Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Review: Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt


It's been a busy year for Chobani.  They've introduced several new flavors, two of which I've reviewed here, and are now introducing a Greek yogurt line aimed toward kids in their Champions line of yogurt, which is the first Greek yogurt line marketed exclusively  toward kids.  I'm not a kid physically, but some would argue that I'm a kid mentally, so I felt it was okay for me to try out one of these Champions line of Greek yogurts and that led me to this Vanilla Chocolate Chunk flavor.  There are several things about this Champions line that are different from their regular Greek yogurt line.  First of all, these only come in four packs (at least it was that way in my local store) as opposed to singles.  Secondly, each of these yogurt cups comes in a size of 3.5 ounces as opposed to the standard six ounces of the regular cups.  Lastly (or as much as I could tell), each of these yogurt cups DOES contain fat and is not zero percent yogurt like the regular Greek yogurt.  So, armed with that I was ready to give this a try.  For the mathematicians out there, each 3.5 ounce yogurt cup had 110 calories and eight grams of protein and I picked this up for $3.85 for the four pack at Marsh (FYI, Marsh's prices typically run higher than other area stores, so it may be cheaper in your store).



Opening this, it was obvious that Chobani was not going to skimp on the chocolate chunks and that was greatly appreciated.  The chunks, while not particularly big, were plentifully spread throughout the entire yogurt cup and honestly, I was actually kind of impressed with that.  The vanilla yogurt was milky white in color and had a strong scent of vanilla and being that I'm a big vanilla guy (the flavor, not the fact that I'm boring, although that is arguable too), I really did appreciate that.  As always, the yogurt was thick and creamy as you'd expect from a Greek yogurt.

In terms of the taste, the the vanilla yogurt continued its strong smell as it carried a strong taste of vanilla.  In fact, you could barely even tell this was Greek yogurt because the vanilla flavoring more than cancelled out the usual tartness of Greek yogurt.  I don't mind the flavor of Greek yogurt after having had so many for this blog, but any time you can make Greek yogurt lose its sting, you've got a good start in my book.  Kids will really like that because I could see a lot of children being put off by the tartness the of the yogurt.  The chocolate chunks, while small, added a nice accent flavor as well.  They weren't overly sweet, but you could definitely taste the chocolate flavor.  Also, the chunks added a tiny crunch to the yogurt, which was a nice and very welcome surprise as it broke up the thick and creamy texture.  All in all, this was a very good combination and in a roundabout way, the flavor of this could dupe you into thinking you were eating a cookies and cream type food product.

Buy It or Fly By It?  This really was an outstanding effort by Chobani, so I give it a firm BUY IT rating.  Chobani continues to do a great job with their Greek yogurt products and it's quite obvious why they are growing so rapidly and continually adding new products.  If you try and get your kids to eat Greek yogurt, this is an excellent starter flavor, because it really doesn't carry that Greek yogurt flavor at all and I think they would really, really like this.  I know I did.

That said, I do have one complaint:  the 3.5 ounce cups made me feel like a clown when I was eating them since their products are typically six ounces.  I understand that's only a half ounce smaller than a typical pudding cup, but I still felt dumb.  I guess I shouldn't complain though since this is a product that is truly designed for kids and their smaller appetites, but since I'm a bitter man, I'll complain anyway.  Ha!

BUY IT!!

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for giving our newest flavor, Vanilla Chocolate Chunk, a whirl! Glad to hear you're totally digging the plentiful chocolate chunks & creamy texture. While we're not physically kids either, we're definitely still kids at heart :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE this flavor! It is absolutely amazing! I eat it every single day...and I'm 24 years old...I just had lapband surgery though, so this is perfect for me sizewise and the fact that I need the extra protein...I eat it every single day and I'm having a hard time finding it in the stores now...they all have them but just not this flavor....I wrote to Chobani to see if they would stock it better because it seems when they do have them, its the flavor that really sells out the quickest...the others don't sell out at all!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I eat the "verry" berry flavor and love it , so I tried this flavor. I did not care for it at all, it was inedible to me. The vanilla flavor well was not vanilla but a vanilla flavoring. Come on how difficult is it to use actual vanilla? The flavor is chemically and pasty, awful, truly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They now sell this in 16oz containers at my local store...as well as the little Chobani Champions packs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. you do know that this is a kids yougurt right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am aware of that. That doesn't mean that I can't try it though.

      Delete
  6. I hope they don't discontinue this - I LOVE it and have a hard time loving yogurt! It's getting hard to find - I found it at a Centrella but not Doinick's (Safeway) or Jewel or Mariano's :(

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...