A review and tier list of the Clif LUNA Bar Variety Pack, ranking the best and worst flavors of the bunch. The flavors include LemonZest, LemonZest + Blueberry Mash-Up, Nutz Over Chocolate, Chocolatey Dipped Coconut, Blueberry Bliss, and Chocolate Peppermint Stick.
Overall Review & Verdict
I’m not sure if I’d call these protein bars; they’re mostly oat-based and have a similar composition. Each has an oat filling with decoration on the top and/or bottom, whether it’s a cream, some swirls, or extra bits.
Mouthfeel-wise, they’re all oat-based: reasonably dense with a slightly chewy and thick oat feel. For the most part, too, they’re all between mild and moderately sweet, and overall, the bars remind me of typical oat bars you find from other competitors. Just to note, though, they aren’t organic or too oaty, nor cheap; they’re definitely sugary-based, but also won’t blow you away with too much sugar either. I also like how nothing tastes artificial, fake, or “protein bar-like” either.
The verdict? These are good oat bars, not great, but mostly middle of the road. I feel like I’ve had many other similar oat bars from other brands, so there doesn’t appear to be anything special about these aside from the macros, perhaps. At best, a healthier and more premium version than those cheapo bars you often find on store shelves.
Personal note: The Blueberry Bliss is leagues ahead of anything on this list and is absolutely worth a try.
Flavor Tier List
1. Blueberry Bliss
It definitely has the vibes of what you’d call a blueberry bliss treat: a thin blueberry layer covered with several nutty-looking chips, with additional white cream swirls and a creamy white bottom. It looks a lot like the LemonZest + Blueberry Mash-Up, but with the added chips and less density overall.
First off, this is incredibly soft and easy to bite through. The oat isn’t super dense, definitely not as dense as others on this list; it looks like it was weakly cobbled together, making the bar as a whole feel like it fan nearly melt in your mouth! And yeah, while I mentioned it’s soft, the oat does provide a pleasantly crunchy texture–plus that cushion of blueberry on top and cream at the bottom–I just love the soft and airy-ish mouthfeel and bite of the entire thing!
The taste is a moderately sweet, authentic blueberry and oat; it’s very smooth and creamy, providing an equal balance of all of the flavors here. None of it is artificial or punchy by any means! It’s a creamy blueberry and sweet oat, yum!
A blissful bar indeed!
2. LemonZest + Blueberry Mash-Up
Topped with a half-shelled blueberry coating and a few white swirls and a half-coated cream bottom, all sandwiching together an oaty filling. This has a lot more pizazz than its LemonZest brother. It looks similar to the Blueberry Bliss flavor but without the additional chip pieces on top.
All in all, this is very close to the Blueberry Bliss and much sweeter and nuanced than LemonZest. Essentially, it’s Blueberry Bliss but has a denser mouthfeel, and instead of a more pronounced blueberry flavor, it rocks a bit of a tangy lemon alongside it.
This is definitely a perfect mash-up of the two flavors, but ultimately, Blueberry Bliss is much better than LemonZest, so this bar itself falls in the middle!
3. Chocolatey Dipped Coconut
This is one of the more unique-looking Luna bars on this list. It has a pale, solid coconut-looking top layer with chocolate swirls and a thin chocolate-layered bottom. Both of these encase an oat-based filling.
The taste is mildly sweet, authentic coconut and oat with a suggestion of chocolate. It’s fairly smooth, and honestly, I wouldn’t have minded some extra sweetness to bring out the chocolate and coconut more. The taste overall reminds me of a lesser sweet coconut macaroon in bar form.
I also enjoyed the texture of these. Its oat filling is dense and moist, and the coconut layer gives it some added softness when you bite through. Definitely a smooth and pleasant treat overall!
4. Nutz Over Chocolate
Looks-wise, there are a few darker chocolate swirls on top with tiny peanut bits, and a layer of equally looking dark chocolate at the bottom, all around an oat filling. This bar looks like one of the more loaded ones out of the bunch!
The composition and mouthfeel feel like your typical dense and chewy oat bar. The taste is also nothing too crazy–mostly a mildly sweet milk chocolate combined with an authentic, not-so-strong peanut. It’s inoffensive, and the flavors are spot on, just don’t expect anything over the top or crazy here, as it feels and tastes like many other oat chocolate peanut bars on the market.
5. LemonZest
This one looks so plain–just a dense oat bar with some white cream at the bottom–definitely not as appealing as many of the others on this list.
The taste is a not-so-punchy creamy lemon with an addition of oat. Nothing artificial or organic tasting, just a sugary-based, fairly dense and moist oat bar with a mild lemon twist. If you’re worried about anything too tangy here, you won’t find it! It’s a good lemony-based bar that will be sure to please most people.
Notably, this is one of the plainest looking and tasting on this list.
6. Chocolate Peppermint Stick
Instead of most on here (except the Chocolately Dipped Coconut), the oat filling is quite dark, as if they mixed in dark cocoa. It also has a contrast of white cream at the bottom.
Biting in, it’s reasonably dense and moist with a clear dark chocolate flavor alongside some mild sugary peppermint. It’s not super sweet, it’s just right, and doesn’t come across as bitter, artificial, or toothpaste-like. It definitely reminds me of Christmas and a peppermint hot chocolate!
Essentially, this is simply a darker oat bar with some peppermint. Nothing to write home about. If anything, I wish the white cream part gave it more sweetness or creaminess because ,as it stands, it just feels more bland than it should be.