Seriously, the new chocolate Huel has almost no chocolate flavor at all and isn’t very sweet either. I’m not one of these people who will be way over-the-top hyperbolic about it and act like it’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted or as if it’s inedible, because it’s not. But I was a die-hard chocolate Huel devotee. I lost interest in any other flavor because I liked it so much. And it went from being something I thought was tasty and satisfying in flavor, something I looked forward to consuming, to being flat and bland, requiring additions to make it at all flavorful. Like I shouldn’t have to add cocoa and Splenda to something that’s supposedly chocolate flavored…
What’s up with changes like this?? How do they get past testing? I won’t argue with the other named improvements, sure add probiotics and get the vitamins from natural sources, etc. That’s great! But why remove all the flavor? Now I’m just drinking oat water.
Oh also, yes, way more clumpy. That also should have been obvious in testing. You don’t need us to tell you this. You have shakers. I’m sure you don’t just blend it in your testing labs. That would be stupid.
I find the Huel Black chocolate far, far more chocolatey than 1.1. I had to add cacao powder and coffee crystals to get 1.1 to anything I could enjoy, but the Black edition needs no help from me
Oh wow, then chocolate 3.0 would taste practically like UU to you. I just don’t get it. It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to agree on a nice moderate level of flavor that most people would find palatable. I’ve only been using Huel since last summer, but from what I’ve read on here it seems like Huel is often bouncing from one extreme to the other with new versions (like w vanilla supposedly). I thought the last version of chocolate was a nice moderate level of flavor tho. Was anyone complaining it was too strong or too sweet? Why else mess with it and weaken it?
I just started huel and I’ve only ever had 3.0 personally, but to be honest I found the chocolate flavor to be too rich for my taste personally. I actually do one scoop vanilla one scoop chocolate to tone it down. To each their own I guess.
Seriously?? I can’t imagine you enjoy anything else chocolate flavored, then, including chocolate itself. This is the weakest chocolate flavor I’ve ever tasted.
I completely agree, hardly any chocolate. It’s very earthy and bland. You get a mild chocolate note on the end. This is my first time purchasing Huel and I’m severely disappointed . I don’t know if they offer returns but I sure would like to try the vanilla. I spent a decent amount of money on this and it’s disappointing. @sarah
I’ve found that if you use a blender and let it chill in the refrigerator for a while, the chocolate flavor intensifies. Now of course you might not want to do that, but it really deepens the flavor compared to just shaking and drinking right away.
I find that blended/chilled 3.0 is so much better than the previous version (which I also liked). It’s richer and actually tastes like chocolate - not just sweet cake mix.
I definitely prefer it fresh to mixing it ahead of time. I don’t like the congealed consistency you get from doing that at all. And simplicity is one of the biggest appeals for me in using this product, so adding steps and machinery to the literal mix is not gonna be a solution for me.
And I never felt like the previous chocolate version tasted like cake batter. Chocolate flavored things are, or at least should be, sweet, as chocolate is. I never found it overwhelmingly sweet or rich. It should be at least moderately so to qualify as being chocolate flavored in my opinion, though. Now it tastes rather more like U/U than chocolate.
The taste thing is so difficult because - like any food and drink - it’s obviously subjective. It must be difficult to work in product development for food/drink companies when people react so differently to the same flavor.
I never really thought that 2.3 actually tasted like chocolate. It was pleasant to drink, though, and I still enjoyed it. But 3.0 isn’t as aggressively sweet and - clumping issues aside (a whole other topic!) - I’ve definitely grown to prefer it. Horses for courses, as the British expression goes!
Sorry to hear it’s not working out for you. Maybe you’ll stumble across an alternative product that is better suited to your tastes. I have my first batch of Black arriving this week so I’m very curious to try it!
The 1.1 Chocolate was so good it became my favorite thing to eat. The texture, the flavor, everything about it was fantastic. 3.0, not so much. I get an instantly recognizable aftertaste of toasted nori (kelp). I’ve seen others describe it as “earthy” or similar descriptions. To me there is no doubt it’s seaweed flavor coming through. I used to make saltwater fish food and ran a whole lot of kelp in a blender over the years. The taste is exactly how I imagine the fish food would have tasted. The fish food smell and the chocolate 3.0 aftertaste are a match.
My solution has been to mix 50/50 with vanilla 3.0 as the vanilla doesn’t seem to have the seaweed aftertaste as bad and it tones down the taste in the chocolate. BUT, then you really get no chocolate flavor. I’ve started adding a tablespoon of cacao and it helps get there. It gets me through it but it’s no where near ideal.
I only had the clumping with the first few shakes. I found adding a mixing ball and letting it sit for awhile and thicken up before another round of shaking gets rid of the little goo balls. Again, not ideal but it has worked for me.
Honestly I wonder if it’s psychological, at least a little. “This is different, why?” “Must be the kelp.” But there is something about it that triggers that scent memory for me.
You could be right either way. For me though, it’s not a bad or weird flavor, nothing overpowering or off-putting. It’s a lack of flavor issue, just really weak. It reminds me of U/U. Bland and oaty.
That’s odd as there’s less than 0.1% kelp in Huel, there really shouldn’t be any flavor coming through. The fact you have to troubleshoot so much is not ideal at all. Thanks for your feedback I will pass it onto the development team.
I just realized after rereading Hillsy’s comment about version 2.3 chocolate that we may be talking about different previous versions. I believe what I was using was version 1.1. Is 2.3 the most recent previous version offered in the UK maybe? Everyone’s on 3.0 now though, right? I wonder if different flavor preferences and expectations in the US vs. the UK have lead to some of the dissatisfaction with the update.
In any case, the idea of the flavor being in constant flux from one update to the next is really pretty frustrating. No wonder so many users felt like they had the rug pulled out from under them with the Great Vanilla Debacle. People stick with a product they know they like and are comfortable with. Why continually ask your loyal customers, who pay good money and rely on you to support their dietary needs, to adjust to your “improvements”? Are you knowingly sacrificing some current customers with the expectation that you’ll gain more new ones? It seems like a smart improvement would be one that doesn’t alienate the people who pay you.
Hey Sarah - I think I might be the one who’s confused and getting my versions mixed-up! I was referring to the previous US version of chocolate which I think is 1.1 and not 2.3.
Yeap you got it v1.1 was the previous version in the US and v2.3 the previous version in the UK and EU.
Everyone has v3.0 now so we are all aligned.
I completely understand where you are coming from. Original vanilla was removed from the flavor choices because two vanilla flavors was confusing for a lot of people except long time customers who had experienced the introduction of both vanilla flavors.
The change from v2.3 to v3.0 led to some changes in flavors that Hueligans felt needed it such as berry whereas others such as mint chocolate were left as they are.
We are listening and it’s partly why the forum is here, so we can gain your insights.
I just got my first batch of the chocolate and berry 3.0. I tried the chocolate today and agree it is a little bland. But, I used the Choc cherry flavoring and that perked it up a bit. I even added a packet of Stevia and that added a little extra sweetness. Here’s what I did that made it taste much better:
2 cups Fuel Choc 3.0
18 oz water + ice
1 tsp of choc cherry flavor
1 small 2g packet of Stevia
Also, make sure you turn the bag upside down before filling the cups to get rid of of the clumps. I also shook the drink for 10 sec with just choc, 10 sec with the flavor added and another 10 sec when I added Stevia. So, the extra shaking may have helped with the clumps. Hope this helps!
It’s comforting to know you’re listening, but hard to tell if and when something will actually be done in response. Is this just customer service lip service? Can you tell me it will taste like chocolate again anytime soon?
I’ve finally figured out how much cocoa and Splenda are needed to get the product to resemble the former chocolate flavor (as best I can remember at least). Kinda hoping there will still be some V1.1 left in the outlet when I finish my first bags of V3.0 so I can skip my next V3.0 shipment instead of doing all this doctoring. When V1.1 inevitably runs out I’ll get tired of doctoring V3.0 if something doesn’t change.
