Can You Still Reduce Vanilla Sweetness, Please?

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1

Hello,

I joined the Huel food innovation about two months ago. It has been exciting . I bought all the related products, sweatshirt with hood, extra bottles. I have bought both the unsweetened and the Vanilla.

The unsweetened is not quite right for me, but Vanilla is too sweet for me.( I mean the reduced sweetness Vanilla Version)

So what do I do. I mix a scoop of unsweetened with a scoop of “reduced sweetness” vanilla version to get a balance taste. I then proceed to neutralise the sweetness further with some capsule of Aloe Vera to create a slight bitterness. That it is the my daily ordeal to deal with the sweet.

Frankly, we are not helping ourselves with all these sweetness which does nothing helpful to our body, in my own opinion. I voted for Huel for its nutrients and not the taste. My body need nutrients not the sweet taste which I can get from many sources.

Which markets is Huel serving? Young, mobile and sugar-loving segments of the working populace? Or all the markets. ?

The business may be loosing out on a big market segment out there, who want things less sweet. Again, as I said before, I joined Huel not for the taste but for the nutrients. Not giving people enough options may be killing the less-sweet-loving “middle” market. I can guarantee that after a while many taking Vanilla would like to switch because of too much sweetness. In my opinion, the best taste in the world is the taste of ground flaxseed without any sweetener. Do we really need all these sweetness?

Suggested Option.
Extra flavours and sweeteners could be given to people, free, in small sachets as part of the purchase, like in hotel when you want tea or coffee you have sachets of sugar. Similarly in restaurants, you have sachets of pepper and salt. Why? They provide consumers/customers with options for health and taste. In this century food producer should be weary of second guessing how much sweetness we need to in our food.

For Huel, the solution is easy. The consumer does the final stage of the food processing before consumption. Those who are very young and want things sweet and tasty, given them their little sachets at the point purchase. Those who are conservative about sweetness and want none of those, they can put aside the sachets.

I just cannot introduce Huel to family of five grown-ups because, in my opinion, the Vanilla with the better composition is just too sweet for many of the health-conscious 21-century consumers. ( I mean the reduced sweetness version)

I am afraid if there is no middle option for Huel, soon, I may well be saying bye to Huel and back to my ground organic flaxseed. Too much sweetness is not good for consumer or the business. Let consumers decide the taste. You can do it, Huel! See my suggestion above.

Good luck

Samuel

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2

I agree with this and am finding the sweetness of the product a little overwhelming (the reduced sweetened vanilla). I have read many criticisms of the unsweetened variety so a balance between the two would be ideal.

3

I like the way it is. Could a compromise be to release a vanilla flavour pouch and you guys could use the unsweetened version with an amount of vanilla/sweetness that you like? Everyone wins…

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4

Yes it’s very tricky some people think the current level is stop on, some not sweet enough and some too sweet.

@yossi solutions is probably the best solution.

@okabi2 how you tried the unflavoured version with our flavour pouches?

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5

Do you sell that on your site? Where do I get the flavour pouches.? No info on your site under All Products.

6

Sorry. I can see that now.

7

Which of the flavours are Vanilla-specific?. Toffee , Custard etc. Do I need to buy all to know which one would suit my taste. That is problem for me.

8

We tested about 15 flavours. These are the top 4. All work well with the unflavoured and vanilla.

However, they do contain stevia. As you are sensitive to sweetness you may not like them will vanilla and may have to exchange for the unsweetened version.

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Answer is go unflavoured, it tastes great

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10

Have you thought about releasing a vanilla flavour pouch? This would allow people to adjust the sweetness to their liking and make up a vanilla shake without having to buy a big premade bag of it.

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11

We have thought about it, but it doesn’t fully allow you to adjust the sweetness. We would need to separate the flavour and sweetener to fully allow that and the sweetener is a tiny amount so you would need scales that can go down to 0.001g.

12

Yes I am not a fan of the vanilla, for me it is too sweet and I can taste the artificialness of the sweetener a lot, even if I water the Huel down to dilute it. I have now switched to the UU and find that quite palatable without any sweetener at all. Some people have said it has a bitter aftertaste, but for me its fine. I would prefer that to the artificial sweetener any day. But hey, we are all different, and thats why there are both versions and all the flavour pouches.

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Personally, I think the standard vanilla taste & sweetness is “just right” on its own and would hate to see it changed. Please don’t!

How about launching a vanilla flavour pouch so that folks such as the OP could buy “Unflavoured & Unsweetened”, then adjust to suit their personal taste?

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14

I have to say, the vanilla sweetness level is just fine for me. I think it’s good to have the option of both flavoured and unflavoured, as the latter provides a better ‘blank slate’ for adding your own flavours or sweetness.

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15

I thought exactly the same. My first order was the unflavoured, and I struggled to make it taste decent, by trying several combinations. Then last week I decided to try the Original vanilla one, and I was extremely disappointed because basically it tastes like pure sulcarose. It’s like when I was I child I decided to try one sulcarose capsule of my grandma!
So I thought that probably Huel wants to appeal those unhealty customers who enjoy frappuccino and any other similar super sweet stuff. I don’t understand either why the Flavour boosts contain sulcarose too.

Today I tried 2 scoops vanilla + 1 scoop unflavoured + 1 banana boost: too artificial sweet
For tomorrow I’ve prepared 2 unflavoured scoops + 1 vanilla + 1 moka flavour, but I’m not quite sure about the possible result. We’ll see.
Overall I like the Huel concept and benefits, but I was shocked about the vanilla flavour. Taste is certainly different from person to person, but people should be educated to a less sweet world. Huel should not be a bad imitation of a frappuccino

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has anyone just tried using unsweetened flavour and added fruit like bananas and strawberries to sweeten it?

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I’ve tried with a banana, but the unflavoured is really too strong. And it doesn’t simply taste like oats, as many say. It tastes like oats and dried peas etc.

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I too like the Vanilla (New 2.3) taste as it is. Obviously when talking about tastes, it’s very difficult to find one that is liked by everyone. I usually like strong flavours, and I think Vanilla is not that sweet.
I also think Vanilla sweetnes perfectly matches with other flavours, for example using unsweetened herbal teas like karkadé or orange.
The sweetness of Vanilla also keeps me away from my “sweets craving”. Before Huel I used to eat a lot of sweets now and then, not much in quantity bust still too much. Like some biscuits, or a plumcake, or other stuff like that. Every day. Since I drink Huel, I didn’t touch a sweet anymore. :slight_smile:

So, I think the actual product line is fine: U/U and sweet Vanilla. :slight_smile:

19

The problem with me is that I don’t feel sweetness, but the pure artificial taste of sulcarose. I’ve just tried 3 scoops U U with one sample flavour boost and I still taste the sulcarose. It would have been far better if they had created vanilla flavor without artificial sweeteners, so that one could use a personal sweetener, like agave siroup or else.

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20

To be honest, I don’t know what sucralose or artificial taste is or means. :slight_smile: I just taste the product and like it, not like a pizza but still good enough to eat. Don’t have such a sensitive palate, and I think U/U, being unsweetened, is exactly what you are describing, since there’s no sucralose or sweetener in it.

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