PEScience Select Protein - Frosted Chocolate Cupcake 🍫🧁
True Story or Fake News? 😂
Arnold once said that “milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer”.
Having spent 4 years of uni drinking beer and not looking like Arnold, I thought I’d give the whole drinking milk thing another go… Specifically, an interesting Milk Protein blend from PEScience
The Product Summary
📋 Product: PEScience Select Protein
🥛 Type: Protein Blend (whey + casein)
👄 Flavour: Frosted Chocolate Cupcake
💰 Price: £26.95 (from Dolphin Fitness, though not sure if this is a limited time offer?)
⚖️ Weight: 1.9 lbs
🥄 Servings: 27 servings
The TLDR
Very tasty protein blend (whey + casein) with a somewhat different consistency and feel to whey. Chocolate Cupcake flavour is good (7/10), versatile, and was good in water, milk, and oatmeal. Slightly on the expensive side in the UK, but may be worth it if you’re into some of the unique flavours on offer (Cake Pop, Snickerdoodle, etc.).
The Macros
🔥 120 Calories
💪 24g Protein
🍬 1g Carbs (<1g sugar)
🛢️ 1.5g Fat (<1g saturated)
The Brand
PEScience is an American brand that produce all the usual supplements including proteins, pre-workouts, as well as “basics” like creatine and Omega 3s. Interestingly, they place a lot of emphasis R&D (in the first 4 years of business PES only released 7 products), quality control, and actually pride themselves on not engaging in mass marketing. In their own words, “we knew that it was never our goal to be the biggest company in the world. All we cared about was bringing the best to our consumers.“. Staying true to their mission and unlike the majority of other brands, their website does not have a dedicated ambassadors / athlete page (though they obviously do sponsor some athletes).
As many of you will know, the supplement (particularly protein) market has had a number of issues with quality over the years. As a reminder, a lot of very well known companies were caught spiking their products with amino acids (where companies were falsely labeling cheap amino acids as protein content on their labels). Reassuringly, PEScience routinely test all their products, and actually publish their results online for all to see. That’s always a good sign!
The Formula
First thing to note is that this is a whey and casein blend, which is theoretically meant to give you a balance of fast and slow disgesting proteins. According to PEScience, whey protein in isolation can spike protein synthesis with an influx of amino acids, but quickly returns to baseline, leaving you where you started. The addition of casein promotes a steady release of amino acids over time, and actually results in more retention of ingested protein than just whey. I’ve never been a big believer in trying to optimise protein absorption speeds - you really should be getting most of your protein through actual food anyway, and trying to optimise a small part of the diet seems like over-thinking…
Far more importantly, that Casein tends to make me feel very full. Casein is hydrophobic, meaning it separates and repels water. Practically, casein will clump and form a “ball” in your stomach, which can create a sense of satiation and heaviness. This is also why casein takes a lot longer to digest, it literally just sits there. As a result of the slow absorption, a lot of people use casein before bed as a way to stop muscle-catabolism during sleep.
Back to PES’ protein, this is a blend including Milk Protein Isolate, and Whey Protein Concentrate. The exact breakdown isn’t disclosed, but since Milk Protein Isolate is the first ingredient in a list of 2, we know that this product is at least 50% Milk Protein. You might be interested to know that Milk Protein comprises 80% casein, and 20% whey. The rest of the ingredients are fairly self-explanatory (flavourings, thickener, and fake sugars), and all fairly standard. The macros are also very good / in line with comparable products, with 24g of protein, with minimal fats and carbs at 120 calories.
I really hope that this should come as no surprise, but if you’re lactose intolerant you should absolutely steer clear of this (primarily milk) protein, particularly as it doesn’t have any added digestive enzymes.
Full ingredients list below: Select Protein Blend (Milk Protein Isolate [comprised of casein protein and whey protein], Whey Protein Concentrate 80%, Leucine Peptides), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Cocoa powder (Alkali Processed), Salt, Guar Gum, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium.
The Mixability
I think this is the area where PES Select Protein has the most pronounced distinction vs. whey protein - there is very noticeable difference in texture and mixability. Not bad or good, just different.
First the mixability - I was actually surprised by how well this mixed given it’s high casein content. A few shakes in a standard blender bottle yielded a fairly smooth consistency that was not overly thick (Thicker than whey, but only slightly as a result of the casein). However, something about the texture makes you immediately aware that this isn’t just whey protein. It’s not exactly chalky, but it does have a gritty quality that feels different.
Another interesteing discovery I made is that when this product is mixed and left to rest, the casein and whey actually separate into distinct layers. Again, not surpirising given casein repels water, but this obviously affects mixability and texture. This was especially noticable in overnight protein-oat form - take a look for yourself.
Slightly gross photo trigger warning #IeatForGainsNotTasteOrLooks #ISuckAtCooking
From top to bottom - Casein, Whey, and Oats
The Taste
Textural differences aside, the product actually tastes quite good. I tend to find that most brands (understandably) embellish the names of basic flavours to make them sound more appealing (To be fair, Quadruple Chocolate Explosion™, does sound better than chocolate…). So while I wasn’t exactly expecting to be blown away by a chocolate flavoured protein, it did exceed my expactations. the taste was chocolatey, creamy, with just the right amount of sweetness.
One thing worth noting is that this protein smells amazing. It really does have a chocolate cupcake-y smell to it, although that cakey-ness doesn’t come across in taste (just tastes like chocolate). Overall a solid 7/10
The Flavour Longevity
As you probably already know from experience, chocolate is one of the most basic and common protein flavours, and rightly so. Everyone knows what chocolate tastes like, and very few people dislike it. I am no exception, and could happily drink this for a long time. I can see myself maybe getting bored of drinking any chocolate-flavoured protein after a prolonged period, but that’s much more preferable to a sickly / “unique” flavour that you get sick of after a while.
The Versatility
Look dude….its chocolate flavoured protein, one of the most common and non-offensive flavours (along with vanilla of course). It was good on it’s own, and good mixed in with oats. I’m sure the more culinary-savvy readers could whip up some amazing protein pancakes / ice creams / [insert treat name here] with this. I decided not to do that, which is probably for the best… (I mean have you seen my oatmeal pic above??)
The Pricing
At the time of writing, I found one online store selling this for £27. For a 27 serving tub, this translates to exactly £1 per scoop, which is in line with other more premium brands (Ghost, Redcon1 etc.). Although most other shops I’ve found seem to be selling this for around £30, which would make it slightly on the expensive side. The good thing is you do have the option to size-up to a 1.8kg tub with twice the number of servings, bringing down the average cost per scoop by a bit.
While I paid wholesale prices for this (thanks Powerbody!) - I’d be ok to buy this at full retail price. To be completely honest, I chose to test the Chocolate Cupcake flavour because it seemed like a safe bet, and if I were to pay retail prices for this then I’d probably want to try one of the more unique flavours (like Cake Pop, or Snickerdoodle)
The Verdict
Overall I think this is a pretty solid product. Maybe it’s because I’m more used to whey, but there is a noticable difference in texture that you should bear in mind. Not in a bad way, it’s just different.
Having tried and liked the chocolate flavour, I have no problem reccomending this to someone looking for an “all-day” protein. I’d be quite keen to try some of the other more unique flavours on offer at some point.