YUP Brands popped into my Instagram feed a few days ago and ever since, I’ve been ready to give them a real chance. In today’s YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar, I’m going to pop into THEIR world for real! I will tell you everything you could ever want to know about these protein bars. I’ll go over all three flavors and tell you the pros and cons of each. Probably most important of all is that I’ll tell you which is the BEST flavor of the B-Jammin’ Bar. I think they might really be onto something in the protein bar game, which is super cool. The thing that I want you to do is pay close attention to how good I am getting at reviewing protein bars. Lol. Weird thing to say, I know. But you will find that this review is not going to be very similar to anything else that you’ve ever read in your life when it comes to a protein bar review. Because not only will I talk about flavors and tastes- I will also talk about formulation/ingredients, and even packaging! Who does that? Nobody! But me. So you can rest assured you’ve found the best damn B-Jammin Protein Bar review on the interwebs. Let’s begin.
I totally forget where I first found the B-Jammin bar. But I swear it had to have been on Instagram. I mean. Where else does one find ANYTHING other than on Instagram. Here are the things that I love about B-Jammin’. It all begins with taste.
What’s the BEST flavor of YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar?
I had the absolute pleasure of trying some really, REALLY tasty protein bars in my day. And my days aren’t over so I don’t know why I used the past tense their. But it’s true. I’ve really had some tasty stuff. The best-tasting protein bar in recent memory has been the Oh Yeah! ONE bar, which was the first protein bar to REALLY challenge Quest bar, in my opinion. So when I heard that YUP Brands had an actual challenger for the throne, I knew I had to get my hands on some and do a good old-fashioned fit-life-Allie protein bar review.
There are three flavors of the YUP B-Jammin’ Bar. What I’m going to do is describe how each of them taste, and then finish up with the answer to the big question- the question you are probably here to find the answer to, which is of course finding out what the BEST flavor of YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar is. So. Let me discuss.
- The first flavor of the B-Jammin’ Bar that I had the pleasure of eating was the apple pie flavored one. I think most brands tend to shy away from apple pie because it’s really tricky to do RIGHT, and I know Larabar and Quest have both tried unsuccessfully. But B-Jammin’ may have actually done it the right way. I found the texture of this apple pie bar to literally be on point. They were able to create something ‘soft-baked’ very similar in texture to MuscelPharms Combat Crunch bar, which are actually not very crunchy at all but rather sweet and ultra-tasty. This apple pie flavor was soft and had a great authentic taste of apple and spice. I didn’t get a whole lot of savory ‘crust’-taste, but I’m ok with that. I really enjoyed this protein bar.
- The second flavor that I was able to try was the cherry vanilla. I can tell they wanted to also name this a ‘cherry pie’ flavored protein bar, but just couldn’t even begin to capture any sort of pie flavor. It DOES taste kind of like the filling of those super tasty Table Talk pies that we grew up eating though. I think I actually liked this flavor better than the Apple Pie A La Mode because strangely this vanilla cherry seemed to have more of an ‘ice cream’ flavor than even the apple one.
- So cherry and apple are both good. But. They fall short in comparison to the BEST FLAVOR of the YUP protein bars which is by far the peanut butter and jelly. This is WHY they called these protein bars ‘Jammin’ bars. While the other two flavors also had the jam, this flavor actually had reason to claim it’s ‘Jam’ so to speak. That’s because you actually taste strawberry grape jam when you eat these things! You even taste bread and peanut butter. The fact that they are high in protein is literally unbelievable because they seriously taste just too good to be healthy.
But speaking of healthy, let’s take a peek at the label and see just how healthy or not healthy these protein bars REALLY are. To summarize our flavor review though, the PB&J is best. Don’t get it twisted. Let’s carry on.
YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Nutrition Grade: 8.0
I’m giving these bars a 9.5 on flavor. But unfortunately I’m really not going to be able to extend the same high score to them when it comes to the formulation and nutrition facts. The thing that makes QUEST so darn great is how amazing their product is from a macronutrient standpoint. Literally nobody can match them when it comes to the ratio of protein to the fat/carbs and overall calorie count. And on top of that, QUEST uses their flavoring wizardry to ensure that the products taste better than anything else around.
So I think YUP has done a great job flavoring, to the point where if we have to compare QUEST VS. YUP BRANDS, I have to say they are on the same playing field with regard to taste. But Quest still has the upper hand because YUP only has about half the protein of Quest, and then also uses 12 grams of sugar to sweeten their bars. So those two factors alone make YUP much less attractive than many of it’s competitors.
To play devil’s advocate though, and to help explain why I’m still giving Yup ‘Jammin bars a ‘B’ on the formula- they actually seem to have sacrificed in order to make a little bit more of a natural product. Their bar seems, and even tastes, more like a food product, whereas Quest almost gives you the sense that the whole product is just a mind-trick initiator to make your brain think you are eating something super tasty. And it IS tasty, but you can tell there’s just something, well, not right about what you’re putting in your body. You don’t get any of this with YUP. They use more natural ingredients like Dietary vegetable fiber instead of ogliosacharides. They use xylitol instead of sucralose. They use cashews and whey instead of soy or another lower quality protein.
So although YUP may not have the BEST macros of some of their competition, I would argue that what they give in terms of macros, they earn back almost entirely because of how the make a much ‘cleaner’ product. Let’s talk branding now.
YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Packaging Grade: 8.3
I know, I know. “There’s nothing wrong with YUP branding!”. You’re right. There’s not. But I think it’s too 1990s. Their signature purple is too old and tired. Their glossy packaging is too 1990s. Their big fat purple strokes on their stale fonts are too 1990s. The whole design is just not appealing to someone who has a real eye for design. But it’s not entirely bad, and here’s why.
YUP clearly hired someone who gave them much more effort when it comes to SELLING bars on the shelf, versus someone trying to create a piece of art. I’ve always tended to skew more towards, and be attracted towards those products that SPEAK to me visually and look more contemporary. But what YUP has done is create something that will just flat out sell. You can see it already. This is a brand that is just ELBOWING it’s way into the ultra-competitive world of protein bars.
I like how prominent they make the flavor graphics themselves, and, well, I guess I do like the ‘YUP’ logo and brand name. I think they can do several things with their logo that some brands don’t have the ability to do because they are just too old and tired. So to summarize…
YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Review Summary
- YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Flavor Grade: 9.5
- YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Nutrition Grade: 8.0
- YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Packaging Grade: 8.3
- YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Value Grade: 9.2
The future is undeniably bright for YUP Brands. They have fantastic momentum with their Jammin bars, and I think they will make a serious rise near the, if not THE top of the protein bar world. And I’m nice and comfortable in my front row seat. With my PB&J flavored ‘Jammin bar.*
YUP Brands B’Jammin’ Bar Final Review Score: 9.2
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