I’ve been a daily Huel user for the last couple of years. I loved it because of its convenience and because the flavors were mild, allowing me to vary the taste with whatever additives I want. The 3.0 flavors are…off…and way too strong for me, eliminating the possibility of adding flavor boosters or my own flavorings. And now I need a blender at 5am every morning to stop dime sized clumps of chalk going into my mouth? It is no longer convenient or versatile, so I’m cancelling my subscription. I’ll check back in on the next version 
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Hey Jesse, thanks for the message and totally gutted that this is your first message to the forum. This feedback is absolutely vital for us, so than you for sharing.
Could you help us dive a little more into the detail. Which flavours are you talking about? Our Preblend Flavours, or the Flavour Boosts? And which of the flavours within that?
Can you put your finger on what aspect of flavour has now become too strong? Is it earthy or bitter or too sweet or something else?
I’m really surprised to hear about the lumps, but you aren’t the first. I honestly have found v3.0 so so smooth (I used Vanilla primarily). Do you use the ice barrier? At the least it will prevent you consuming those lumps, at best it will help break them up.
Please do respond with some more feedback, thank you!
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Surprised to hear about?? If you go back through the recent comments there are tons of complaints about the clumps in V3.0 and the taste.
I recognise that and said so in my post. I am surprised by the comments about more lumps with v3.0, the frequency of those complaints hasn’t changed that. I didn’t mean I was specifically surprised by Jesse’s complaints about them, but that people are getting more lumps in general when I haven’t.
It’s something we’re keeping a close eye on though.
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I’m not going to make a new thread, so this is not aimed at the OP.
Being a Huel user for a while now, I’ve gone through several versions. With the exception of the first day or two when I brought the powder and shook it at work, I’ve gone to blending ahead of time for every dose of Huel since then. And, since I blend, I might as well use some milk and maybe add other things too. So I have forgotten what it’s like to just put water in a bottle, add the powder, and shake.
Since i had not yet tried the ver 3.0 chocolate, and it’s my day off, I figured let me try going back to my Huel roots. Let me bust open a ver 3.0 bag, and follow the directions on the bag exactly. I used a gatorade brand bottle with the shaker ball. 17 ounces of water, and 3 OG scoops (since Huel has never sent me a new scoop, cough cough). And the directions say to only shake for 10 seconds. I shook vigorously for about 12 (just to be sure) seconds.
I am surprised at how smooth it is after a mere 12 seconds. Granted, I shook vigorously, but I’m 145 lb dude who is not particularly strong. I poured back and forth between a glass and back to the bottle to see if I can visualize clumps or if any residual stuff gets left behind. No. I mean, there are some specks of stuff here and there, but nothing I would label as a “clump” can be seen. And I ended up drinking the whole thing, which has now ruined my dinner since I won’t be hungry again. I admit there were a few very very small mini clumps. But for a mere 12 seconds of manual shaking, it’s surprisingly smooth. Oats and flaxseed do not actually dissolve in water. This is not a Huel solution. It is a suspension. This is like reconstituting your kid’s amoxicillin or azithromycin suspension. The solid particles are finely ground and mostly evenly dispersed throughout the whole liquid product.
Now, I cannot prove my results. I didn’t record on my phone. So my testimony must be taken with a grain of salt. I would hope that my history of posting on these forums would “earn” me a reputation as a Huel user, someone who likes Huel, someone with a bit of bias towards Huel, but someone who has criticized Huel here and there when I felt appropriate, and certainly someone who doesn’t make any money nor work for the company. You can judge for yourself if my experience is genuine or not, but I think most regulars on this board would say that I’m being honest.
Now, why am I going off on what seems like a tangent. I am doing this because I suspect that at least some of the posters on this forum are not genuine. No, don’t bother trying to convince me you are genuine. I don’t care nor can I prove any individual poster is genuine. I am bringing this up in case there are lurkers or genuine new Huel users who are seeing all these posts about Huel 3.0 being “clumpy” and may be scared to try ver 3.0 because of it. There may be some legit clumping going on. But, I believe there is at least one person intentionally stirring up trouble by falsifying info.
A person can easily create 20 or so temp emails from different providers. Can easily sign up for multiple accounts on a forum, such as this. There is no screening. There is no way to know if a new user is genuine or not.
Again, don’t even bother with “hey, I am legit, how dare you accuse me…” I don’t care. I can’t prove any one individual person is or isn’t legit. But if you look at the overall pattern, it does seem fishy. New posters suddenly sign up, saying they have used Huel for years, and now ver 3.0 is so bad and so clumpy they are saying “peace out”. I have even started noticing similarities in the writing style of several of these posts.
- New poster: “I have been a Huel user for xxx years, and 3.0 is horrible and clumps.”
- Huel staff; “Sorry to hear that. Let me get more info from you. We are surprised because we haven’t experienced this in our testing.”
- New poster: “How dare you belittle my experience. You are hiding something. Oh my God you lying’, why you always lying?!”
I’m just saying it seems possible that one or a small group of people working for a rival company, or one Huel user not happy and with a lot of time on his/her hands, could very easily sign up for multiple new accounts over a period of a month and create (what appears to be) a “trend” of negative feedback over the new version 3.0.
And if this clumping is really that rampant amongst people, and all these reports are legit, then I must be effin’ Superman up in here. I must have the strength of Hercules and the deadlift of Bryan Shaw because I was able to manually shake a 500 calorie Huel chocolate 3.0 in 17 ounces of water and get something that is mostly smooth. Or maybe I have realistic expectations. A grain and seed powder dispersed in water doesn’t form a clear solution with no particulate matter at all. Or perhaps social media has allowed people to become special snowflakes… no, better not go there.
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That pretty much sums up the entire discourse section of this website as of the 3.0 release in the US.
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Do the directions say to use a Gatorade style bottle with a shaker ball? My Huel cup with the lid and the little ice stopper thingy didn’t come with a shaker ball.
Your entire experiment is invalidated by the fact that you didn’t use materials provided by huel. If I need a shaker ball to make everything smooth, then they should provide it.
Content people typically go about their day. They don’t actively post on a forum. Disgruntled people come here to vent their frustrations of a product being changed without options. The opinions shouldn’t be discounted because they’ve only posted a couple of times to a niche food forum.
They certainly have a problem with v3 and the clumping. I debated whether to even go through the trouble of creating an account to even voice an opinion. I’d imagine a lot of people who are unhappy won’t even do that. They only true account of satisfaction is sales. The company will know in a about 6 months whether they have a real problem or not.
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This is true. However, I am surprised at how incredibly easy it was to get the powder into a mostly smooth suspension with no “clumps” (at least nothing I would label as a clump). And little shaker balls are not that expensive or difficult to obtain.
Am I really the only person who thought to try a shaker ball? Oh well. If people give up that easily, I don’t know what to say. People would rather just give up? It’s easier to go find another complete food that you like and meets your nutritional needs than to get a shaker ball simply because the instructions on the Huel bag didn’t mention a shaker ball?
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Really? Huel didn’t provide a shaker ball, so it’s their fault? Did you rant on the car dealer when they didn’t provide you a lifetime supply of fuel? Did you rant at the grocery store when they didn’t provide you with the dishes and utensils to eat the food they sold you?
Sheesh!
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I have no plans to abandon Huel and remain a fan…BUT clumping is absolutely an issue with 3.0. I’ve used the Huel-issued shaker AND a bottle with a blender ball, neither of which solved the clumping problems. So I don’t think the blender ball is the answer.
I’ve returned to using an electric blender which I’m happy with but from personal experience there’s no question that 3.0 consistently clumps in a way that the previous version never did.
Hopefully they figure it out because the inconsistencies in experience, with some saying 3.0 is smoother than ever and some - like me - seeing persistent clumping - is strange.
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This by itself is true. I agree. However, if you look at the pattern over the last month or so, it’s suspicious. Also, their opinion should not be automatically counted as 100% legit. I’m thinking about it from a probability perspective. From the perspective of a lawyer putting together a case. I’m saying there is reasonable doubt that every new poster in the last month complaining about Huel is a real customer who is voicing a real opinion. You must admit that on an open forum such as this, there is a very easy opportunity for a Soylent employee to create a fake account and spam the board. It would be easy, untraceable, and no cost to that person. But the repercussions could be significant.
Maybe I have a vivid imagination. It’s possible. But the pattern of some of these posts from different people seem eerily similar in their writing style. I can easily imagine it’s the same person behind several of these multiple accounts, and the company should take that into account as a possible factor before blindly accepting all input from users.
Is it really that hard to get powdered Huel mixed properly by hand? Really? I guess not everyone is as gifted as I am with my massive 12 inch biceps. Perhaps they can ask one of their coworkers to help them shake their Huel. Or on the way to work they can stop by the school bus stop and ask their local 5th grader for help.
In regards to the statement that content people don’t actively post on a forum… I’d contest that. We have many people who random post positive things on this forum. Amazon is full of content people posting ratings. But yes, you are right in the sense that we cannot accurately gauge the true opinion of all customers since many will never post on a forum, either positive or negative. We can only evaluate what is posted.
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I am wondering if the definition of clumping is the issue. When I did it by hand, it was not as smooth as running it through my blender. But the micro clumps are to be expected. I would not interpret these as clumps. This is the inevitable result of shaking oat powder in water. I just don’t understand the problem people are having.
No, not micro-clumps. In some cases I’m seeing dime-sized clumps that are actually chewable and sometimes a thick sludge left at the bottom. I’ve been able to work around it by shaking like crazy - letting it sit for about 10 minutes - and then shaking it like crazy again. It kind of works, but obviously isn’t a ritual I had to perform with the previous version.
Perhaps they’re seeing some early QC issues? Maybe the conditions in which it’s stored are having an impact? Who knows, but what I can say is that I don’t think all the clumping reports are fake. As I said, I’m a long-term user and huge fan of the product so I bring up this issue with nothing other than positive intent.
Someone mentioned the possibility that the water used might be a variable. Is that even possible? Hard water…soft water…distilled water…cold water…tepid water…hot water?
I agree with Deron though that if people are willing to abandon this nutritionally dense, cost effective, meal replacement shake for something inferior…because they can’t be bothered to do ONE EXTRA THING, it’s hard to understand the priorities at work. Aren’t we doing this for our health? Isn’t our health worth a friggin’ blender ball, or even (gasp) a $10 immersion blender? If convenience is the only priority, there are a lot of garbage generic pre-made shakes at Walmart.
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Two points:
I’ve used both a shaker ball in a standard blender bottle as well as the Huel-provided shaker. The blender bottle w/ wire shaker ball is more effective than the Huel-provided shaker, but is still not sufficient to blend the current 3.0 mixtures I’ve tried.
On the topic of fake accounts, if there’s one obvious fake account here it’s the one that consistently takes the time to rebutt every negative comment hundreds if not thousands of times over the last few years.
I agree with Deron though that if people are willing to abandon this nutritionally dense, cost effective, meal replacement shake for something inferior…because they can’t be bothered to do ONE EXTRA THING, it’s hard to understand the priorities at work. Aren’t we doing this for our health? Isn’t our health worth a friggin’ blender ball, or even (gasp) a $10 immersion blender? If convenience is the only priority, there are a lot of garbage generic pre-made shakes at Walmart.
Immersion blenders are a no-go at work. I work in an office environment that doesn’t have a lunch room or break room or have a sink available. I get my water from the communal water fountain and bring my bottle home to clean. Please don’t assume that your application is available to everyone.
There’s a reason I’m not just abandoning this product, but rather providing feedback in the hope to make things better. While there are probably a few people trash-talking on the way out, the majority of negative reviews of 3.0 just want it to be more similar to what we used to have; a nutritious product that mixed great without any extra steps.
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You can make the Huel at home, in the early evening using a cheap immersion blender. Leave it in the fridge over night. This results in the nicest texture anyway. In the morning throw a few ice cubes in it and bring it to work in a cheap thermal bag.
If you care about your health, these problems are not insurmountable.
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I have actually voiced some complaints on this about 3.0. I am a real consumer, and one account poster. Who’s to say you aren’t a part of the Huel staff trying to get in among consumers? I mean really, this is a forum about a food item. Some people, including me, really favored the previous versions over 3.0 and we are entitled to that opinion. In my opinion, I didn’t think there was any reason to let go of other versions, but just keep them all. I didn’t particularly like the taste or texture of 3.0. But again, that’s my opinion, and just like you have your opinions about people making multiple accounts, maybe just maybe there is a consensus that 3.0 is not enjoyed by a lot of folks.
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Hi Tim. I’m referring to the preblend flavors - Vanilla, Chocolate, and Berry which I have always subscribed to. The previous versions of those flavors were nice and subtle. You could tell what they were, but they were mellow enough to use flavor boosts or other fruits and flavors to mix it up when I needed something new. I never felt like I was eating something that had been artificially sweetened. All three flavors now are powerfully too sweet to my taste buds and totally eliminate the option of adding yours or any other kind of flavor boost. It seems like someone went way overboard with the sweeteners and now they taste very artificial.
I use the huel cup with a shaker ball and shake like a madman for 20-30 seconds, like I’ve always done. While I appreciate the advice to use the ice barrier to block the clumps, the whole point of drinking huel is to drink huel, so using a physical barrier to block the clumps and dumping those clumps down the drain doesn’t really make much sense to me.
I won’t even address anyone else in the thread, especially the guy that “doesn’t care” and then writes a 3 page essay on how much he actually cares about whether the negative reviews are fraud or not. I just love huel, am bummed out that it isn’t suitable for me anymore, and wanted to make my opinion known so that maybe it will be improved upon in the future. Thanks!
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