Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder, Double Rich Chocolate, 5 Pound (Packaging May Vary)

First off, I've purchased a bunch of different flavors of ON Gold Standard Whey. All of them have close to the same nutritional value, but they vary greatly in taste. Both my wife and I drink these protein shakes as part of our daily diet, and as a product, Optimum Nutrition is great. I've mixed with both milk and water, and all of the shakes mix well and don't seem to clump. I've tried other manufactures whey, and I keep finding myself going back to ON for the price, nutritional value, and above all the taste.So the flavor question. As I mentioned, each flavor has a different characteristic from the others. Some are bland, some taste sweet, some taste overly fake. We loved some, and we hated some. Below is a list based on what we like so far and why. Bear in mind that I hate diet drinks for their bad aftertaste. The drinks don't have to be sweet for me to like them, but I can't stand the garbage aftertaste of fake sweeteners.The best flavors:Rocky Road - By far the single best tasting flavor. The downside is that it does taste a little sweet. The nutritional value is right on with the other flavors, but it is a bit sweet. I could drink this all day. If you only buy one flavor, this is it. There is no real aftertaste, and the flavor is great.Extreme Milk Chocolate - Another good flavor with almost no aftertaste. This one tastes like chocolate, and doesn't have a fake taste to it. If you are looking at the chocolate flavors, this one is perfect.Natural Vanilla - This is a slightly different product, and it comes in a tub with yellow labeling instead of the red. It's on Amazon for the same price, and it has the same nutritional values. They claim it has less artificial sweeteners in it, hence the natural label. In any case, this is the best vanilla out there. There is no aftertaste, and it tastes like vanilla milk. It is not as sweet as the others, but it the single best vanilla flavor I've found.The middle of the road flavors:Cookies and Cream - This one is both good and bad. If you like the creamy vanilla taste, you will like the flavor. It doesn't have a bad aftertaste, but it is sort bland. It is sweet, but bland. Also, the cookie chunks in it don't dissolve. This is the only flavor so far that has bits of stuff that you are swallowing when you drink it. It's odd. That said, I have reordered it in the past.Chocolate Malt - It's just OK. The flavor is a little odd because of the malt. Given the choice, just order the Extreme Milk Chocolate.Caramel Toffee Fudge - Again, just OK. They tried too hit to many flavors with this one, and it just turned out odd. Not a bad flavor, but don't start out here. I got bored so I tried it. I doubt I'll order it again.And the bad:Double Rich Chocolate - This flavor sucks. It tastes like fake chocolate. Not good fake chocolate, but generic fake chocolate. It has that bad aftertaste of fake sweetener, and is all around not good.Vanilla Ice Cream - Another swing and a miss. This flavor tastes like bad fake powdered milk. It has that bad aftertaste, and is probably the single worst flavor they have. If you are looking for vanilla, avoid this at all costs and get the Natural Vanilla.Tropical Punch - Another fake tasting flavor. When I got this, I could barely get through the first few shakes. Eventually it grew on me a little bit, and I was able to drink it without hating it. It tastes like strawberry milk with a bunch of fake sweetener. It's just wrong, and is not something you want to drink after a workout.I know that taste varies from person to person, so take this with a grain of salt. I hate the taste of fake sweetener, so this list draws from that. I've taken to buying the 2lb tubs to try out a flavor, and then going with the 5lb tubs if I like it. It costs a bit more that way, but it means there is only 2lbs to choke down if you get a flavor that you hate.Enjoy!

I am not my healthy, athletic young adult son trying to bulk up that’s been using protein powders for several years. I am however, needing to increase my protein intake and saw this as an easy option to add in our meal planning.Though I’m not consistent, I have been really pleased with this particular flavor. Depending on what you put the powder with, it can get clumpy and thick and not mix well. But if you add to plain milk or even water and blend it does great. On a suggestion, I did water with some ice cubes - and the powder definitely stuck to the ice and yielded a weird powder laden froth. But ice cold water and powder is fine (and honestly the flavor profile makes it easy enough to drink).My daughter has used it a couple of times as a topping on ice cream or yogurt. Making a berry smoothie adding this early with less stuff (so it’s well mixed) is awesome! I’ve not used it in a blender ball tumbler - using a small ninja bullet style blender works great for me.

I found out I am prediabetic and that I need to add more protein to my diet. I searched for something that would taste good, and also had good ingredients. I found this Whey protein and I love the taste. I mix it with Greek yogurt and nuts for desert. It satisfies the sugar craving and didn't effect my blood sugars! It mixes very easy and not a bad price price. I'm not an expert on the ingredients, but this is a start to get me going in the right direction. It does contain "Natural and Artificial Flavors", which I'm not to excited about because I don't know what those are. I used 1/2 a scoop at a time because I am a smaller person and like I mentioned it does help my sugar cravings. Overall it is a good product for me right now. I would recommend for those who need some extra protein with a little sweetness.

I’m getting back into the gym after a few years off, and while tracking my diet it was obvious I wasn’t getting enough protein. This came highly recommended for taste and being easy to mix, so I tried it out. Thankfully the rumors were true! Even just mixed in water (I prefer milk), it’s not grainy and mixes easily in my helimix bottle. The extreme milk chocolate smells and tastes great, which I can’t say for some if the others I used to use. Comes with a scoop (some brands don’t include those anymore) so measuring is quick and easy, and it’s a pretty good value for how much you get. I’ll definitely be buying this again and also trying other flavors to keep it fun. Definitely recommended!

Optimum's Whey Protein is a very good choice for a chocolate protein powder.I tend to use this powder in two forms. I blend it with milk and a banana for a protein shake, and I mix it into yogurt for a protein bowl.It's super easy to measure and scoop using the included scooping device.When using a blender, it is relatively easy to mix the protein powder into a shake. When mixing by hand, you will find it is challenging to break apart some of the clumps and keep the powder from sticking to the bowl or coming out of the bowl and making a mess. With that said, I don't think this is a problem exclusive to this brand, it is simply a fact of life with many protein powders.The taste is good, it is a good source of protein, the price is right, and it does the job.

I’ve tried dozens of protein powders over the years, and Optimum Nutrition Double Rich Chocolate is hands down the best. The flavor is smooth, deep, and genuinely rich without being overly sweet or artificial. It mixes effortlessly in water or milk with just a shaker. No clumps, no weird texture. It's my go to for post workout shakes and helping in muscle building. It also digests easily with zero bloating. If you’re serious about your fitness and want something that tastes great, works well, and has low carbs and high protein, this is the gold standard for a reason.