Mmm-mmm-mmm! Chocolate and peanut butter: A classic combination that just works. It's a hard pair to resist, am I right?! Rich, sweet chocolate and decadent, salty PB- It's also a very popular flavor for protein bars, or so I've noticed. While at the gas station, I decided to pick up PowerBar's take on it in their ProteinPlus Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar. I've tried their Cookies N Cream ProteinPlus Bar before, and wasn't even REMOTELY impressed, but I figured I ought to give PowerBar a second chance. So, I thought, "Why not try this bar?" Plus, I still have yet to find a line of exercise bars with so much protein for such a decent calorie count. PowerBar's 20g for 210 calories is quite a find in the world of protein bars. It's a great ratio to maximize your workout without using up too many calories in one sitting.
Unfortunately, this protein bar was NO cheap buy: A single one set me back a whole $1.99! Hooo boy... This Chocolate Peanut Butter bar better exceed its Cookies N Cream brother, or I will be sorely disappointed...
After you’ve pushed yourself as hard as you can, you need the proper nutrients to help recover. PowerBar ProteinPlus® bars are a great addition to your exercise regimen, especially after you’ve given it your all. They’re designed with 20 grams of TriSource™ protein: a proprietary blend of whey, soy and casein proteins. And, there’s no preservatives or artificial flavors.
Keep going strong with a delicious way to round out your exercise routine.
I''l be honest; I don't always have the best willpower or patience when it comes to getting something I want. But this time, I was able to work out a good forty-five minutes. I figured that was long enough to be considered a legitimate workout for me to use this "After Workout" protein bar, which is supposed to rebuild your muscles and assist you in getting more out of your training/lifting, or whatever it is you're doing.Keep going strong with a delicious way to round out your exercise routine.
PowerBar's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar contains 20g of protein for 210 calories- the average for the ProteinPlus line. It also contains 4g of belly-filling fiber, 6g of fat, 25g of carbohydrates, 200mg of sodium, and 12g of sugar.
The main ingredient found in all ProteinPlus bars is Powerbar's TriSource Protein Blend, a trio consisting of soy protein isolate, calcium caseinate, and whey protein. This bar is also made with stuff like fractionated palm kernel oil, cocoa, whey, nonfat milk, ogliofructose, cane invert syrup, peanut butter, partially defatted peanut flour, soy crisps, and ground almonds.
This protein bar has a strong chocolate fragrance, with a more mild whiff of PB on the side. It reminded me of the scent of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, to an adequate degree. That's a good sign- Reese's is like the KING of Chocolate-PB. If this Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar smells like Reese's, there's a strong chance it'll taste like it too, correct? ...Well, maybe not quite. I have this perfume that smells like Vanilla & Brown Sugar- Sure doesn't taste like it though.
PowerBar's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar has a soft, mild-yellow center. The coloring is much lighter than the center of a Reese's. When we look at it from this angle, we can see the chocolate coating is paper-thin. This bar is supposed to contain little soy crisps, but I can't see any hiding inside the filling just yet...
I was bit a nervous taking my first bite. What if this protein bar yielded disappointing results just like its Cookies N Cream version? But, thankfully, it wasn't that bad. Unlike the Cookies N Cream bar, the Chocolate Peanut Butter genuinely tastes like what its supposed to.The taste of peanut butter is very mild, like a dash of it here and there, but is present, and yummy enough, I suppose.
In the instance of the Cookies N Cream bar, the chocolate coating's flavor was barely picked up by my taste buds, and I was thinking that would be the case here as well, but I was proven wrong. The chocolate coating pairs up much better with the peanut butter-flavored center; the PB helps to bring out the natural flavor of the cocoa, giving it a much more noticeable taste.
I found the soy crisps later, after I had gotten in a couple small bites of the protein bar. Like the filling, they're also a pale shade of yellow, making it hard to distinguish them from the rest of the center. The soy crisps didn't add a special flavor or anything, but they had a solid, crispy crunch that kept things interesting.
In terms of comprehensive flavor, the whole bar was rather mild. The peanut butter center, while tasty, was too mellow. I would've preferred a stronger flavor. I wanted to receive a full PB effect. The coating could've been more intense too. It was good, and a lot more noticeable than then the one on the Cookies N Cream bar, but I had to actually think about the taste. I'd like a bar where I don't have to think about the flavor- Where it's noticeable enough that I don't have to search for it and try hard to acknowledge the actualy taste, you know? On the plus side, this ProteinPlus Bar had no bitter aftertaste.The taste was very mild, but rarely bitter, and that's something you don't find in a lot of protein bars.On the whole, PowerBar's ProteinPlus Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar is a vast improvement from the Cookies N Cream Bar, but it still could've been better. It had a tasty chocolate & peanut butter flavor, but it was very subtle. It didn't blow my mind. Thankfully, this protein bar ranks very low on the bitterness scale.
To conclude, I wasn't overly impressed by PowerBar's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, but it was much more tolerable than their Cookies N Cream flavor. This isn't a product I'm really feeling like buying a second time, especially with the high price tag. There are just so many other protein bars that I would much rather try tasting first before I pick this one up a second time. PowerBar's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar has a great protein-to-calories ratio, so it's a nice choice for those of you whom are completely serious about boosting your workout's total effects, but as for this girl, she's going to keep looking for something more suited to her taste.
Nutrition: 8.5/10
Taste: 5/10
Price: 4/10
Originality: 3/10
Overall Deliciousness Rating: 4.5/10
PowerBar's ProteinPlus 20g Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar
- Pros: Tastes like chocolate and peanut butter, good size, good amount of protein, soy crisps are crunchy, very little amount of bitterness
- Cons: Flavor is waaaaay too mild, high price
Are there any protein bars you guys'd like me to try? Write me down below in the comments section! I'd love to hear from you!
Till' then, this has been RiRi Ri-porting!
I've had this bar also and was unimpressed. My favorite if Snickers Marathon Chocolaty Peanut.
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