Product Review: RXBAR vs. EPIC

[runpunkrun]

RXBAR Chocolate Sea Salt Protein Bar

Ingredients: Dates, Dried Egg Whites, Cashews, Almonds, Chocolate, Cocoa, Natural Flavors, Sea Salt.

Thick, stubby, and dense. You can see salt crystals sprinkled on top. Bite into it and it's chewy, slightly sticky, tastes very vaguely of cocoa and caramel (that's probably the dates), gritty (also probably the dates?) with little crunches of salt and big chunks of almond. I could see the chocolate chunks, but couldn't really taste them so I ate one straight; they're 100% cacao, bitter and not too flavorful; the cashews get lost in all the commotion, some bites tasted of coconut which shouldn't be happening.

That wasn't exactly easy to eat, a lot of chewing, with a lot of stuff stuck in my teeth afterward, and a bitter coffee-like aftertaste from the chocolate. I don't feel like eating that again. There's nothing wrong with it; it's just not for me.

The bar in my hand is labeled gluten free and has no gluten, dairy, or soy ingredients, but it's manufactured in a facility that processes peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk, soy, and wheat.

Now for the competition:

EPIC Almond Butter Chocolate Performance Bar

Ingredients: Dates, Egg Whites, Almonds, Unsweetened Chocolate, Sea Salt, Vanilla Extract.

Thick, stubby, and dense, but more tender than the RXBAR. Can taste coconut again, is that the dates? Can taste caramel again. The almonds are there, chopped in small pieces. The chocolate is not making itself known; it's in little chunks; you get occasional hints of its bitterness. This was chewy and stuck to my teeth but wasn't as gritty as the RXBAR. I could eat it again.

The bar in my hand is labeled gluten free, soy free, and non-GMO.

Comments

Our tastes are converging

[jesse_the_k]

...cause every RxBar has generated the same question: Why would I eat this again?

Since I'm all about the high protein, no carb diet, I've been an Epic bar eater for a long time. Sadly, most of them are too spicy for my taste--they do pack a lot of satiety if one's willing to eat animal flesh and fat. Fascinating that they're expanding into vegan products as well.

[panisdead]

I have something of an RXBar dependency, but I did once, um, literally sublux my jaw chewing one. (And then I went back for more. Yikes).

I'm interested in the Epic nut butter bar now. They're also local to me, I believe, and I know a guy. Hmm.