the day.

The Product

Neuro originally launched with their functional gum products, but later expanded into the mint category and now offer both types of product formats. Unlike other heat-extruded gum and mint products on the market, Neuro's products are created using a special cold-compression technology that helps maintain each ingredient’s bioavailability. This means that the ingredients in Neuro's gum and mints are more easily absorbed and utilized by our bodies, which in turn means that you can feel the effects faster than you would through alternative forms like supplements, coffee, or energy drinks. (Neuro claims that the active ingredients typically start working within 5-10 minutes of chewing.)

Each of Neuro's products target a specific function. For example, their Energy & Focus gum and mints are formulated with natural caffeine, L-theanine, and B-vitamins to sustain mental endurance and prolonged focus. Similarly, their Sleep & Recharge mints contain clinically-proven melatonin and a proprietary blend of passion flower, chamomile, lemon balm, and elderberry to help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. And their Calm & Clarity mints are made with mood-boosting Vitamin D3, L-theanine, and GABA that help alleviate your body of stress and boost serotonin levels.

Neuro uses simple ingredients as a base for all of its products, and they don't include sugar in their ingredient list. They use use ingredients like monk fruit extract to sweeten, spirulina extract to add some fun blue color to their products, and natural flavors to bring out a pleasantly refreshing taste. Check out what Neuro uses inside the base of its products:

• GUM: Sorbitol, Gum Base, Natural Flavors, Calcium Stearate, Spirulina Extract for Blue Color Flakes, Sucralose, Monk Fruit Extract, Steviol Glycosides, Gum Arabic
• MINTS: Sorbitol, Natural Flavors, Magnesium Stearate, Spriulina Extract for Blue Color Flakes, Monk Fruit Extract, Steviol Glycosides

In terms of price, Neuro's products are definitely more expensive than your regular, traditional gum (even the more premium sugar-free ones), but they're obviously very different in terms of quality and ingredients. Neuro also offers a lot of different pack sizes to suit your budget — depending on how much you buy at once, the price comes out to about $0.30 to $0.46 per piece of gum and $0.30 to $0.34 per mint. You can save up to 35% by purchasing in bulk as they offer bulk bags of 180 pieces. While it's not the cheapest on the market, it's also certainly not the most expensive — especially when you think about switching up your daily caffeine source from a $7 iced latte to a $0.30 gum. (Plus, you can take your gum anywhere you go, and the gum won't spill all over your lap and ruin your clothes.)

The Review

While Neuro offers a wide range of products targeting different functions (as explained above), I decided to try Neuro's Energy & Focus gum and mints in Peppermint flavor — their original products — over the course of a week.

The first thing I tried was the gum, because I'm a sucker for gum and always have a stash somewhere around my house (especially because it stops me from snacking out of boredom).

The gum, which I bought from CVS, came in cute packaging and contained nine pieces. The size of the package was perfect to carry around in your pocket or purse, which is super convenient for busy people like me.

The gum pieces themselves were actually very aesthetically pleasing! They had little blue specks throughout (from the spirulina extract mentioned earlier). They were also debossed with a fun design.

Now, for the more important parts. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality! The gum had a very satisfying and high-quality "chew" to it, which I don't think I was expecting. I think I was expecting it to be more soft and mushy for whatever reason, but this definitely exceeded my expectations. It also lasted a pretty long time without losing its chew, which is a huge plus.

I will say that flavor-wise, Neuro did a fantastic job. It really did taste like a minty peppermint gum, which I very much appreciated. I'm not really a fan of fruity-flavored gums... or really anything that isn't minty.

During the first few chews, I think I could taste an ever-so-slight bitterness — presumably from the caffeine — but that taste disappeared very quickly after continuing to chew for a bit. The mint flavor and the satisfying chew both lasted a very long time, much longer than I was expecting, which was awesome. Honestly, the taste and texture really exceeded my expectations.

Now, does Neuro gum really work? I took the gum in the morning so that I could get some extra focus in while working, and I definitely felt more awake and ready to go than usual.

The gum provided a very noticeable energy boost for me and I do feel like I was able to concentrate better on my work. I think the best part is that I felt the effects after a minute or two of chewing, so it was almost like an immediate boost. Pretty shocking!

I think the effects of the gum lasted around six hours for me. It was more than enough to sustain me through the entire working day, and I didn't feel jittery at all. There was also no energy crash at any point, which sometimes happens with coffee.

However, each piece of gum contains 40mg of caffeine, so I would advise against taking more than two pieces per day. I think one a day is perfect.

A day or two later, I tried Neuro's Energy & Focus mints.

These mints actually came in a cute blue aluminum tin (same material as Altoids tins) that fits perfectly in your pocket. You just flip the lid of the tin up to reveal the 12 mints sitting inside.

The mints looked almost identical to Neuro's gum, with the blue specks and the debossed design. They were just a bit smaller than the gum pieces.

Overall, I had very similar experiences with the gum and the mints, and they were fortunately very positive. The mint took a few minutes to completely dissolve in my mouth, and by that time, I could already start feeling a little bit of the caffeine start to work its magic.

Again, the energy boost from the mint lasted a good six hours or so, and there were no crashes or jitters.

The flavor experience was pretty great. These mints tasted almost identical to regular peppermint-flavored mints. If you did a taste test, I'm not sure if you'd be able to tell the difference!

I'm happy to report that Neuro's gum and mints will be making more regular appearances in my household. The quality of these products will probably surprise you (in the best way possible), and I'm looking forward to trying Neuro's other products. The next one I'm eyeing is their Sleep & Recharge mints because I've been having some trouble falling asleep lately, which is super frustrating.

Anyhow, I would definitely recommend this gum to anyone who finds themselves in regular or constant need of an on-the-go pick-me-up. It's so easy to take around and even easier to consume. Shoutout to Neuro for creating such a convenient and effective product!