Taste Test - Koia Vanilla Bean Protein Drink

After a short hiatus, due to the start of the new school year and all that entails I am back with a new review of an items that might be a little bit more relevant considering the time period. This is the time of year when bottled protein drinks and smoothies are life. Considering our household, with one growing teen and a high school athlete we are always willing to try out something else to help supplement appetites, and if it can help be more balanced or to balance out their diets overall theb it's a plus. So with that we decided to give the Koia Vanilla Bean Protein Drink a try.

I spotted this in Wegmans which has a nice sized selection of these kinds of drinks as well as cold soups in the dairy case adjacent to the milk. While I'm not a cold soup and bone broth person so I highly doubt I'll be trying those, looking at the plant based smoothies and milk alternatives and trying them out is something that we can do in my house hold. The thing about Koia is of course the health benefits. Their drinks are Vegan with plant based protein and and almond milk. For people who can't have Soy, none of that here so it's definitely a sort of niche product. The Vanilla Bean flavor also has 18g of protein.

If you're like me and not the biggest fan of these types of drinks you might have some trepidation about drinking the Koia protein drink, but opening it up, it smells like a regular vanilla milkshake which is a good thing. One of the things that can turn you off of a specialized drink like this is that they can smell like a petri dish almost. Koia avoids this easily and both of my kids dived right in without pausing like they normally do. The texture is smooth and while it does have a slight powdery protein feel to it, it is nowhere near as bad as some of the drinks and mixes I've had in the past.

Now the color isn't the best but it's not going to turn you off of it. I mean it's a vanilla bean smoothie. The chocolate does look much more appealing however. The one negative I had was the pure cane sugar/monkfruit sweetener combination. I pretty much can say I hate pure cane sugar and this one has a serious after taste with it. If it weren't for that I would have polished it off. That's unfortunate because at 4.99 for one 12 ounce single serving bottle, this isn't cheap. However, if you do suffer from some food allergies this might be a viable protein drink option for you.

No protein drink is going to give you everything that you want so there are plenty of options out there to cover what your specific needs are. I've never had a truly "healthy" one that I felt like tasted so awesome I didn't notice the ingredients that gave benefits or weren't included for health reasons, but this one could have been very close. If you don't mind pure cane sugar, this could be a go-to for you, especially if you're trying to avoid Soy. If you don't like it though, this probably won't make the cut for you unfortunately so I will be giving two ratings.

Rating: If you like Pure Cane Sugar 4/5
            If you don't like Pure Cane Sugar 2/5

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Taste Test - Sunset Raw Acai Bowl and Smoothies

This is a sort of an odd review. It is a hybrid restaurant review, a little bit, and a taste test of the products at this new entry to the eateries in Owings Mills, Maryland's Foundry Row development. Unlike a lot of the shops over at Foundry Row, this is a smaller business that isn't a huge corporation. I was excited to be able to come in and try these bowls because I have seen them on instagram but never had a place to go and actually try one until now.

Sunset Raw is sparse on the interior but it also seems to fit with the healthy concept. There is a bar seating area for ordering and enjoying as well as a few tables and chairs both inside and outside. They also have a cooler for their prepared juices which you can buy to go and looking at their social media pages, they have been successful with that part of the business for sure. Ordering was quick and painless and I chose to try the sunshine acai bowl while my kids both went with mango smoothies.

My son for some reason had a problem with his drink, I wouldn't put much stock in it however because he still drank it. I think it was the idea that dates are in it and he doesn't know what they actually are. My daughter who is the smoothie expert said the smoothie was filling and good, however she still prefers Tropical smoothie cafe and another local place, The Flying Avocado better. I ordered the sunshine acai bowl which comes with bananas, blueberries, strawberries, coconut flakes and granola. I passed on the coconut but had everything else.

It's always a big question when trying something you have never had when you don't know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by this. The acai berry mixture reminds me of a slightly "grape" flavored strawberry concoction. It tastes good, and just very normal. The granola settled in just underneath the layer of fruit and you get some with every spoonful of acai. It's weird, just because this is pretty much a smoothie, but you're using a spoon. The fruit was fresh and blended well with the 'smoothie' mixture. That's the biggest rub for me, it's kind of hard to eat, especially in this large container. I live maybe 5 minutes away and the melt by the time I got home was a little bit much. There is also no way to really save it for later, I have it in the freezer, but I don't want it to completely freeze. This might be a good item to share with another, especially when coupled with the prices which are a bit high for a smoothie concoction. Acai bowls are about $10-$12 and smoothies are close to 9 bucks starting out. It's not a budget friendly item. However, other than that, everything was solid overall.


Rating: 4/5

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Taste Test - B'More Organic Skyr Smoothie

The protein packed 'dairy' snacks and beverages segment is highly competitive and growing. Regular yogurt isn't good enough these days and as companies search for the next new thing, we are introduced to new products and types of 'snacks' and beverages. Today I have a local company B'More Organic which has a line of Skyr beverages for consumption.


Now Skyr is a type of Scandinavian style yogurt that is supposed to be like Greek Style yogurt only with the northern European twist I guess. So if you're a fan of the Greek stuff- I'm not, you will probably have a better experience with this than I did.


The color is of course natural so it isn't vibrant and 'pleasing' as it may be but it does look ti be natural. The taste is definitely tangy and the strawberry flavor is natural and present. You can tell there aren't any added sugars or any of the things yoplait or some of the other yogurt/smoothie makers use to make things more palatable to the mass market. It goes down pretty smooth and it isn't bad, but it doesn't fit the flavor profile that I find enjoyable. I don't like the tang and it exists. If that's your thing I think you will be able to enjoy this and I havent't seen Greek yogurt smoothies in the market. Also, if this process to make is less destructive than the Greek yogurt, it might be worth it to make this at least an occasional change of pace item in your repetoire.

Rating: 3/5 (from a non-Greek yogurt fan)

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