PhD Smart Protein Plant, Salted Caramel - 500 grams

Love these gets me through my training

These bars are very addictive and I find them better than chocolate

I bought these to use as a ride fuel for cycling both indoors on turbo trainer and outdoors on the road. Its a little hard to describe the texture of these but they're perhaps closest to something like a Soreen bar in texture - they bind together well and so they're not like a normal "cake" bar - they are relatively solid so aren't overly prone to crumbling or being squashed in your jersey pocket. They're also fairly "dense" in texture and slightly dry so as others have noted they do really need to be taken with water, and they're not any use for high intensity workouts where your breathing is laboured and they might stick in your throat/get spluttered everywhere - stick to gels or carb mix in your bidons for anything race pace. I find these work great for lower intensity rides or even for handy fuel on the turbo trainer. The packets are easy to open and the bars are pretty easy to nibble on so that yo don't have to eat the whole thing all in one go. They also don't stick to the packet even when they get hot, which I find is often the case with a lot of energy bars, and they don't make a sticky mess like gels do. They're fairly filling. Its a bit of a shame that they're relatively high in fat - I especially don't understand why on earth they've put olive oil in them of all things - since you only really need carbs for energy when exercising and these are far higher fat than energy gels or most energy bars. In terms of flavour I've tried the strawberry, lemon, orange and tiramisu (they also do banana at time of writing) - the strawberry was very good, tasted like strawberry jam sponge but without being overly sickly and I didn't get "palate fatigue" eating them over the course of a longer ride (5 hours). I found the lemon and orange both a bit disappointing/bland in comparison (and I'm a big fan of lemon generally) and wouldn't buy again. The tiramisu didn't really taste of tiramisu but maybe like a generic mocha (coffee/chocolate), it was pretty pleasant. Strawberry and tiramisu the best flavours I've tried so far, but I'll try banana at some point too. I would buy them again for sure, although I do wish that they would reformulate without the inclusion of olive oil (!) and also work on bringing the price down, as with all sports nutrition products.

This has to be the worst protein powder I've had for the following reasons: - does not mix; the shake always has a powdery texture like your drinking fine sand in water - strange after taste; what I'd imagine cardboard to taste like - does not combine well with other foods. For example mixed in with overnight oats; the end result being similar to concrete and again that unavoidable powdery texture. Again, recommend avoiding this brand.

This protein powder is awful. I hate the taste, it's overly sweet but still doesn't cover up the dusty powdery undertones. Honestly doesn't buy it. The bag also broke and doesn't zip back up so I have to use a clip to secure it.