I am very new to the world of Huel and after making my first order the other week I was keen to give it a go.
Unfortunately my eagerness was very short lived after the very first taste of my Berry flavoured Huel… It was so bad I swear it could have made a rat puke. There was no flavour to speak of and the texture was really grainy. It went down like wet cement.
I admit the first shake was made with water in the hand mixer and nothing else added but it still had the effect of stopping me from trying it again for several weeks… then today I tried again.
This time I made it with milk (in a blender) and added lots of frozen berries and the result was… it still tasted absolutely bloody awful. It was like the evilness of the Berry flavour simply overpowered my frozen fruits, they didn’t stand a chance.
It was so awful I am seriously wondering if I might have a bad batch or something as even somebody with no taste buds would turn their nose up to this. I have seen others complain about Berry flavour but I have also seen many say it’s really tasty.
So I guess my question is, Huel may be a meal replacement system but is it a really nasty tasting one that you need to add loads of other super tasty things to to make it remotely palatable because all I see now when I stare at my remaining Huel supplies are two bags of torture staring back at me.
I didn’t really envision adding lots of other stuff to the Huel mix to make it edible as to me that kind of defeats the simplicity and convenience of Huel.
Hmm. Taste is a very subjective thing. So it’s hard to pin down the solution to your problem.
I really like the berry powder Huel and I use less additives than with my vanilla. 3 scoops of berry Huel, in 50/50 mix of oat milk and water, and a small scoops of my greens powder is one of my new favorite Huel mixes.
It’s possible you may have a batch that wasn’t flavored correct. But then it’s entirely possible that your taste buds are not adjusted to Huel.
Has it been blended ahead of time and allowed to chill?
I think it doesn’t taste bad at all. The first one I tried was the vanilla, and I was disappointed at first. It tasted mildly like vanilla, but mostly lacked any flavor. I chalk this up now to the insane amount of sugar I was used to consuming. Within three days I was used to it, and within three weeks I started to crave it. The first time I tried berry I loved it and have had it pretty much every day ever since. Its definitely more of a children’s cereal berry than a strawberry milkshake, but it contains only 2 grams of actual sugar per serving, so thats to be expected. As for healthy beverages that taste like actual desert menu items, I think that kind of science might still be a few decades away, but I’ll settle for something that tastes just good in the meantime.
I appreciate we are all a bit different when it comes taste so perhaps we can give smell a try… does your Berry powder smell at all like berries?
My Berry Huel has the faintest, protein shake of old days smell of berries, it’s hardly noticeable.
And I also appreciate that it might be a matter of getting used to the taste (if there is nothing wrong with mine, that will be a struggle) and thought it could just be me until I saw others saying the same thing.
I’ve been drinking Vanilla Huel for about a year now. I started when they just had two options (Vanilla and Unflavored). I’ve never tried the Unflavored version because I drink my Huel plain, and I want a little flavor in my life.
When they announced the Chocolate and Berry options, I immediately bought one bag of each because I wanted some more variety and was excited to see what they had. The chocolate flavor reminds me a bit of those Premier protein drinks, which isn’t bad. I’ll buy more when I run out.
Unfortunately, the Berry flavor disappointed me. The first time I tried it, I didn’t like it at all. I’ve had it a few more times and slowly gotten accustomed to it, but unlike the Vanilla and Chocolate, I don’t exactly enjoy the taste. I probably won’t be buying more Berry when I’m done. In the future, I’ll stick to my Vanilla and Chocolate.
Before you give up on Huel completely, I highly recommend trying the other flavors and drinking it chilled. Huel, no matter what flavor, tastes so much better cold than it does at room temperature.
It is a matter of personal preference. I was using vanilla Huel for months before the introduction of the berry and chocolate flavors. I got a bag of each and expected to like the berry more than the chocolate because I don’t typically like chocolate flavored things.
I was wrong. The only way I can drink the berry is by adding in some of their strawberry flavor booster. It does add $12 to the cost for a bag of the booster, but it has improved the flavor greatly for me.
I didn’t find it as repulsive as you, but I don’t like it either. I can drink it pretty easily tho so I will finish up the bag quickly and be done. I only bought one bag to try it and I won’t be ordering any more.
Thanks for all the responses, I’m just glad I don’t stand completely alone in this.
I actually bought two bags of Huel (one Berry, one Coffee on the recommendation of a friend) it was when he said, in his opinion, those were the two best flavours all I could think was “if they are the best, I’d hate to taste the worst”.
I haven’t yet tried the Coffee Huel but my flavour expectations have very much been managed downwards after the Berry experience.
If the Coffee is anywhere near as bad as the Berry I think I will have to conclude my adventures in the world of Huel will be over as my taste buds would never forgive me should I carry on
I find using vanilla based almond/soy/oat/etc milk and throwing in a favorite berry of choice, maybe even a banana really helps the consistency for me.
I personally love the berry flavor the best and spent the last 3 weeks only adding water to it. I did require the consistency to be a little on the thicker side though, whereas when i use chocolate huel I like it thinner and I really don’t like it with only water. Just adding some chocolate oat milk though makes chocolate huel taste great. (at the expense of about 225 more calories per drink)
Could not manage the contrast between the fruit flavor and the earthy taste which comes from the pea powder and found Berry completely undrinkable. Found vanilla was similar, tolerable, but too difficult to enjoy unless I added chocolate syrup or instant coffee. 4 months later I have been using only chocolate flavor and love it. So it’s definitely a personal preference thing.
Yeah, definitely personal. Berry is my favorite, then vanilla. Don’t hate the chocolate, but don’t like it much either. I drink mine plain with nothing but water (or a little ice if I’m using a hand blender), so I’m not expecting it to compete with a milkshake or fruit smoothie, but never have been repulsed by it (unless I mixed it poorly and it was unbearably chunky).
The earthy taste is a lot less and the new versions. I like the berry. It is so smooth and it goes so easily. I like these new flavors they have better than the old ones. Kinda reminds me of drinking berry oatmeal.
I just find the berry an odd artificial taste and even if you chuck lots of water at it, still mixes much thicker than the vanilla that I have tried. I am just using up my berry and would not buy it again tbh. I am sticking with Vanilla and using the flavour enhancers.
hmmm it sounds like the pouch you have received is not quite up to standard. There should not be massive differences in consistency between flavours. We use natural whole ingredients (e.g. flaxseed rather than flaxseed oil) so there can be a little variation but it sounds like this one slipped through the net.
Thanks Dan, I will get in touch with them, as I was surprised by all the comments about just how good Berry tasted, when I simply wasn’t feeling it myself.
I’m with you, I can’t say enough about how much I dislike the berry flavor. But it’s true taste is subjective and we’re not Berry Huel people. I was so hopeful too, oh well, live and learn.
I feel exactly the same way, the only way I can describe it is soapy sawdust with an aftertaste of kids travel sickness pills. What’s up with that? Was hoping for more a stronger berry flavour to mask the inedible taste of the other stuff in there
