While reading a chapter of The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey where he talked about his Soylent experience, it made me recall my Soylent experience back in my junior year or was it senior year of college? Anyways, according to my order history, it was March 10, 2016. Despite it being 2-3 years ago, the experience was unique and impactful that I remembered almost vividly how I felt, what it tasted like, and the thoughts that were going through my head at the time.
I ordered a 12 bottle original flavor 14 oz Soylent off their website for $34 with all fees accounted for.
As a person who is a huge fan of cold drinks, I stuffed all 12 bottles of Soylent Original Flavor into my fridge the moment I received it. Sadly, I no longer have a picture of it, but it was a white box with black lettering along with the Soylent logo. Did the drinks arrived semi-cold? I don't recall.
What Is Soylent?
Soylent is a food replacement product that's supposed to contain protein, vitamins, and minerals named after a sci-fi novel "Make Room! Make Room!".
It started out as a "powdered food substitute that contains everything your body nutritionally needs... you just mix the powder with water, and then drink the concoction a few times a day" as Chris described it. It wasn't until later on that the guys at Soylent branched out into pre-mixed ready-to-go bottled drinks (which is the one I ordered).
Why Did You Buy Soylent?
The reason why I tried out Soylent wasn't because it was hip or anything like that, but rather it seemed interesting and fun to try out!
I've saw videos of people trying it out, and I just wanted to see for myself what it tasted like. I wasn't satisfied with the semi-vague flavor description people provided.
Plus, you get 12 bottles for under $40! I was already spending a lot of money on lunch, and if 1 bottle is supposed to equate to 1 meal, it's a bargain.
Not only that, I haven't ate breakfast for years - just lunch and dinner - so it was a perfect excuse for me to have "breakfast" while getting to have a new experience. Again, I love to drink things cold, so breakfast time was the perfect time to consume the mysterious and supposedly food replacement drink called "Soylent". I've once brought it to school, and waited 2 hours before drinking it, and by then, it was around room temperature, and it wasn't to my liking.
What Does Soylent Taste Like?
Behold, the long awaited question that everyone asks: "what does soylent taste like?"
Soylent has a consistency close to a bland but semi-sweet milk smoothie - semi-thick, yet tasty in its own way. It does taste like unsweeten Cheerios cereal powdered up and mixed with some milk and light touch of almond flavor or some sort of nutty flavor. Another way of describing the taste is if you were to get finely crushed up oats, add a very light sweetener, and mix the powder with milk, that should taste similar, but the Cheerios cereal comparison is probably the most accurate.
There is a similar instant mix drink that I've tried as a kid years ago, but I don't recall what it was.
I drank one bottle a day. It wasn't until the 3rd or 6th bottle that I started to taste a slight metallic flavor in the drink. That's when I started to feel grossed out by the flavor.
Do You Think Soylent Is A Good Food Replacement?
Personally, I think the idea of Soylent is nice, but I would probably prefer eating solid food rather than relying on Soylent as a food replacement.
Because the bottled Soylent I purchased was just 14 oz per bottle, I didn't find it filling.
I only drank a full box, 1 bottle a day, so that's a total of 12 days. I don't think I can give you an exact answer as to whether or not it will serve as a good food replacement since there are a lot of factors that comes into play.
Would You Try Soylent Again?
Because of that metallic taste in the Soylent drink, I am leaning towards "no" as an answer, but I have yet to try out their other flavors and products, which opens up the opportunity of a "yes". As of now, I don't plan on buying Soylent anytime soon. Maybe later down in the future, I will.
Do You Recommend Soylent?
I don't recommend replacing your entire diet with Soylent, but I do recommend giving it a shot just for the experience. Maybe just try it out for breakfast like I did. It's a fun experience! Here's my referral link if you wish to give Soylent a shot: http://r.soy.lt/iD6lw
Conclusion
Overall, I had a fun time trying out Soylent. It tasted nice in the beginning, but I heavily disliked the small hint of metallic flavor in the drink. Maybe it is due to the vitamins and or minerals in the drink. I would potentially buy Soylent again just as a "for fun" experience of trying out the other products and flavors.
