Innocent Berry protein Smoothie Review “You get what you pay for …. A lot …. (8.5/10).
The Good
“Natural taste and smell”.
“Well balanced”.
“Session-able”.
“Full bodied”.
“Smooth taste and aftertaste”.
“Full flavoured”.
“Acidity not overpowering”.
The Bad
“Way too expensive”.
“Smell’s too weak”.
“Acidity a little too strong on the aftertaste”.
Introduction
If you’ve been following me for a long time, you’ll know many moons ago soft drink reviews graced my blogs, including Cowbelle milkshakes, Schloer fizzy drinks, and a range of smoothies including Tesco own brand, Innocent, and The Juice Company ranges from Aldi. Links available below (Sources).
2 years later, after January 2019, I’m attempting my next “Dry” month this August. Since then, a lot has happened in my life including exhausting supermarket supplies of new ciders to review, relationship breakups, job losses, and a global pandemic. Due to this, I didn’t do a Dry January in 2021, but I like the idea of doing it for health benefits.
The main benefit I am doing this for is reducing risk for alcoholic hepatitis developing, which can be caused by regular drinking over long periods of time. This is reversible though by stopping drinking. Read below (Dry January benefits).
Ranges
The main smoothie ranges from my undercover trip to Tesco, revealed Tropicana, Innocent, and Naked.
Today’s review will be my 4th in the Innocent range following “Mangoes, Passion fruits, Apples”, “Strawberries & Bananas” and “Wonder Green”.
Welcome
- Berry protein
For the 300ml, calories were more than previous offerings including “Strawberries & Bananas”, and “Mangoes, Passion fruits, Apples”, at 59 per 100ml, or 177 in total. Sadly though, it isn’t just energy which is more, but cost too, at £2.30 or 77p per 100ml compared to 72p for Mangoes, Passion fruits, Apples.
Description below = Number of fruit for one of your 5 a day.
Please note though that the NHS suggests smoothies shouldn’t contribute more than one of your 5 a day, so you can only count one of the fruits below. It’s also noteworthy that the juice extraction process can reduce nutrients compared to whole fruit consumption.
Berry protein 300ml smoothie includes:
1 Pressed Apple (39%), 3/4 Mashed Banana, A Splash of Water, and 2 1/2 Crushed Strawberries (8.2%).
7 strawberries are needed for one of your 5 a day though, along with a whole banana or apple. Since smoothies should only provide one of your 5 a day according to the NHS however, these fruits combined would add up to at least 1, making it sufficient.
Let’s look at the drinks’ 3 most abundant fruits …
1 Apple
Apple is the most abundant fruit here, which is low in vitamins and minerals, but compensates with it’s high antioxidant and fibre content, which slows sugar absorption, increasing feelings of fullness, and improving digestion. The antioxidants are also beneficial for blood sugar control and heart health.
2 Banana
Banana contains far more potassium than apple and pear, which is needed for muscle contraction, and controlling the amount of water inside your body building blocks or “cells”. Banana is also high in vitamin C, which helps your body produce connective tissues, with almost double the amount found in Apple.
3 Strawberries
Strawberry has the most vitamin C here, and is also high in antioxidants which can improve blood sugar control and heart health.
Nutrients
Berry protein contains 19mg (24%*) of Vitamin C, and 2.2g of protein per 100ml. It also contains 1g of fibre per 100ml.
This compares unfavourably to “Mangoes, Passion fruits, Apples” and Innocent “Strawberries & Bananas” (ISB), which contain 1.4 and 1.2g of fibre respectively. It does however contain more Vitamin C than ISB which only has 9.7% Reference intake, but less than “Mangoes, Passion fruits, Apples” which has 29%.
As it’s name suggests though, it contains more protein than ISB at <0.5g per 100ml, and “Mangoes, Passion fruits, apples” with <0.5g aswell.
So to summarise, it wins on protein, performs adequately on vitamin C, but fails at fibre.
It’s also sustainably sourced, and suitable for vegans.
Smell
Smell quickly approached my nostrils with a weak suggestion of berries. The scent was natural, sweet, and rather smooth, yet was muffled, and hard to detect. It remained apparent on subsequent breaths, so was rather consistent.
Taste
Acidity was certainly present as a natural fruity tang, hinting strongly of wild berries. This became a little stronger towards, and into the aftertaste, yet it didn’t overpower the taste of natural fruit, which balanced with it well for the most-part.
Body was rather thick, which carried with it a rich flavour of predominantly fruit.
As for being session-able, the drink was less acidic than previous offerings, carrying with it a pleasant creaminess, which made it feel smooth. This allowed it to be nicely session-able, if your bank balance allows.
The aftertaste while tangy, was actually rather nice as it stayed fruity without transforming into pure acid. It was good to have an offering which balanced well, and provided an overall enjoyable experience; Consequently, it appears you get what you pay for …. A lot.
Summary
“You get what you pay for …. A lot ….”
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Reaseaorg Smoothie reviews
Innocent “Wonder green” smoothie review https://reasea.org/2019/02/06/innocent-wonder-green-smoothie-review-6-10-too-sickly-sweet-so-i-didnt-drink-much-youd-be-better-off-drinking-apple-juice/
Tesco – Berry bliss smoothie review https://reasea.org/2019/01/14/berry-bliss-smoothie-review-9-0-10-naturally-fruity-and-textured-bliss-bit-too-sharp-and-insufficiently-sweet-for-perfect-balance-though/
Aldi – The juice company wow green smoothie review – https://reasea.org/2019/01/08/the-juice-company-wow-green-smoothie-review-6-5-10-a-naturally-tangy-practical-yet-fruity-smoothie-unfortunately-expensive-and-sickly-with-an-unpleasant-smell-mix-well-before-drinking/
Milkshakes
Cowbelle Lush chocolate fudge milk review https://reasea.org/2019/01/30/cowbelle-lush-chocolate-fudge-flavour-milk-review-thoroughly-indulgent-and-sweet-fudge-flavoured-milkshake-7-5-10/
Waitrose – Shaken udder salted caramel review – https://reasea.org/2018/12/08/shaken-udder-salted-caramel-milkshake-review-lovely-and-natural-salted-caramel-flavoured-milkshake-8-5-10/
Fizzy drinks
Dry January benefits
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hepatitis/
Sources
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/270927464
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/253845275
5 a day portion estimates
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-portion-sizes/
Tags: innocent, smoothie, berry, protein, vegan, nutrition, health, fruity, natural, sustainable, sourcing, apple, banana, strawberry, blogging, popularposts,
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