What's the best Myprotein flavour? I tried 23 of them to find out.
A few years ago I was undecided about what protein powder to buy, so I bought lots of different types to try them! I wrote down my thoughts at the time and shared it with a few friends, but given I now have this blog I figured I'd share this more widely.
This is not a sponsored article, and I paid for all of these with my own money.
See the recommendations section if you're just looking for a quick 'what to buy'.
Summary table
Ratings are fairly arbitrary 'how much did I like it out of 10'.
Note that all of these are all from Myprotein and likely come from the same manufacturer - others brands might be quite different. I have tried Optimum Nutrition and PhD supplements which tasted roughly within the same class, but didn't make notes on them.
This is a couple years out of date, so flavours may have changed since.
Some high-level takeaways
- More premium brands do generally taste better, but the best was one of the cheapest!
- No protein powder tastes 'great', they all taste a bit weird to me.
- A shaker ball significantly helps, making sure powders properly mix with the water.
- Using less water helps, at least for my taste preferences.
Individual ratings
Impact Whey Protein: Vanilla (attempt #1)
Starting off with a classic, I thought this would be better than it was. Compared to vanilla powdered Huel, it does taste more like a milkshake. However, it has quite an unpleasant aftertaste that brings down my opinion of it a lot.
Rating: 4/10
Impact Whey Protein: White chocolate
Doesn't really taste much like white chocolate - actually surprisingly similar to the vanilla flavour. However, the aftertaste was even more pronounced and unpleasant.
Rating: 3/10
Impact Whey Protein: Vanilla raspberry
A pleasant surprise! I enjoyed the addition of raspberry, and for some reason I thought that this one did not have the aftertaste issue present in the plain vanilla flavour. Again it was fairly milkshake like.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate brownie (attempt #1)
This tastes quite a lot like chocolate milk, and reminds me a bit of Yazoo chocolate. However, it has a slightly bitter aftertaste that I disliked. I guess this could be interpreted as a dark chocolate bitterness, although I'm not sure this is intended.
Rating: 5/10
Impact Whey Protein: Pineapple
This smells really good, which got my hopes up. I'm also a fan of pineapple things in general. However, the flavour itself is awful - it just seems to taste like the weird chemical mouthwash I've only experienced at dentists.
Rating: 1/10
Impact Whey Protein: Strawberry stevia
An okay attempt at a strawberry flavour, but it falls flat. The taste is quite weak, and reminds me a bit of overly watered down squash.
Rating: 4/10
Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate mint (attempt #1)
Easily one of the standout flavours! This protein powder does well on the mint chocolate combination, tasting quite similar to mint chocolate ice cream, although the mint flavour is on the weaker side. It also tastes quite sweet (which I like), despite not having more sugar than the other options.
Compared to mint chocolate powdered Huel, I think this tastes a lot better.
I do like mint chocolate ice cream, and mint chocolate (e.g. after eights, or the mint neapolitans given with the bill at some restaurants). I know some people don't, and I'm not sure whether they'd like this flavour.
Rating: 8/10
Impact Whey Protein: Rocky road
This is pretty bad. It has a watery texture and a simply unpleasant taste. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting.
Rating: 2/10
Impact Whey Protein: Strawberry cream
This flavour seemed to be more cream than strawberry, which I was not a fan of. The little strawberry taste it had was fairly artificial, but wasn't terrible.
Rating: 3/10
Impact Whey Protein: Golden syrup
The initial taste is great - very sweet, but in a way that does reflect golden syrup. There's also a unique waffly, coffee-like undertone that adds depth to the flavour. The aftertaste is a bit weird, but not overly unpleasant.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Summer fruits
A decent attempt at a fruit-flavoured protein powder, but it has a bit of a milky taste that is a bit odd and overpowers the fruit flavours.
Rating: 4/10
Impact Whey Protein: Raspberry
A decent raspberry flavour, though it didn't seem to fully dissolve (which might have been my fault, but I think I did follow the instructions).
Rating: 6/10
Impact Whey Protein: Stracciatella
I'm not quite sure what this flavour was trying to do. It didn't taste bad, it just tasted quite watery and milky.
Rating: 3/10
Impact Whey Protein: Banana (attempt #1)
A nice, smooth banana flavour that isn't too overpowering. It's a fairly plain taste, but sometimes that's what you want in a protein powder.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Strawberry roly poly (attempt #1)
The initial strawberry flavour is quite enjoyable, and the aftertaste is fine, but it falls a bit flat in the middle. Not a bad option, but not a standout either. I'm not really sure what the 'roly poly' part of this is supposed to be.
Rating: 6/10
Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate brownie (attempt #2)
Quite nice, but with a slightly weird aftertaste.
Rating: 6/10
Impact Whey Protein: Tiramasu
An interesting attempt at replicating the flavours of tiramisu. It has a fairly weak iced coffee-like taste that does capture some of the dessert.
Rating: 6/10
THE Whey+: Vanilla ice cream
A nice vanilla, without the aftertaste problems of the other vanilla flavours. However, it has random pieces that don't dissolve which are off-putting and give the drink an odd texture. I think these bits are intended as a feature but think they just make the product worse.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Banana (attempt #2)
A solid banana flavour that's smooth and fairly plain, without any unpleasant aftertastes.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Vanilla (attempt #2)
Had a really unpleasant aftertaste, and overall a bit watery.
Rating: 3/10
Impact Whey Protein: Vanilla Raspberry (attempt #2)
Much nicer than standard vanilla again, although this time felt there was a very minor unpleasant aftertaste, it didn't linger for too long.
Rating: 6/10
Impact Whey Protein: Strawberry roly poly (attempt #2)
There's a nice strawberry flavour here. There was a faint twinge of an odd metallic undertone, but this was very minor.
Rating: 6/10
Impact Whey Protein: Blueberry cheesecake (attempt #1)
One of the best flavours in the lineup! It smelt really good, which gave me flashbacks to the pineapple. However, this one also tasted good. It had fairly consistent taste throughout, primarily of blueberry flavour (rather than cheesecake).
Rating: 8/10
Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate
A fairly standard chocolate flavour that captures the essence of chocolate milk well - again, like Yazoo chocolate.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Cookies and cream
A definite miss. I thought it tasted awful - like shampoo, with maybe a hint of vanilla.
Rating: 1/10
Impact Whey Protein: Strawberry (attempt #1)
The strawberry flavour here is quite artificial and not particularly enjoyable. Reminds me of very cheap strawberry ice cream. Surprisingly though it leaves quite a pleasant aftertaste.
Rating: 5/10
Impact Whey Protein: Strawberry (attempt #2)
A fairly plain, but okay strawberry flavour. However, this time it didn't seem to fully dissolve.
Rating: 5/10
THE Whey+: Strawberry
The premium version of the strawberry flavour is quite enjoyable. It has a smooth, rich strawberry taste, though the presence of odd bits in the powder again is a significant drawback.
Rating: 7/10
Skinny Hot Chocolate: Chocolate Brownie
I'm not quite sure this is a protein powder, but I added it to my order mainly out of curiosity.
It ended up being quite good. It smells a little odd, but tastes fine - although slightly more bitter (like cocoa powder) than normal hot chocolate. Fairly sweet.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Blueberry cheesecake (attempt #2)
I bought a large bag (1kg) of this and chocolate mint.
After having this more frequently, the artificial nature of the flavour became more apparent, and the slightly milky taste of the whey protein started to come through, which was not ideal for someone who isn't a fan of milk. Despite this it remained a decent option.
Rating: 7/10
Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate mint (attempt #2)
I bought a large bag (1kg) of this and blueberry cheesecake.
This flavour remained consistently enjoyable, even after consuming it regularly. The combination of chocolate and mint flavours did an excellent job of masking the underlying milky taste of the whey protein for me.
Rating: 8/10
Recommendations
All of my top picks are from the standard Impact Whey Protein range.
My favourite is Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate Mint. It has a good flavour with the right balance of chocolate and mint for me, and I've found I haven't got bored or sick of it after getting a large bag.
If you dislike mint, consider Impact Whey Protein: Blueberry cheesecake. This has a strong fruity taste, although after having it regularly for a while it does taste more artificial.
If these two are too much, try Impact Whey Protein: Banana. This is a weaker and simpler flavour than the others, and compared to vanilla doesn't leave an unpleasant aftertaste. You could alternatively consider Impact Whey Protein: Chocolate which tastes quite a bit like chocolate milk, if you like that.