Mountain Dew Breakfast: 'Kickstart' Your Morning with Fruit Juice Energy Drink

Want a new way to "Kickstart" your morning? Mountain Dew might be able to help get you going.

If you're not a coffee or tea person, the Dew just came out with a breakfast drink flavored with 5 percent juice, Vitamins B and C and an extra jolt of caffeine according to PepsiCo.

The company, based in Purchase, N.Y., is known for its many popular beverages, but has never before been recognized for providing an alternative to your orange juice.

PepsiCo, however, does not consider Kickstart to be an energy drink because it has much less caffeine than drinks such as Monster and Red Bull, and none of the mysterious ingredients that have raised concerns among lawmakers and consumer advocates. 

With flavors such as "energizing orange citrus" and "energizing fruit punch," this new drink could be very popular on the shelves and involving controversies of energy beverages.  

The drink comes in the same 16-ounce can as other popular energy drinks made by the Monster Beverage Corp., which also offers options with juice content. And the TV ad features young men skateboarding, reminiscent of marketing themes used by energy drink makers.

Simon Lowden, chief marketing officer for PepsiCo's Americas beverages, says the idea for Kickstart came about after the company learned through consumer research that Mountain Dew fans were looking for an alternative to traditional morning drinks such as coffee, tea and juice, according to FoxNews.com.

"They didn't really see anything that fit their needs," he said.

Lowden said Kickstart was developed independently from a Taco Bell breakfast drink introduced last year that combines Mountain Dew and orange juice. PepsiCo says Kickstart, which is carbonated, is also not a soda because its 5 percent juice content qualifies it to be considered a "juice drink" under guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration. A spokeswoman for the FDA said the agency doesn't have definitions for what qualifies as a soda or an energy drink.

With the growth of energy drinks such as Monster and Red Bull expected to slow, Kickstart could also signal the emergence of a new category that plays off the promise of energy and other health benefits, said John Sicher, publisher of the trade journal Beverage Digest.

Kickstart by Mountain Dew will be available in retail stores nationwide beginning Feb. 25. Visit Facebook.com/mountaindew for more information or join the conversation @mtn_dew #kickstartyourday.