More Labs Review

Welcome to our More Labs review!

It’s no secret that drinking alcohol is not beneficial for next-day productivity—especially as we get older, where just a glass or two of wine can seriously dampen how we feel and think when the morning rolls around.

As anyone who’s had one can attest, there’s really no worse feeling than waking up feeling rough—but with More Labs, those dreadful days are in the past. 

More Labs began with the premise that you shouldn’t have to compromise between having fun tonight and being productive tomorrow, leading to their flagship product—the Morning Recovery shot. 

Now, More Labs has three innovative shots designed to help you get more out of your work, play, and sleep—and they’ve got the science, credibility, and quality to back it up. 

Combining those factors with excellent customer service and website experience, we awarded More Labs with an A- grade overall. 

More Labs Pros and Cons

More Labs Brings South Korea’s Recovery Secrets Stateside

The idea of More Labs’ first product—Morning Recovery—originated when co-founder Sisun Lee took a trip home to South Korea. 

Unlike in the U.S., where people are drinking and not feeling so great the next day, Sisun learned that it’s the norm in South Korea to finish the night with a liver-boosting elixir that helps you keep your productivity up the next day.

It’s for people who have to get up at 7 am for their kid’s soccer game the next day and want to be fresh and at their best.

Josh Groff, CEO of More Labs

He realized he could bring South Korea’s secret ingredient—DHM—back to Silicon Valley, where the work-hard-play-hard environment is strong. 

As we learned from current CEO Josh Groff, Sisun took to the crowdfunding space back in 2017—and hit 1000% of the initial funding goal, raising over $250,000 during the month-long campaign.

With that money, Sisun and his team gave most of it as a grant to the USC School of Pharmacy to research how the body metabolizes alcohol and which herbs, vitamins, and compounds can help the body neutralize the toxins more efficiently. 

The end result of this research was the first iteration of Morning Recovery. 

This “elixir is made of vitamins, minerals, electrolytes that help to neutralize the toxins from alcohol in your liver, so you wake up the next day and feel up to 80% better, including reduced nausea, head fog, and fatigue,” as Josh explained.

But as Josh told us, their shots (specifically Morning Recovery) aren’t just for people who are partying all of the time. 

He says, “Most of our consumers are people like me—they’re 40 years old; they’re people who want to be productive but just don’t process alcohol like they used to. It’s for people who have to get up at 7 am for their kid’s soccer game the next day and want to be fresh and at their best. It’s an ‘every time you drink’ kind of usage, and it’s a really great product that’s effective and actually works.” 

Fast forward almost six years later, and More Labs now has three shots, adding one for sleep and one for energy and focus to the lineup. 

Our More Labs Review

Every brand we review is assessed according to this set of factors—here’s how More Labs scored on each category to end up with an overall A- grade: 

• Quality (A-)
• Transparency (A-)
• Website Experience (A+)
• Customer Service (A)
• Value (B)
• Brand Value (A-)

Quality

In this category, we assess everything quality-related, from packaging and labeling to ingredients and manufacturing. 

Each shot comes in a 3.4oz bottle with an easy-to-open perforated tab on the plastic, with the supplement facts, ingredients, and instructions displayed prominently. 

The ingredients are mostly good quality, and chock full of vitamins, minerals, botanicals, and adaptogens. 

One of the critical ingredients in Morning Recovery is DHM (dihydromyricetin), a compound from the Japanese raisin tree that helps you to break down alcohol-induced toxins better. 

Not only does Morning Recovery contain this potent ingredient, but More Labs has also done the work to ensure that the bioavailability is high to maximize effectiveness. 

With their patent-pending technology, they’ve made the naturally water-insoluble DHM perfectly water-soluble. 

Morning Recovery contains liver-supporting ingredients like prickly pear, milk thistle, and B vitamins, plus electrolytes to speed up your recovery. 

The Liquid Focus shot also provides science-backed ingredients, including combining caffeine with L-theanine, an amino acid in green tea that facilitates calm and smooth energy. 

Some other beneficial compounds in Liquid Focus that you won’t find in your typical energy shot include:

• L-carnitine: An amino acid that helps support healthy neuron function.
• Mucuna pruriens: A tropical legume that contains high amounts of L-dopa, which helps to boost natural dopamine production, our neurotransmitter most related to motivation. 
• Huperzine A: Found in an herb called Chinese club moss, huperzine A ultimately increases acetylcholine, our learning neurotransmitter. 

The sugar content on some shots is on the high side, with the regular Morning Recovery shots containing 9g from crystal glucose and sugar, for example.

However, the Dream Well does not contain sugar, the Liquid Focus has 7g, and there is a sugar-free Morning Recovery option that uses stevia instead. 

Lastly, although the shots are gluten-free, nut-free, and vegan, More Labs does not currently have certifications on the products. 

More Labs Product Catalog

Morning Recovery

Energy and Focus

Sleep

Transparency

More Labs provides detailed information on the brand’s history, research processes, and founder, making it easy for consumers to learn more about the company.

We also learned from our talk with Josh that all ingredients are sourced from Asia, and manufacturing occurs via a third-party manufacturer in South Korea. 

However, that’s all we know about sourcing and manufacturing—and that information is not available on the site for the average consumer to find.

We also liked that each product page contains plenty of details about each shot, including helpful visuals of the prominent ingredients. 

One minor gripe is that the product page’s “ingredients” tab doesn’t show the complete list of ingredients used.

Although you can find the full ingredient list if you scroll through the product photos, we would like it if this either said “key/prominent ingredients” or listed every single one out for full consumer transparency.

Overall, we thought More Labs’ transparency was above-average, earning them a solid A- here.

To improve transparency even further, More Labs could consider listing out all ingredients in the products and adding more details about their sourcing and manufacturing processes to their website, so that consumers can have a better understanding of where their ingredients come from.

Website Experience

We enjoyed More Labs’ website, with an attractive and functional design, higher-tech features, and plenty of educational resources. 

Their shop pages are intuitive and straightforward, making it easy to toggle between subscription and one-time purchases, showing you the benefits and prices of each. 

The blog and science pages were also welcomed, with more information about the brand, its founders, the star ingredient (DHM), and interviews with people like Dr. Fu, their head of R&D.

Overall, the More Labs website experience left nothing to be desired, earning an impressive A+ grade here.

Customer Service

Our team was impressed with More Labs’ customer service.

Although they have just one way of reaching them (an embedded contact form on the site that sends replies to your email), they replied helpfully in less than one business hour.  

Plus, their shipping and return policies are ideal—they provide free shipping on all U.S. orders and a 100% satisfaction guarantee within 60 days.

The only thing keeping them from an A+ here is that they just have one line of communication—although it was rapid, a phone number or live chat option is always appreciated. 

Value

At six bucks a pop, there’s no getting around it—the Morning Recovery shot is pretty pricey. 

However, there are some ways to drive down the price, including purchasing larger quantities (bumping from a 6-pack to a 24-pack drops it to $4.50 per shot) or getting on the subscription plan, which saves you 15%. 

Let’s take a look at some similar products and how they compare to More Labs. 

Recovery Product	Price
More Labs Morning Recovery (Shot)	$36 for 6 shots ($6.00/shot)*
No Days Wasted (Pills)	$34 for 10 servings ($3.40/serving)
Cheers Restore (Pills)	$34.99 for 12 servings ($2.91/serving)
Focus Shot	Price
More Labs Liquid Focus	$30 for 6 shots ($5/shot)**
Proper Wild	$23.99 for 6 shots ($3.99/shot)
Ethan’s Organic Energy	$3.25/shot

As you can see, More Labs is more expensive than similar products on the market.

However, no one is doing things quite like they are, as most recovery products are pills, not the faster-absorbing liquid form seen with Morning Recovery. 

The other recovery pills contain similar ingredients, like prickly pear, ginger, milk thistle, and DHM—but More Labs is the only one with patent-pending technology to increase effectiveness.

After all, what good is a less expensive product if it doesn’t even work? 

Regarding the energy and focus shots, More Labs has some benefits over others, including adding nootropics and adaptogens rather than simply relying on caffeine and B vitamins. 

For example, the cognitive-supporting compounds huperzine A, mucuna pruriens, and L-carnitine are not seen in other energy shots on the market.

Overall, although the products are on the pricey side, our team agreed that the science-backed formulations and patent-pending technology somewhat make up for it, leading to a still-respectable B grade here. 

Brand Value

Lastly, More Labs earned an A- for brand value, which encapsulates factors ranging from innovation and institutional knowledge to sustainability and philanthropic efforts. 

More Labs scored high in areas related to scientific credibility, as they have clinical research on their Morning Recovery shot and a PhD-packed scientific advisory board. 

While it’s common to see research on the ingredients found in supplements, it’s pretty rare to see a clinical study on the entire supplement itself. 

With more details found here, the study found that, compared to a placebo, healthy young adults who took Morning Recovery before drinking experienced significant reductions in several symptoms the next day, including:

• 67% improvement in anxiety 
• 80% improvement in brain fog
• 75% improvement in chest discomfort
• 80% improvement in headaches
• 79% improvement in clumsiness

More Labs also provides brand value with their patent-pending technology, which is an innovative way to maximize the effectiveness of DHM.

However, a couple of areas where they could use some beefing up are with sustainability and philanthropic initiatives. 

While they have changed their bottles to 100% PCR plastic, that’s about it for now. 

And though the innovative technology behind More Labs’ products is impressive, adding information on their sustainability and philanthropic initiatives may make their brand more appealing to socially conscious consumers. 

Ultimately, their commitment to the science and overall research-backed approach to their products mostly make up for the current lack of environmental or charitable involvement.

Our Experience with More Labs

We were fortunate enough to try all three of More Labs’ shots—and they deliver what they promise.

One of our writers took one for the team and drank a bit more wine than typically recommended, followed by a Morning Recovery shot, which has a pleasant lemon taste—no weird or bitter aftertastes.

The results? 

They did not experience the headache and brain fog that a wine indulgence would typically cause, so we’ll put a checkmark in the “this works” category. 

Next up, another experiment took place with the Liquid Focus shot, which has a tasty, not overly sweet, berry flavor.

About thirty minutes later, said writer experienced a dramatic boost in productivity, allowing them to finish writing this article much faster than anticipated. 

Lastly, the Dream Well shot was also a good experience, providing a sugar-free tropical guava flavor that helped us to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep.

Overall, we highly recommend More Labs shots, whether you need a little boost to productivity, support for snoozin’, or recovering after a fun night.

FAQs About More Labs

Final Thoughts

More Labs received an A- rating from our editorial team, with high points awarded for their customer service, quality ingredients, and science-backed approach to product formulation. 

The only areas of improvement we would recommend would be getting more involved with philanthropic or sustainability efforts, making ingredient lists and sourcing more prominent, or providing a lower price point. 

Overall, we were impressed with More Labs and their mission. 

Josh succinctly concluded, “Our philosophy is that you don’t have to choose between work and play. You’re able to do things and live life to the most—and from our perspective, that’s enhancing people’s lives and allowing them to be fully productive in all parts of their lives and be the best person they can be.”