Every now and then we get an email that goes something like this: "My new bag of vanilla tastes a bit different to the last one. Did you change the recipe?"
It's a fair question, and we're glad people ask it. Most of the time the answer is no, we haven't changed anything. What you're tasting is the fact that whey is made from milk, and milk isn't the same every day of the year. Here's what's going on.
Why does whey protein taste different from batch to batch?
Because the raw ingredient is a dairy product, not a chemical made to a fixed formula. The protein, fat and lactose in raw milk shift with the season and with what the cows are grazing on. Those small shifts carry through to the whey, and from there into your shake.
We see this in our own testing. On our lab test results page you'll occasionally spot a result sitting up to 5% either side of our stated specification. That's within our accepted tolerance, and it's usually seasonal variation in the milk rather than any change to the product.
Where does our whey come from?
All of our whey comes from grass-fed cows in Australia and New Zealand. Our Whey Protein Isolate is made from New Zealand grass-fed whey, and our Whey Protein Concentrate is made from the milk of Australian grass-fed cows.
Grass-fed cows eat what's growing in the paddock, and that changes through the year. A wet spring and a dry late summer don't produce identical milk. We think that's a good trade-off (it's one of the reasons we use grass-fed whey in the first place), but it does mean a little natural variation is part of the deal.
Can the colour or texture change too?
Yes, a little. Liquid whey is filtered and then spray dried into powder, and small differences in a production run can make one batch look slightly creamier or paler than the last. Isolate also goes through extra filtration, which is why it tends to look and taste a bit "cleaner" than concentrate. If you want the detail, we cover it in how cross-flow microfiltration makes WPI purer.
A slightly different shade is not a sign that anything is wrong with the protein. If something ever looks or smells off to you though, please get in touch rather than guessing.
Why might the chocolate flavour vary more than the others?
Our chocolate is made with real cocoa, and cocoa is a crop. Like coffee or wine, it varies with harvest and origin, so one lot can be a touch richer or more bitter than another. If you've ever noticed chocolate move around more than vanilla, that's usually why. (We sell the same unsweetened cocoa powder on its own if you'd rather add your own.)
Why don't you just add more flavouring to cover it up?
We could. A lot of brands do. Heavy flavouring and sweetener will mask almost any variation, but it also means more of each scoop is something other than protein.
Our flavoured whey is kept simple: whey, natural flavours, a natural sweetener (stevia) and a tiny amount of sunflower lecithin to help it mix. No artificial sweeteners, and no gums or thickeners. The upside is a short ingredient list. The downside is that the whey itself is more noticeable, so when the milk shifts, you can taste it. We'd rather be upfront about that than hide it. Our post on what's actually in our flavouring goes through each ingredient.
Does a change in taste mean less protein?
No. Taste comes mostly from the small non-protein parts of the whey and from the flavouring. Protein content is what we test for. We send products to ALS, a NATA-accredited laboratory here in Australia, and they measure protein using the Kjeldahl method. You can read why in Why We Lab Test Our Protein, and check the actual numbers for WPI, WPC and the WPC + WPI Blend.
What if I prefer it one way?
A few things help:
- Try unflavoured protein and flavour it yourself. You control the taste, and it's the most consistent option because there's nothing layered on top of the whey.
- Add your own natural flavour powders or a pinch of natural sweetener to dial it in.
- Mix with milk rather than water if you want it creamier. Isolate is naturally thinner than concentrate, so the WPC + WPI Blend is worth a look if you like a fuller shake.
The short version
If your whey tastes slightly different from the last bag, it's almost always the milk, not the recipe. We keep our formulas simple on purpose and test what matters. If you ever have a question about a particular bag, contact our team with the batch details and we'll look into it.
FAQs
Did Pure Product Australia change its whey recipe?
Not unless we tell you. Small taste differences between bags usually come from natural seasonal variation in the milk.
Is it normal for protein powder colour to vary slightly?
Yes. Whey is a dried dairy ingredient, and a slightly paler or creamier shade between batches is normal.
Which Pure Product protein tastes most consistent?
Unflavoured, because there's no added flavour to interact with the whey. Many customers flavour it themselves.