At BarBend, we’re experts on whey. We’ve tried dozens and dozens of them so we could come up with a list of the best whey protein powders, but what about the weirdest? This supplement is so darn popular that there are literally hundreds of different flavors out there, from the cool-sounding to… well, the ones we ordered for this article.
The participants in this taste test are:
- David Tao, Co-founder
- Nick English, Nutrition Editor
- Jake Boly, Fitness Editor
- Celia Balf, Staff Writer
First up…
Pro Jym: Root Beer Float
Nick: I’m an Australian, so I’m not entirely familiar with what root beer is. What is it?
Celia: I mean, all I know is it comes… from a root?
(Editor’s note: Root beer is a carbonated beverage that’s usually artificially flavored with sassafras root bark or sarsparilla vine)
Jake: I do not like root beer.
Celia: (drinking) It’s not awful.
Nick: It tastes like licorice.
Celia: It tastes like a root beer float.
Nick: Like aniseed?
Celia: Have you had a root beer float before?
Nick: No, I don’t know what a root beer is!
Celia: With a little bit of whipped cream it’d be good.
Jake: For what it’s worth, it’s not that bad.
David: It’s heavy on the cream. It’s more like creaming soda.
Nick: It’s aniseed, like what’s in Chinese 5-spice. That’s what this tastes like to me. Creamy Chinese food.
BSN Syntha-6: Pumpkin Pie
Jake: A protein powder for all the basics out there.
David: It smells like… cream cheese? And cinnamon?
Nick: (shaking) It looks like pumpkin puree.
Jake: (drinking) Um… OK.
Nick: There is, of course a nice, pumpkin pie spice latte flavor to it with the cinnamon and nutmeg.
Jake: I don’t like pumpkin pie, but I actually kind of like this. I think it’s because of the creamy texture.
David: You don’t like pumpkin pie?
Jake: No.
David: I can’t take your opinion on flavors seriously now.
Jake: I’m a banana cream pie man. I would rather that over pumpkin pie any day of the week.
Syntrax Nectar: Crystal Sky
David: Look at this label! It looks like one of those fruit hats.
Jake: What color is this tub?
David: Blue purple. Blurple.
Celia: Smells like medicine. (drinks) Mmf… Not for me.
David: It’s just like, generally sweet. Doesn’t taste like fruit.
Jake: Not good.
Nick: This tastes like a blue raspberry flavored pre workout. I’ve never seen this flavor in a whey protein, but I don’t know, I feel like if you couldn’t see the neon blue coloring…
David: Cotton candy? Smells a little like cotton candy?
Jake: I don’t mean to be mean to Nectar, but this is not good. It’s too artificially sweet. It tastes like puddle water with sugar.
Ghost: Fruity Cereal Milk
David: Not cocoa cereal milk. Fruity cereal milk. The milk after you’ve had your Froot Loops or your Apple Jacks.
Celia: I’m a fan of the color. (drinks) Wow, it is very sweet.
Nick: It’s almost like they’ve deliberately gone for the artificial flavor of really unhealthy cereal. They’re purposely making it taste like the least healthy cereal on Earth.
David: It tastes like the milk from fruit cereal you had as a kid. I mean, they nailed it.
Jake: I like it. I’d give this a hard 8.7 out of 10.
David: You’re so exact. You’re a man of science.
Celia: I would pour this on my fruity cereal. I know it’s overkill, but.
Nick: I’d put it on plain cereal.
Myprotein Impact Whey: Matcha
Nick: When I first came to New York, everything was matcha flavor, people had just discovered it. Now everything is CBD flavor. That’s what we need, is CBD whey protein.
David: This is the only one that stays the same color when you mix it. (drinks) Tastes like tea. That just tastes like tea.
Jake: It’s like a watered down dairy tea.
David: I kind of like it.
Celia: The thing with matcha is you can sometimes taste the chalkiness of it.
Nick: And this big powdery bag of dehydrated dairy isn’t chalky enough for you?
Celia: It could be chalkier.
Jake: It tastes like a green tea that was left outside for a day. And the ice has diluted it. It’s warm and it’s been sitting out and the cap’s not even on it.
Nick: I think they’ve done a good job at recreating the bad, bland, boring taste of green tea.
The Favorites
Jake: Because I’m a man of culture: Pumpkin Pie. I’m usually not a pumpkin pie guy but this one was pretty dang good.
Celia: Pumpkin!
Nick: I gotta say Pumpkin as well.
David: My favorite was Ghost’s Fruity Cereal Milk. I though they definitely made it taste just like the milk left over in the bowl after you’ve had fruity cereal. So it kind of reminded me of childhood.
The Losers
Jake: Matcha. You don’t put milk in green tea.
Celia: I was really disappointed by the Matcha. And I’m a matcha girl. I just found it to be very bland. I would rather drink water and be weak forever.
David: I think I liked it more than most people, but Crystal Sky just confused me. It has all these fruits on the label but it didn’t taste like anything in particular. It was just very sweet.
Nick: I was very hyped up to hate the Crystal Sky, I was expecting that to be the worst but Root Beer Float that was the worst. It tastes like licorice.
Celia: And we still don’t know what root beer is.
Nick: Whatever it is, it doesn’t translate well to a protein powder.
