Substainable, but grainy.

I’ve never tried a cricket-based protein powder before, but I was surprised to find that you would never even know it was insect-based if you weren’t told in advance. It tastes very similar to plant-based protein drinks, and after the first sip you’ll probably never think twice about the origin again. Sadly, the protein powder itself is not very good. This is a shame, because I do love the idea of cricket powder and feel it's a great alternative to environmentally damaging meat based products.

The suggested serving for this protein powder is 250ml of liquid with one scoop of powder. Unfortunately the result is extremely thick and there is not nearly enough liquid to dissolve the powder properly. I found using close to 500ml of liquid was a better ratio, or simply adding a scoop of powder to a large smoothie before blending.

Speaking of dissolving, getting this powder to mix into just about anything is very difficult. I had some luck with water, and better results with milk (and found milk was a better flavour too, I used skimmed), but no matter what I used the result was a grainy, gritty drink that was so full of bits that I had to chew just to finish it. I tried mixing it with a spoon, with a shaker cup, even with a blender. The blender gave me the best results, but even then it was still a very unpleasant experience. No amount of additional blending seemed to make a difference, there was always a gritty texture to whatever I was making.

From a nutritional standpoint, there’s nothing really wrong with this powder. It ticks all the usual boxes: no sugar, low calorie, 20 grams of protein per scoop. It also has a respectable amount of iron, Vitamin B12, and magnesium.

The taste of both the chocolate and vanilla powders were nothing to write home about. Both were quite strong, but they were also sweetened with stevia (hence the 0 grams of sugar). I found the overly sweet stevia taste was difficult to get past, and the bitter aftertaste was no fun either. That being said, I don't usually like stevia, so if you do, disregard this note about the flavour. The chocolate and vanilla flavours were too strong (maybe to hide the cricket taste?), though the vanilla was less overpowering than the chocolate.

Speaking of, let me talk about the Vanilla protein powder for a minute. The vanilla flavour was quite strong, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It did produce a slightly gross colour when mixed with water or milk, a kind of greyish off-white. It’s easier to drink than the chocolate flavour, but not by much. The visual look of it will put off picky eaters as I hate to say this...but it looks like a glass of fat (if you've seen Friends, you know what I mean!). It's pretty unappetising looking.

The chocolate protein powder looks and smells like what you would expect, but the taste is harder to get past. The chocolate flavour is extremely bitter, and with the stevia mixed in it creates a mixture of too-sweet and too-bitter at the same time that is hard to finish.

If you like stevia and can stand the grainyness, it might be right for you. For me, though, there was just too many problems.