The number one complaint for U&U was - it’s too watery, too thin, it settles very quickly. So we tried to increase the consistency with arabic gum but we struggled. So in batch 2439 we introduced the new gum blend. The consistency, mouth feel, etc is now similar to vanilla, which was the aim. The reason we were aiming for vanilla is that we have sold a lot, lot more vanilla than U&U and I can’t think of a time when someone complained that vanilla was too thick.
I have three shakers on my desk at the moment:
Vanilla 2475
U&U 2439
U&U 2415
At our recommend 500ml of water and 100g of Huel, 2415 is very watery and separates quickly. Whereas, 2439 is similar to vanilla which was the desired result.
Having said that I appreciated there are two things we didn’t consider. One, someone in the office suggested that a lot of U&U customers may add a Huel flavour system which does contain arabic gum so that make it make it slightly thick. But the big issue I think is that we didn’t phase this change in. This is my mistake, I thought it was a no brainer, e.g. the original U&U was thin and watery so it made perfect sense to bring it inline with vanilla with the most popular vanilla.
However, some U&U customer maybe add 4, 5 or even 6 scoops per shaker. 4 should be fine if you top up with water via the spout but yes the 5 or 6 would be tricky.
I’m pretty sure most people will prefer the thicker U&U once they get use to it. But sorry we should have phased it in, and maybe it should always be 5% to 10% less than vanilla to allow for the addition of the flavour system, we shall experiment.
The survey was sent out too all v2 customer, that was an oversight and will be resent out to only customer who received 2439 or above.
I did however order some v2 Vanilla Huel by accident and had one beakers worth.
The v2 UU Huel I have here is far thicker than the Vanilla v2 I accidentally bought. The Vanilla v2 was actually ok in consistency, all being mixed 3 scoops to 500ml with no flavour system added.
I doubt people are saying it is too thick when they’re putting in 4, 5 or 6 scoops. No one would be that stupid.
Also I hadn’t seen anyone complain about UU being to thin but looking here it seems the more people are complaining about it being to thick than saying they prefer it thicker.
If a few peeps mention that it separated, surely being to shake before use was the answer, just as I would do if I left it an hour and it separated.
Which is what we are doing now, adding loads of water. Like 1250ml of water.
To be fair I have just made a shake out of this bag and it is the same as the v2 Vanilla. Not like the previous bag at all. Not thin like before but not gloopy thick like the other bag.
Maybe there was some cock up in some batches where it wasn’t mixed correctly?
I’m seeing a bit of discrepancy in how people drink it. I had similar experience with the thinner mix that it would start to drift to the bottom. I could see how that becomes bit of a hassle, if you leave it to do so.
Personally, however, I mix and sweep it immediately. Leaving it no time to settle at all. Mix, drink, leave. Not everyone does that, having a shaker available over the course of more than my 30 seconds.
The only vanilla I ever had was 1.2, and it was about as watery as the rest iirc. This 2.0 UU is thicker, but I’ve no comparison to the 2.0 Vanilla.
I wonder how it all stands up to different proportions. Someone around here did 175 grams to 5-600 milliliters or so and noticed no real differences. Which… at that amount of powder it would become thick no matter what?
To get my previous bag of v2 Huel so it was drinkable I would have to mix in a full beaker of water and keep adding water to thin it out as I went along. Totalling roughly 1250ml of water.
In the first load of v2 UU I had it was the exact same ratio.
The second batch of v2 was 3 scoops to a full beaker of water because it was so thick, drink a bit around 200ml and top the beaker off again etc.
This second bag out of the same delivery I have just mixed 3 scoops to 500ml and it is roughly the same as the v2 Vanilla I tried, which makes it slightly thicker than v1.2 and nowhere near as thick as the previous bag.
This is ok to be fair, not ideal but ok. There must have been problem with the previous bag, I don’t know what batch that was but it came in the same delivery as this bag which is 2456.
I use 500ml of water and three scoops of U&U batch number 2476. I just can’t get it to mix using a shaker bottle, it just congeals into lumps. One of the big plus’s of Huel for me is its convenience, I’d lose that if I were to need to use a blender. I’ve had abut 10 bags of Huel over the last 6 months and enjoyed the thickness of batch 2415 the most, that was the first batch of V2 for me.
@gavin just add a bit more water. 2476 is the same thickness as vanilla of which we have sold approx 2 million meals, and I’ve not heard a complaint that it’s too thick.
I’m not saying it’s too thick, I’m saying it’s lumpy. I tried less Huel and more water today and I still couldn’t make a smooth drink. I hate to sound negative because I like it for so many reasons, but as I’d answered the survey wrong because of the ingredient change during V2, you would have had the wrong feedback from me.
I’ve not heard any complaints that it’s too thick either, but there are other complaints of it congealing and being lumpy and unshakeable.
I think maybe you’ve just come across the little subgroup of people who either liked that, or didn’t notice it. And who like being vocal. Hello
As soon as my shaking is finished, it’s going inside of me. 30 seconds after the bottle is opened, it’s gone
Well… make that 45 seconds these days, and maybe some heavy breathing and gagging.
Right now, seeing as the thickness is unlikely to change, I’m looking at options of just making it into an edible paste. At 2.5 liters a day I’m going to have a hard time pressing my intake past the point of 2000 calories. At 3000 calories or more I’d be looking at well over 3-3.5 liters, and that’s not including extraneous water bottles at the gym, or at work.
Can Huel be baked? I’d eat it dry if I could to reduce the volume intake. I wonder if I can turn it into a meringue…
Anecdotally I also have a friend who have not seen the survey. I found mine in the ads-and-campaign tab of gmail.
@gavin - lumpy hasn’t been raised for a while. I don’t have lumpy Huel. I’ve tried 2476 multiple times and get no lumps. Yes you may need to shake it harder than the watery version of U&U you were used to.
Try this - add 400ml of cold water, then 3 scoops, shake, then top up via the spout with more cold water, reshake. Should be smooth.
@gen yes it appears to be a sub-group. The big group of vanilla users like Huel thickish. I do think the main issue is that he didn’t phase in the change. So it feels like a major change with has resulted in statements like it’s unshakeable, undrinkable, like glue, like paste, when in fact it’s the same as vanilla which tens of thousands of customer have used and like. The new survey is going out today.
Maybe the Vanilla users prefer something more akin to milkshakes and the UU users are looking for something different, more healthy, willing to sacrifice taste for nutritional content?
For people that may have missed the email or may be confused as to the pre gum change v2?
I know you have sent out another email for the post gum change v2 users but I think a forum poll would be beneficial to yourselves and the consumer. In the interests of transparency?
I just got around to opening my new bag of U&U with the gum added. It’s now pretty much exactly the same as the consistency of the vanilla. The previous bag was very watery indeed, I had to constantly swirl it around to stop it settling even as I was drinking it. I think the newer, thicker version is an improvement. I already put less water in than recommended (4 parts water instead of 5), so saying “just put less water in” for the thinner version wasn’t particularly helpful since it would have still settled quickly and then I would hardly have anything to drink for the same amount of calories.
