Huel aftertaste

I’ve been on Huel for a couple of weeks now after moving from Jimmy Joy and in the past Nano (Mistake in that last one :joy: ). I really love Huel and my body seems to love it too! Only one thing, I have both the mint chocolate and new vanilla flavours and there is quite a bad aftertaste. Hard to describe, but it’s like when it hits the back of my tongue when I swallow it tastes weird, maybe bitter or like a chemical taste? Chilling in the fridge for a few hours definitely decreases it, but it’s still there and I don’t think I could live with it long term. I think from reading other posts the aftertaste is something that is common. Next time I’m ordering I think I’ll go for U/U, but I also wanted to ask about original vanilla. Any Huelers that had the aftertaste issue find the original vanilla better? Or the same issue?

Most people seem to be putting the aftertaste issue down to the sucralose sweetener, but I’m pretty sure that Jimmy Joy uses sucralose as well, yet I don’t get the same aftertaste with it. Just speculation for conversation.

On another little note, it’s a shame Huel don’t have an option for a finer blend…but hopefully getting a blender next week. Does anyone else find the blending refines it a lot? Maybe I’m just used to other shakes in this regard.

If you’re coming from Jimmy Joy, you should know that you will never get your Huel as smooth as that. They’re fundamentally different textures. I did things the other way around recently - trying JJ after months of Huel. JJ was so smooth I found it kinda suspicious. Like, this can’t really be filling me up when it has so little texture. :grin: I think I prefer Huel’s silty gloop to Jimmy’s uncanny smoothness.

I also found JJ to have a weird aftertaste. I think we just get used to one thing and it takes time to adjust to something else.

That’s interesting, in my head I definitely have the relationship that Huel is like porridge while Jimmy Joy is like semolina. It doesn’t bother me that much really, but I’m still going to put the time in trying to blend it to a pulp :joy: . I did sometimes find that if I drank Jimmy Joy within 10 mins of mixing, the fine grain almost felt like it was scratching my throat, totally doesn’t happen with Huel at all, so there are some good points to it when it comes to pour and go! I’m still not sold on the aftertaste thing though, I’ve never had a shake with that strength of aftertaste, even when changing between, hopefully U/U sorts it.

Do you find you get a bit more of a sugar rush with Jimmy Joy? I didn’t really notice at the time, but now after trying Huel I realise there was definitely a big sugar rush.

Interestingly, I get very vivid dreams after drinking Huel through the day, the only other time I’ve gotten that is when I’ve taken a multivitamin right before bed. Has to be a good sign plenty of nutrition is going in!

I didn’t notice that, no. I don’t seem to get sugar rushes. Last weekend we had a birthday party and I hate a huge amount of cake, on an empty stomach, after a few weeks of eating very little sugar at all. No sugar rush.

I hope you didn’t get too angry… and are you sure it wasn’t the overload of sugar that made you seethe?

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THERE WAS SUCH A LOT OF IT ARRRRGH.

Jimmy Joy wasn’t always that smooth. At the start of 2019 they switched to more finely grained oats from Finland which are more expensive. Huel could do the same but they’d lose a considerable amount of profit by using more high quality ingredients.

I first tried JJ years ago and it was already pretty smooth compared to Huel. I also noticed that it stratifies after a few hours in the fridge, which it did years ago and I expected them to have fixed by now. Maybe they don’t think it needs fixing. I always think “bleugh look at all the oil on top” when I open the fridge though. It’s offputting. It’s not the end of the world (can just be shaken again), and the oil in Huel floats to the top too, but to a far lesser extent.

I think it just mixes differently, better quality oats or not.

Huel and JJ are 2 very different products. Jimmy Joy is mixed with 300ml of water, shaken for 10-20 sec and it is instantly ready to drink without any flaws. Meanwhile Huel needs at least a minute of shaking and it needs to sit in a fridge for a night to be good but after that process it is a lot better than JJ. Huel is undrinkable for me right after shaking, the amount of big bits is too great. JJ is still disgusting if it has been in the fridge for a while, it is not meant for that. Meanwhile it is crucial to put Huel in the fridge to make it better.

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Great to hear you’re a fan of Huel Matt!

There are fundamental differences between Huel and Jimmy Joy. For example, Jimmy Joy’s Plenny Shake uses maltodextrin and isomaltulose which can provide a smoother texture. However, both are devoid of fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients unlike oats and flaxseed. Maltodextrin also has a high GI. It’s why at Huel we are nutrition first, taste a close second. Huel is also higher in protein. So it’s more about differences in the ingredients chosen and the amounts rather than how they are processed - there probably are differences in processing but I can’t comment on that without any information.

The bitter, chemical taste sounds like you are a small part of the population who can detect this taste with stevia. That would explain the mint choc flavour, however vanilla doesn’t contain stevia so I’m unsure what the reason for that could be. You’re unlikely to have this issue with U/U but you’ll want to add your own flavours to it.

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In your opinion. I like it freshly shaken. Which only takes about 8-10 seconds for me, although i admit there’s usually a few small lumps

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Even letting it stand for 15-20 mins at room temp makes a difference. This is what I’ve been doing lately. Refrigerated Huel is fine in summer but I prefer room temp in colder weather :cold_face:

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On work days, I blend it in the morning and take it to work for lunch - without refrigeration, except in summer. I don’t like cold food/drinks either and am fond of bacteria anyway. :joy:

That is interesting, I did notice the aftertaste was far more potent with the mint chocolate chip. I did try it first, which maybe caused me to start looking for an aftertaste in the vanilla. I’ll drop some feedback here when I get U/U so other Huelers can see the outcome should they have the same issue.

This is one of the reasons I’m not so fond of Jimmy Joy. I do get eczema sometimes, I’ve realised it’s largely cleared up since starting Huel. I have a sneaking suspicion that I have a mild intolerance to Maltodexterin, yet another benefit of Huel. I’m definitely going to try U/U and add some of Jordan’s skinny syrups for flavour, should clear it up for my sweet tooth :grin:

Maybe the texture is just the cost of being healthy then!

@RyanT has a point, people have different tastes. :slight_smile:

I haven’t tried blended Huel yet, I’m just thinking that it is too much hassle if I won’t add anything there except the Huel powder and water.

Regarding Jimmy Joy, even the normal Plenny Shake has more fibre while I would compare Huel to their Active line which has no maltodextrin.

But the thing with the Plenny Shake is that it is so “smooth” that it feels like drinking water and not having a meal. The Active is a bit sand like but slightly thicker. Huel actually feels like drinking (quite liquid) porridge after it has sat in a fridge and I prefer that porridge feel to a sandy feel. :smiley:

I much prefer freshly shaken to stored in the fridge. I also find a 10 second shake with the grate inside the shaker leaves no lumps. There is a grainy texture but I like that. I wouldn’t want Huel to be like a smoothie.

Teach me your ways, master.

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He has an experienced wanker’s wrist action.

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I actually got one of those little portable blenders off of wowcher here, works a treat. Got funny looks in work though…

Thanks Matt, please keep us posted.

Texture should not be a cost of being health at all (it’s just a slightly lower priority for us). Are NPD team are always working hard to reformulate and improve our products so it’s something for the future.