Why I Like Chike (And You Should Too!)

This week’s Bariatric Foodie Pledge sponsor is Chike Nutrition. I’ve had the opportunity to sample several of Chike’s protein flavors and I thought I’d give you a snapshot of what I thought of them so that if YOU are one of this week’s three lucky winners, you’ll have some help deciding which one you want! Unfortunately I’ve only published a review for one of their flavors but I have tried them all!

Protein Iced Coffee

Stats: 130 cals, 9g carbs, 2g sugars, 20g protein (click here for full stats)

Pro’s: Easy to mix (no clumps even in a blender bottle!), smooth coffee taste, with a hint of vanilla.

Con’s: Coffee officianados may find it a bit weaker than you want it, but if so just use coffee as your base! (Don’t tell your surgeon I said that).

Click here for the full review.

Chocolate Bliss

Stats: 190 cals, 11g carbs, 3g sugars, 3g fiber, 28g protein

Pro’s: Mixes well, has a good chocolatey taste (although I’m a chocolate crackhead so I almost always add extra unsweetened cocoa to any chocolate protein and this was no exception), does not have the requisite “monkey butt” protein smell (either that or by the time I tried Chike I was used to it! But I verified with my kids and they said it smelled fine).

Con’s: The only two con’s I can think of are that A) it’s high-ish on the calorie range for an individual serving of protein BUT, as a redeeming value, it mixes up nicely with water so I didn’t have to spend 80 calories and 12g of carbs on milk to get it to taste good. B) For those who are sensitive to it, Chike is sweetened with sucralose.

Strawberry Burst

Stats: 190 cals, 11g carbs, 3g sugars, 3g fiber, 28g protein

Pro’s: Mixes well, tastes like strawberry ice cream.

Con’s: I’m not particularly fond of strawberry ice cream. But if you are, you’ll like this protein! Same caveat as above about the caloric content and sucralose.

Orange Crème

Stats:

Pro’s: This actually did taste like an orange creamsicle bar, which was quite nice. I am rather fond of them.

Con’s: Same as above about caloric content and sucralose but beyond that, that’s it.

Banana Magic

Stats: 190 cals, 11g carbs, 3g sugars, 3g fiber, 28g protein

Pro’s: Weird as it may sound, I like that this tasted like bananas but didn’t have an overwhelming banana scent. I’m sort of on the fence with bananas. I used to hate them but since surgery I’ve found ways to like them. This powder I almost always used with peanut powder or a bit of cocoa.

Con’s: Same drill. Calories/sucralose.

Very Vanilla

Stats: 190 cals, 11g carbs, 3g sugars, 3g fiber, 28g protein

Pro’s: I was skeptical about this one because of all the protein flavors, vanilla is the one MOST likely to have that inexplicable “monkey butt” smell and taste, but I found their vanilla to be very…vanilla-y (riveting, right?). I’m definitely on #TeamChocolate but I enjoyed this. Plus a tasty vanilla makes for a great base for many other kinds of shakes!

Con’s: Broken record syndrome but the same as above!

Click here to check out the full stats for all these flavors!

What's the difference between Click, Fit Frappe and Chike Protein Iced Coffee?

Back when I was a lil’ baby post-op, there weren’t that many options for coffee flavored protein drinks. Thankfully I was born into a few, but nothing like the explosion we’re seeing now. Today, post-ops have:

• Click
• Big Train’s Fit Frappe
• Chike Protein Iced Coffee
• Nectar Cappuccino
• ProJoe

And probably 17 others I haven’t mentioned but that you all swear by! At the beginning of my WLS journey the best way to get protein coffee you liked and that mixed up well was to just make it yourself. But times, they have a’changed!

I often get asked to compare what I call “The Big 3.” That is: Click, Fit Frappe and Chike.

And I always give what I imagine is a very frustrating answer but it’s the 100% truth. It’s apples and oranges.

I’m being for real, here! The only thing these three products have in common, in my Foodie brain, is that they attempt to deliver you good protein with coffee flavoring. But in playing with my food (and drink) I personally think the similarities end there. So I’m going to break each of them down for you. Where I think they have strengths, where I think they have weaknesses and help you decide if you want to try any or all of them!

Let’s do it.

Click Espresso Protein

Bariatric Foodie Reviews:      Mocha, Vanilla Latte and Mocha Decaf

Where to find it:                   In some Vitamin Shoppes, on Amazon and Netrition

Cost:                                   $17 - 21 per tub (14 two-scoop servings), depending on where you get it. 

Stats:                                  120 calories, 1.5g fat, 12g carbs, >1g fiber, 6g sugars, 15g protein

Type of Protein:                   Casein (a milk-based protein)

I suggest mixing it with:        Milk (of some sort) for cold drinks/Frapps, water if mixing it hot or in a shaker bottle.

This product shines as:          A snack protein drink. Its calories and protein are commensurate to the perfect post-op snack! In Frappes it blends up very smooth and creamy. In hot drinks, when you use the proper amount of powder to water (I suggest 8 oz. water for every scoop) it is not thin but not thick and has a very defined coffee flavor.

What you might consider “pro’s”:

• Great taste (Its flavor is very unique. I can’t describe it other than to say it’s Clicky. And good!)
• Mocha comes in DECAF!

What you might consider “con’s”:

• Out of the three, this one is highest in sugars, although they come from fructose (fruit sugar), which does not cause the same reaction as sucrose.
• Many folks are of the school of thought that whey isolate is the king of all proteins and Click has casein. But the reality is that casein is a perfectly good protein that our bodies can and do use.

Fit Frappe

Bariatric Foodie Reviews:      Espresso, Mocha, Vanilla Latte, Chocolate, Vanilla, Spiced Chai

Where to find it:                   On the Big Train website OR Amazon

Cost:                                  $44.50/tub for either 38 eight-ounce servings or 19 servings of 16 oz.

Stats:                                  Vary based on flavor but can be found here.

Type of protein:                  Casein (a milk-based protein)

I suggest mixing it with:       Milk (of some sort) for a Protein Frappe!

This product shines as:        A Frappe-style drink (hence the name) used as a meal replacement! It blends thick and creamy (not frothy) shake and is FILLING!

What you might consider “pro’s”

• There are two suggested serving sizes and nutritional information for both on the packaging! (For those of us who have not advanced to the “mega-shake”)
• The sheer variety of flavors + two NON-coffee based options for those who can’t or don’t do caffeine.

What you might consider “con’s”:

• For a 16 oz. espresso-flavored shake, for instance,  it has 24g of carbs, 14 of which come from sugar alcohols. Granted the alcohol used is erythritol, which generally doesn’t have that big of an effect on the body (I’m sensitive to “SA’s” and I’ve never reacted negatively to Fit Frappe), but your mileage may vary.
• It’s one of the more pricey options on the market at about $40/tub BUT if you drink the 8 oz. servings you get 38 servings per tub which works out to be $1.05/serving so that might put things in perspective a bit!

Chike Protein Iced Coffee

Click here for the Bariatric Foodie Review!

Where to find it:                    On their website or on Amazon 

Cost:                                    About $33.50 (not sure the # of servings per tub)

Stats:                                   130 calories, 2.5g fat, 9g carbs, 0g fiber, 2g sugar, 20g protein

Type of protein:                    Whey protein isolate/whey protein concentrate

I suggest mixing it with:         Water, the coffee flavor holds up fine on its own! Note that this is JUST coffee flavored. It has a slight vanilla twinge but not enough to be called a vanilla latte or anything like that.

This product shines as:          A snack as well. It mixes up fairly thin with water, no froth (yay!) and goes down easy. For more mature pouches this may simply be a beverage with protein. For newer pouches it could be a meal. Go with what YOU feel!

What you might consider “pro’s”

• Chike is the ONLY coffee-flavored protein powder I’ve ever tried that blends perfectly in a blender bottle with absolutely NO lumps!
• This is the only of the three I’ve listed here (not of all coffee protein!) that contains whey isolate so if that’s important to you, that could be a plus!

What you might consider “con’s”

• I had to dig deep to find a potential con (to be fair) but here it is. It’s sweetened with sucralose (one of the ingredients used in Splenda) so if you are not a sucralose user (or if it bothers you) this might be a concern.
• I tried…I got nothing else! 

BF Product Review: Chike Protein Iced Coffee

Chike! Iced Coffee! Review! Let's do this.

The 360

So whenever I am trying something new, I always do the 360 first. Gives me an opportunity to see how well it is packaged and I TRY to look at it from the perspective of someone who may not be quite familiar with food product packaging.

From the front of the single-serve packet alone we can tell that Chike:

• Is made with REAL espresso coffee (two shots worth!). This means it does have caffeine in it so if you aren't allowed caffeine yet, take heed!
• Has 20g of whey protein (although the front cover doesn't tell you what kind...we'll get to that in a moment).
• It has no gluten or aspartame (thank goodness on the later as I HATE aspartame)
• Has 23 vitamins and minerals (I admit...that sort of information is about the least important to me as a RNYer who likely won't absorb most of those vitamins and minerals anyway, but it's good to know, yes?)

Now the back packaging also has some good nuggets of information.

• Each serving has 130 calories, 9g carbs, 2g sugar and 20g protein. If you read my Nutrition Label Series, you know it exceeds my personal calories:protein standards by having more than 1g protein for every 10 calories.
• On the right side it gives you a plethora of options on how to mix the stuff. I am USUALLY a blender girl but the friendly rep at Chike assured me you can make this stuff, with water, in a blender bottle or even in a covered bottle without a blender ball or mesh and it will still not clump. I admit I was dubious. More about that in a moment)
• So about the whey question...it is, as many proteins are, a mixure of whey isolate and whey concentrate. For some of you this may seem problematic. For me, it's a non-issue. I did blends throughout my losing phase and landed on the other side 155 lbs. lighter and a whopping 8 dress sizes smaller. Just sayin'.

One thing the packaging alone does not tell you is that this is meant to be a protein supplement, not a meal replacement like their other powders. What's the difference? I asked our friendly Chike rep who said that the amount of calories in a meal replacement are meant to do just that, replace a meal. This is more like a snack. Or a "tide you over until you can get to a meal" or, more likely for most of us, sneak some protein into something we'd probably drink anyway.

Aesthetics

Look/Smell: So every time I read other's product reviews I feel like I am not aesthetic enough with mine (hence this whole section). I rarely sniff stuff. I have an iron pouch so something has to be REALLY nasty for me to reject it. But in this case I did sniff and it smelled like coffee with a whiff of vanilla. There. I did it. Once. It looks like vanilla protein with some coffee in it. Here, lookit:

Texture: So the assertion that it would not clump intrigued me. To be fair, I didn't believe it. So when I went to try this I did so assuming I would get lumps and get to report that to you. I wasn't trying to be a hater. It's just that no protein I have EVER tried has blended completely smoothly in a blender bottle.

But here, is the powder and water in the blender cup:

And here it is a few shakes later:

Now may I draw your attention to a few things? First, no lumps! (I was shocked and I stand corrected...I'm sorry I doubted you, Chike!) but also lookit. Minimal foam! I know foam bugs the HELL outta some of you so I needed to point that out.

And as a bonus, here is the shake after it has sat for about 10 minutes. I've been sipping as I'm typing this. But look.

No separation! I like that. I like that a lot. BUT...for me it all comes down to the taste.

Taste: In the last few years I've started to better appreciate the taste of actual coffee and have stopped drowning it in a sea of creamer. If that's you as well, you'll appreciate the flavor of Chike. You are supposed to blend it with 10 oz. of cold water. You can add more if you want a weaker flavor, less for a more intense flavor. I found 10 oz. to be just about right.

Now even though this was not advertised as a vanilla drink, it does have vanilla undertones. I have a theory about that. I think the vanilla is for aroma's sake. I don't think there can be a truly odorless whey protein. There's either light vanilla or monkey's ass. I vote for the vanilla.

ME personally...I would have preferred this with 8 oz. milk. I like the creamy element. Not that the iced coffee was lacking anything. I just have a thing about richness and milk would give that to me. Perhaps a bit of Davinci sugar-free hazelnut would have been nice too.

But all in all, I liked it! Hell, I drank it. And that says volumes because I don't care how many samples you give me, if it's nasty, I'm not doing it. Nope. Nuh-uh.

So should YOU buy it?

Ok so I'm a single mom (meaning I am perpetually broke) so I had to look at this from a value perspective as well. Here are my personal findings.

• Chike Protein Coffee comes in single serving packets that cost $2.25 each or $2.00 each if you order 10 or more
• This is about 50-75 cents more expensive than the protein coffee I make at home and has about 11-ish less grams of protein
• BUT...this product also beats my homemade protein coffee by about 80 calories and 12g of carbs. In post-op life (especially as you get further out) you HAVE to measure calories saved as a marker of value right along with money and time. If something is healthy and saves you from eating too many crappy calories,  it really is worth considering.
• ...and it really did work like a snack in my pouch. It held me about two-ish hours, which would make it the PERFECT thing to have on my way out the door at work (or what I call "the danger zone" wherein it's been a few hours since lunch and at least two more until dinner and Nik has a tendency to dive head-first into something she knows DAMN well she should not eat. Yeah...that time.)

So in my estimation here's how ALL this information I've given you relates to whether or not you should try this product:

• If you are a coffee lover who is allowed to have some caffeine
• You're looking for a mix that is both tasty, easy to mix and convenient to carry
• But you don't want to drink a whole meals worth of calories
• ...And especially if you're one of those "Starbucks" people

Then, yes, I would say this is a wise investment for you. The coffee flavor rings through nicely, it's basically "idiot-proof" in its mixing and especially if you don't like the creamy shakes and want to go with something water-based, this is a great option.