I’ve been eating Huel Black as my primary food for more than a year, and I just got some of this “new formula” Huel Black Cookies and Cream (my go-to flavor), and HOLY HELL. Did people at the company genuinely test this for any length of time?
It tastes strongly of those super cheap flavor extract liquids you can buy. The flavor is like that of the absolute cheapest protein powder on the market, not to mention being overly sweet.
If I had to guess, this new flavor has two main changes: removal of almost all of the cocoa, and the flavoring is now done purely by mixing unflavored Huel base with some flavor extracts.
This honestly wrecks my diet, as I absolutelyloved the Cookies and Cream flavor before this. I could eat it every day for every meal, and still be hungry for it. (I mix it with milk.)
This new product has practically nothing in common with the previous product, and it needs to be replaced ASAP, because this is just… horrible.
And now I have five bags of this cursed powder!! Wtf!!!? Please tell me there was an error in mixing this batch?!?!?!?
So we updated our Black Edition Powder a while agi to improve taste and texture. The newer formula features a different cocoa and flavouring blend which was included to add a richer flavour, and enhance creaminess and sweetness, which might be causing the differences you’re noticing. Additionally, the newer version is darker in colour compared to the previous one.
Understand you’ve got quite a bit left, so lets see if we can help with this. Can you please drop us an email to team@huel.com and we’ll have a look into this for you.
I’ve now tried new recipe strawberry, cookies and cream, and vanilla. All truly disgusting, watery, chalky, bland sludge. Radically different from the flavor and texture we know and love.
They have ruined something magical.
Such a change will surely alienate a huge chunk of their existing customer base. Hopefully they will be forced to rethink their decision when we vote with our wallets!
I can’t say my experiences echo your [very dramatically-put] sentiments - both old and new powders taste absolutely fine (to me, sample size of one, and prone to errors, but still begs the question what is the difference between our palates…
Don’t suppose you’re actually being paid to say nasty things about Huel, by any chance…?
Not being paid. I’ve been having it for breakfast on lunch for the past two years. I’m extremely disappointed.
Are you sure your bags are the new recipe black edition?
Per the email that Huel sent us earlier in the year, you can tell if it’s the new recipe because it will include a ‘certified B corp’ labels on the back of the bag.
If it turns out you’re still on the old recipe, you’re in for a shock when you receive your next bag!
Understand that you’re not a fan of the new blend.
We upgraded to a new pea protein for a smoother texture and improved taste, removed kombucha, which was more about streamlining the supply chain, and replaced MCT powder with coconut milk powder, again for smoothness/texture. As mentioned above, these changes only affected U.S. customers, and not any other regions. These changes did alter the nutritional breakdown a bit, and were rolled out in phases depending on flavor.
It’s worth mentioning the recent changes are US only. You can find more of a breakdown in this reddit thread below.
If you’re UK based, can you drop us an email to team@huel.com so we can look into this for you and if you are US based please drop us an email to support@huel.com.
Also, just want to throw in, apprecheiate you sharing feedback, but you only need to do it in one thread otherwise it starts getting confusing
Thanks, Mark. That Reddit thread pretty much encapsulates how I’m feeling. Huel must take every one of those comments seriously, because, clearly, this was a misstep.
Any chance you can get me a sample of the American formulation? I’d like to try it to try and understand how much of that Reddit thread is fair and balanced criticism, and how much is astroturfing… Genuine request
