As someone who gets thirsty, doesn’t consume the daily recommended amount of protein, and likes to drink things with names that describe how I’m feeling, I think I can get behind Gatorade Zero with Protein.

The no-sugar thirst quencher is available in three flavors, and if you’ve explored the Gatorade rainbow, your taste buds have probably come across them before in other lines the sports drink brand offers. There’s Fruit Punch (a classic G flavor), Glacier Cherry (a flavor that I always want to add red food coloring to), and Cool Blue (a blue raspberry variety with a name that could also be a cologne or aftershave product).

Because these are part of Gatorade’s sugar-free Zero line, there are artificial sweeteners, which in this case are acesulfame potassium and sucralose. As someone who regularly drinks zero sugar beverages, I’m okay with the sweetener combination here.

I would also like to note, and this is going to make you wonder if my taste buds are broken, they taste fine at room temperature. With almost every other sugar-free beverage I’ve consumed that was not chilled or was out for too long, the artificial sweeteners overwhelm the flavor. But that wasn’t the case with these. Of course, your taste buds may vary.

The cloudy drinks get their 10 grams of protein in every bottle from whey protein isolate, which makes these thirst quenchers slightly gritty. Although having had other protein beverages, I did expect that. What I didn’t expect was that the additive makes my mouth feel quenched one moment and then parched the next. It’s definitely weird. I imagine this will be a deal-breaker for some. It isn’t for me.

Look, I don’t have a physiology lab with dozens of scientists to test the recovery efforts of Gatorade Zero with Protein. But I have a tongue and thousands of taste buds to determine if these sugar-free sports drinks taste good. I think for zero sugar protein beverages, these are surprisingly good, and I enjoyed them all equally.

Purchased Price: $19.99 (3 flavor variety pack)
Size: 16.9 fl oz/12 pack
Purchased at: Amazon
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) Cool Blue – 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein. Fruit Punch – 60 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein. Glacier Cherry – 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein.