Today is our first day testing new possible flavors voor Damn Good. Together with collegues and first day customers we’re deciding on which Damn Good tastes will be added to our lonely spiced, lemon and roses. 

Experiences on spiced, lemon and roses

Our first months of real sales calls and visits are behind us. We have been introducing lots of people to a new drink, so far mainly in Crossfit boxes and gyms.

Each and every time I hear a drum roll when someone takes that first sip. Taste – after all – is subjective. You can take the most popular food or taste in the world and still half the population won’t like it. I can show study after study showing the benefits of whey protein, or the health risks of sugars and excessive caffeine intakes. I can’t however change someone’s taste.

“Too lemony”

So when someone say’s the spiced, lemon and roses flavor is ‘too lemony’, there’s nothing I can say to argue that.

All I can say is that 15 grams of whey protein in a 250ml can is a real technical challenge. Too keep the protein stable we need a fairly high ph-value, resulting in a high acidity. This explanation, however, doesn’t change anything about someones taste and willingness to drink Damn Good.

It’s obvious that we need to have alternative flavors to offer. However it’s also apparent that the 15 grams of whey will present a challenge to any flavor we would like to develop.

Ever wondered why a lot of ‘protein soft drinks’ use BCAA’s instead? The most important reason is that a couple of grams of BCAA’s is much easier to add that a significant amount of complete proteins.

10 vs 15 grams of whey

So that’s when the internal discussions got kinda heated. Are we willing to compromise and add less protein for a better taste?

For me, the answer is a resounding “NO!”. In fact, when developing the formula for Damn Good I intended to add even more whey. I wanted to add 25 grams of protein because most studies showing the benefits of protein use and show effective dosages between 20 and 30 grams. Also this are dosages commonly used in post workout protein shakes.

25 grams of whey turned out to be technically impossible without blowing any chance of an acceptable taste.

I didn’t have to hard a time accepting this. We were still thinking of Damn Good’s place in a daily diet but an important principle was that you should never have to worry about drinking to much Damn Good. Even if you drink like six cans in a row.

To be clear; very high daily dosages of protein (like in bodybuilding) have never shown adverse health effects accept for the case of preexisting limited kidney function. However, there’s a limit to the amount of protein a human body can take up and use before filtering and peeing out the rest. Unnecessarily burdening of the kidneys for excessive protein intake that doesn’t benefit the body isn’t something we should aim for. And looking at myself while gaming, drinking four cans in a row isn’t an exceptional event.

15 grams in the end, seemed the perfect compromise. And to me, that 15 grams of whey is our most unique selling point.

Testing new Damn Good Flavours

Today we will be testing new flavors, including 15 grams and 10 grams versions. My hope is that we will find enough flavors with 15 grams that we love. My worst fear is that the 10 grams versions is much tastier in every case.

Let’s hope we don’t have to compromise content for taste.

To be continued!