The Protein Soda You Should Avoid Buying

Everything is a source of protein these days. It's being added to ice cream, cookies, breakfast cereal, and even bags of popcorn. It's even made its way to the grocery store drink aisle with protein soda. Intrigued by the concept, Tasting Table's taste tester tried out 11 different protein sodas, ranking them from worst to best. While our expert was impressed by some of the options, the Bucked Up peach mango was by far the worst.

With 25 grams of whey protein, loaded into a 16-ounce soda with no sugar, no carbs, and low calories — if the Bucked Up peach mango sounds too good to be true, it's because it is. Our taste tester presumed the soda would taste fresh and juice-like, but it was very artificial. The peach flavor was completely lost, and the mango was overbearing. Overall, the soda, quite literally, left a bad taste in their mouth. They weren't alone in that, either.

In a review of the Bucked Up peach mango, one GNC customer wrote that "it does have a slight aftertaste and I do struggle to finish the whole can at once." Meanwhile, a Dick's Sports Goods review said, "I usually love the drinks Bucked Up makes but these drink taste so fake. With a very bad [chemical] taste with [an] even worse after taste." That being said, there are people out there who love the drink, with someone on Reddit saying it's "one of the best drinks ever."

Our tester did enjoy the other two Bucked Up flavors they tried. The orange cream ranked very highly on their list due to its creaminess and bright flavor, and the banana pineapple was surprisingly enjoyable. This seems to be the reaction all around, so those flavors might be worth trying out. Another protein soda brand called Feisty has some interesting options on offer too, like green apple and lime, and sour cherry and blackcurrant. 

Clear Protein Soda offers more classic takes like grape and frosted lemonade, and our tester ranked the root beer from Don't Quit! Protein Soda as their number one. It's worth trying if you like root beer, as is the cherry lime from Clear. Or you can stick to high-protein cereals and popcorn.