With all the ways to make things taste better in this country, one would think they could make whey protein atleast tolerable.
The stuff is awesome, but tastes nasty.
Whey protein usually tastes bad because of how it is handled. It is a byproduct of cheesemaking so has had bacteria growing in it, has been cooked, has had new and better bacteria growing in it, has been treated with enzymes to break down protein, has been cooked again, has been pumped around and probably tanked for a while, cooked some more, and finally probably filtered and dried (read that as cooked alot) to get to the bucket. After that, it sits, and sits, and sits. While that is happening, oxygen is reacting with what is left of the protein.
In short, the whey is way overhandled which breaks down the protein and exposes sulfhydral and thiol and phenol groups, most of which taste very bad. If you want the protein without the bad flavor, drink milk.
Is this an ad or something?
Anyway, depends on where you get your whey.
I get mine from Allthewhey.com. (Not affiliated or anything, just like their product). Pretty high quality protein, sweetened with splenda, works out to be pretty cheap per gram of protein, and tastes pretty decent, even just mixed with water. Doesn’t make me gassy either.
My favorite’s probably the vanilla, since the flavor mixes smoothly with other things (like sugar-free jello/pudding or whatever else I’m in the mood for). In fact, mixed with milk and with a bit of sugar, it actually tastes pretty awesome.
Pure whey is a little less than ideal because it digests so quickly that it can’t all be absorbed. A whey/casein blend is better, but those can get expensive. I exclusively use Biotest’s protein powder, as it tastes really good and is significantly cheaper than any other blend I’ve seen. They keep costs down by only offering it through their website.