NOW Foods Sports Nutrition, Pea Protein 24 g, Fast Absorbing, Unflavored Powder, 2-Pound

Alright, first things first: NO pea protein powder tastes good. ALL brands taste and smell awful, like drywall, and they're ALL chalky in water. There's no escaping it. Whey is just far better as a water-soluble protein - it blends well, offers a creamy texture, and has a fairly inoffensive flavor of its own.HOWEVER, pea protein has specific advantages. First, it's far easier to find an unflavored pea protein (like this one). There is only one ingredient. Nearly ALL whey protein powders are flavored, which means additives like lecithin, xantham gum, and sugar alcohols. If a whey protein powder with a flavor like 'super duper chocolate' sounds too good to be true, it is. As much as possible, always go for an unflavored version of whatever protein you buy. In my experience, there are very few whey protein brands that offer an unflavored version of their product (for example, ON does not), but most respectable pea protein powders will have an unflavored version.Pea protein is simply a protein isolate. It can be manufactured directly from yellow peas, with only a little bit of processing. The only matter to keep in mind is that the pea protein isolation process generates relatively high sodium content, so you might be surprised by the amount of sodium in pea protein (e.g. in a NOW sports scoop, it's over 300mg). Still, unless you are explicitly trying to control your sodium intake, these amounts are perfectly fine. Because there are ZERO other ingredients, pea protein is certainly more secure than most flavored whey proteins. Moreover, there's no additional process needed to make pea protein water-soluble, which is not the case for whey. Hence the additives, even in unflavored whey. This doesn't mean that whey is harmful, only that it is not usually sold as a single ingredient.When it comes to mixing the UNFLAVORED versions of each in water, whey wins hands down. It tastes way better, mixes better, and just goes down easy. Pea protein is almost unpalatable, and it doesn't really matter what brand you pick. You'll get hints of cardboard, wood shaving, and drywall powder.The trick with any pea protein is to mix it into a beverage that masks its flavor. Typically, the best way to do this is a smoothie. Milk/oat milk, oats, berries, yogurt and bananas with some water are typically perfectly adequate. These ingredients easily mask the odor and flavor of pea protein when blended. Either that, or you simply need to drink pea protein like medicine. Glug it down, shut your eyes, and gulp hard.The NOW sports pea protein powder is, in that sense, a standard pea protein. It smells and tastes awful on its own. But it is unflavored, contains one ingredient, and has great protein returns per scoop. I recommend mixing a scoop with thicker liquids (milk/oat milk/yogurt), at least one sweetener (fruits/frozen berries are okay), and some grains or fiber in a smoothie. Consumed this way, pea protein is safe, unobjectionable, and far more reliable (it's much easier to manufacture, so there's less chance of anything murky happening behind the scenes).When I first started having pea protein, I found my stomach reacting a little uncertainly to it - a little bit of gripe, and once or twice a trip to the bathroom. However, after just a few tries, my body is used to it (in smoothie form), and the results in terms of muscle gain are really noticeable. I have no lactose/dairy issues, so I could be having whey - but I find the simplicity of unflavored pea protein much more desirable. Go ahead and buy this protein powder - it won't disappoint you. But don't consume it in ways that you know will make you gag. Mask it heavily (nonfat milk and/or unsweetened oat milk barely add any calories, neither do fruits for the most part) and you'll be fine. Happy training!

The taste isnt that bad , people, use a blender add some juicy juice with ice and some blueberries , it is worth the benefits from this powder , i use to buy twin lab vege fuel but they do not make it any longer, this is the closest powder to that i can find

Great pea protein for what I paid, $40 for 7 lbs. My only complaint is their scoop is not 33 grams as advertised. I measure it on multiple high quality scales, a level scoop is over 40 grams! Very misleading and really serves to get you use more of the product while possibly messing up your macros and protocol

I love this brand of pea protein. And I love being able to buy it in bulk. I think it's a good price and I put it in my smoothies so the taste is fine. And it seems to be very clean simple pea protein which I like.

Taste: 0/10I'm not a picky person, y it's just THAT BAD. You can see it in many other reviews, too. It's not just me. It tastes like earthy peas.Chalkiness: -50,000,000,000/10IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOO BAD. So, so, so bad 🤮Even if you let it sit for 24 hours after having mixed it with hot water to make sure it dissolves, it's still INSANELY gritty. But it's not even just like chalky, it tastes like sand like it's something hard. Chalky at least seems like it's half dissolved, this seems like it has little rocks in it. It's nasty. If you have a thing with textures, or are Autistic like me, this very likely would be hell for you.The most success I have had with it is if I make it with hot water, let it sit for at least 24 hours but 48 is better, but then you only have about 24 hours before it goes bad. It separates quickly so if you're using it to have pea milk around the house, it's going to be an exhausting amount of work to make it palatable.You also need to add a lot of flavor to it to make it palatable, along with the texture. This is quite a lot of work to make it something that a normal person can keep down.Mixability: 0/10Not only does it not dissolve completely, but just getting it down to its smaller chunks is a PAIN. The easiest way is to use an electric blender, but then it turns out frothy. Like INSANELY FROTHY. It gets so many air bubbles in it that it pretty much triples in volume, the texture is even worse cuz now you have gritty with these weird chalky air bubbles, those also take at least 24 hours to go down. The texture that this creates is the eating equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.Value: 2/10This is one of the cheaper ones you can get for the amount, however you get what you're paying for. It's so bad. So phenomenally bad. But you get massive size of sand!Kid friendly: Only if they were truly awful then this is much more effective than time out 😂😂😂😂🫠🤢If they've really been brats then you could probably make them gritty ice cream with how whipped this gets trying to mix it but The Hague might be after you for it lolWorth it? 1/10Occasionally this works out if I have pre-made milk I can maybe put into a soup, salad dressing to make it creamy, or something elsewhere the flavor is very hidden but it can just add some protein. So it's not completely useless, just mostly.Digestibility: 9/10It's pretty effective once it's in your body being absorbed. I also do like that it seems to be true to the ingredients, after covid I've had some weird food allergies so if the ingredients are not exactly what is inside my body will feel it. That didn't happen with this.