Stevia, and "the coriander-taste-like-soap gene" (mainly regarding Mocha Flavour Boost)

TL;DR (TooLong;Didn’tRead) - Just me, bad batches, or “they’re supposed to be like that”?


I’ve had a few (4) of the Huel Natural Flavour Boost 10 Taster Pack, and at first thought the Mocha tasted fine, but then for the last two, there was this distinct “dish soap”-y taste.

Despite this, end of July I went on and ordered four of the Flavour Boosts: Mocha, Apple Cinnamon, Limited Edition Chocolate Cherry, and Gingerbread. “Maybe they were just bad batches, as the first two, as I remembered them, were ok?”

The Mocha tasted like the last two of the Test Packs - dish soap-y.
The Gingerbread had hints of it.
The Chocolate Cherry, and the Apple Cinnamon, are fine.

I did a web search earlier this summer, and only got one (i.e. non-reliable) personal-website-looking hit mentioning stevia and the coriander gene: Aversion to Stevia (or Cilantro)? Your Genes May Be to Blame | Cell Nutritionals (It was posted in 2014, and I’ve used the WayBack Machine, as I’m a bit unsure of wanting to give them more hits.)
To me, coriander a majority of the time tastes like soap, but is neglectable in small amounts.

I’ve had Huel Black, which contains stevia, (and Huel Powder v3.0, which doesn’t contain stevia,) but no dish soap-y taste there.

Just to test it, I cooked some water and now sit here with a cup of hot water + 1 teaspoon of the Mocha Flavour Boost, and a strong smell of dish soap. :disappointed_relieved:
Oddly enough, if I drink it, the taste is ok … until the smell hits me, and it’s dish soap all over again.
(Made another cup with the Gingerbread, and it passes the test ok.)


Oh, just remembered that I actually did some notes for the two last Taster Packs:
There were more oddities going on with them:
The Pumpkin Spice went from (first two: 1 - yeah!, to 2 - nah, to) 3 - hm? :slight_smile: , to 4 - uhuh :frowning: - rather inconsistent.
The Banana distinctly both smelled and tasted of “green apple”. No banana.
The Apple Cinnamon had hints of cherry.
I did them one at a time, so there shouldn’t have been any “cross over” risks. :woman_shrugging:

Interesting.
My wife can’t stand coriander, maybe it’s in her genes…
Do you like coriander? Does that smell of soap too?

As it tastes “like soap” - confession: no, I haven’t actually eaten soap … at least not as far as I can remember - no, I don’t think I like coriander.
It does puzzle me that people like it, and I’m curious of what it “actually” taste like.

Actually, I don’t think I’ve thought about whether coriander smells of soap as well. :thinking:
Maybe I should “hoover” over it the next time I go grocery shopping? :grimacing:

I’ll be intrigued to know if it does smell like soap for you.
I should ask my wife

I don’t mind coriander if it’s only a small part of a bunch of herb seasoning in a cooked meal. Also don’t mind it in carrot and coriander soup but not keen on fresh coriander on its own or in salad.