A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

At work, we decided that it would be fun to taste test some energy bars. We bought over 30 bars, cut them up and had 15 people sample bites of each. They rated the bars on taste and texture, on a scale from 1-3; 1 meant they liked it, 2 meant neutral, and 3 meant they disliked it. We sampled from Luna, Lara, Clif and Balance. The bars ranged in size from 0.98 oz to 2.4 oz, with caloric intake from 110 to 240.

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Clif bar (shown above) chocolate almond fudge: 240 calories, 2.4 oz. For texture, 2 responded that they liked it, 4 were neutral, 2 disliked. For Flavor, 1 liked, 3 were neutral and 4 disliked. Comments included: tastes like suntan lotion, dry and fake taste, foamy texture, bad after taste.

Carrot cake, 240 calories, 2.4oz. Texture, 5 liked, 1 was neutral and 1 disliked. Taste 1 liked, 4 were neutral and 2 disliked. Comments included: very cinnamon-y, tastes just like carrot cake, too spicy, sugary and bad texture, spicy.

Banana Nut Bread, 240 calories, 2.4oz. Texture, 4 liked, 3 were neutral 1 disliked. For taste, 2 liked, 2 were neutral and 4 disliked. Comments included: Too much banana, artificial taste and bad after taste, tastes fake and chalky.

Crunchy Peanut Butter, 240 calories, 2.4oz. Texture, 3 lied, 4 were neutral and 1 disliked. For flavor, 3 liked, 3 were neutral and 2 disliked.too dry with a weird after taste, sugary, chewy, gritty.

Balance bar almond brownie, 200 calories, 1.76 oz. Texture 2 were neutral and 7 disliked. Flavor, 2 were neutral and 6 disliked. Comments included: awful-hate everything about it,too rich/thick/heavy-need water,tastes liked batter, poor taste.

Balance bar double chocolate brownie, 200 calories, 1.76 oz. Texture, 2 like, 2 neutral, 7 dislikes. Taste, 2 liked, 4 were neutral, and 5 disliked. Comments included: dry doesn’t taste like chocolate, weird aftertaste, too rich and styrofoamy, chalky, brownie,  and too rich.

Balance bar mocha chip, 200 calories, 1.76 oz. Texture, 1 liked, 2 were neutral and 9 disliked. Taste, 1 liked, 2 were neutral and 9 disliked. Comments included: best Balance bar flavor, please discontinue, mushy and too heavy/bland, too strong, tastes like brownie, bad taste, awful flavor, chalky, and don’t like.

Balance bar s’mores, 200 calories, 1.76oz. Texture, 7 liked and 5 were neutral. Taste 7 liked, 4 were neutral and 1 disliked. Comments included, dry- doesn’t taste like s’more,a little sweet but good, not my favorite falvor, graham perhaps, crunchy,  and deeeelish!

Balance bar chocolate mint cookie brunch, 200 calories, 1.76 oz. Texture, 9 liked 1 was neutral and 1 disliked. Flavor, 7 liked, 2 were neutral and 2 disliked. Comments included: Tastes like thin mint, LOVE mint, minty!, and minty and good!

Balance bar chocolate peanut butter, 200 calories, 1.76oz. Texture, 4 liked, 1 was neutral and 3 disliked. Taste, 3 liked, 3 were neutral and 2 disliked. Comments included: really good texture and center, chalky and don’t like the taste of the chocolate or the peanut butter.

Lara peanut butter cookie, 220 calories, 1.7oz. Texture, 5 liked, 2 were neutral and 1 disliked. Taste, 6 liked, 1 was neutral and 2 disliked.  Comments included: like the oats but makes you thirsty,good pb, nice balance of sweetness, and tastes good.

Lara peanut butter and jelly, 210 calories, 1.7oz. Texture, 2 plied, 4 were neutral and 3 disliked. Taste, 3 liked, 2 were neutral and 3 disliked. Comments included: too tart and sweet but still tastes healthy.

Lara peanut butter chocolate chip, 220 calories, 1.6oz. Texture, 1 liked, 4 were neutral and 3 disliked. Taste, 3 liked, 2 were neutral and 3 disliked. Comments included: Tastes awful and don’t like the overall taste or texture.

Lara blueberry muffin, 190 calories,1.6oz. Texture, 1 was neutral and 7 disliked. Taste, 1 was neutral and 7 disliked. Comments included: soggy muffin taste and texture, gross, and not good.

Lara key lime pie, 220 calories, 1.8oz. Texture, 2 were neutral and 3 disliked. Taste, 2 were neutral and 3 disliked. Comments included: mushy-flavor subtle like the lime and too tart.

Lara apple pie, 190 calories, 1.6oz. Texture, 4 were neutral and 2 disliked. Taste 1 was neutral and 5 disliked. Comments included: mushy-too cinnamon-y, too much awful, and too sweet.

Lara chocolate coconut chew, 240 calories, 1.8oz. Texture, 2 liked, 2 were neutral and 4 disliked. Taste, 2 liked, 2 were neutral and 4 disliked. Taste, 1 liked, 1 was a neutral and 6 disliked. Comments included: doesn’t taste like chocolate, nice after taste, sour, awful!, coconut too strong, and tastes sour.

Lara cappuccino, 200 calories, 1.6oz. Texture, 1 liked, and 7 disliked. Taste, 1 liked and 7 disliked. Comments included: weird taste, Disgusting-Tastes like garbage, really bad and sour and coffee.

Luna peanut honey pretzel, 190 calories, 1.69oz. Texture, 10 liked. Taste, 7 liked and 3 were neutral. Comments included: doesn’t taste like much, not in love with honey-tastes fake, and breakfast cereal bar.

Luna chocolate dipped coconut, 190 calories, 1.69oz. Texture, 6 liked a2 disliked. Taste, 5 liked, 1 was neutral and 1 disliked. Comments included: too much coconut, like coconut but mushy, good even though I don’t like coconut, good coconut,coconut too strong, and sour.

nLuna nutz over chocolate, 180 calories, 1.69oz. Texture, 6 liked and 3 were neutral. Taste, 5 liked and 4 were neutral. Comments included: tastes ok, nice texture and nuttiness, too crunchy and tasteless,good balance, nice and crispy and don’t like.

Luna caramel nut brownie, 180 calories, 1.69oz. Texture, 3 liked, 2 were neutral and 2 disliked. Taste, 3 liked, 2 were neutral, and 3 disliked. Comments included: sugary, a bit over sweet, too much caramel,good taste,  and very caramel-y.

Luna vanilla almond, 190 calories, 1.69oz. Texture 4 liked and 2 were neutral. Taste, 3 liked and 2 were neutral. Comments included: tastes chalky, subtle and yummy, and too sweet.

Luna white chocolate macadamia, 190 calories, 1.69oz. Texture, 7 liked and 5 were neutral. Taste, 6 liked, 1 was neutral and 2 disliked. Comments included: Love this, like the after taste, hate flavor, and good but too sweet.

Pria chocolate peanut butter crunch, 110 calories, 0.98oz. Texture, 5 liked, 2 were neutral and 3 disliked. Taste, 3 liked, 4 were neutral and 3 disliked. Comments included: bad taste, LOVE, funny pb flavor,good crunch, tastes artificial, and too hard.

Pria french vanilla crunch, 11o calories, 0.98oz. Texture, 4 liked, 1 was neutral and 2 disliked. Taste, 2 liked and 5 disliked. Comments included: not sweet, tastes artificial, very good vanilla, to sweet and artificial taste, and too sweet.

Pria double chocolate chip cookie, 110 calories, 0.98oz. Texture, 2 liked, 2 were neutral and 3 disliked. Taste, 3 liked, 2 were neutral and 2 disliked.  Comments included, bad after taste, tastes artificial, crunchy good flavor, like chewiness and sweetness level, and fake chocolate taste.