Ready-to-drink Soylent hits Austin stores (no, it’s not people)

Addie Broyles

abroyles@statesman.com

Meal replacement drinks have been around forever, but it wasn’t until Rob Rhinehart’s Soylent debuted in 2013 that they became cool.

Soylent originated as a powdered drink you would order online and then mix at home. Many, many people experimented with eating only Soylent for weeks or months at a time, if only for the hilarious blog posts.

A few years ago, Soylent started selling a liquid, ready-to-drink version online, which I didn’t love, but I also didn’t hate either.

That bottled Soylent must be selling pretty well because the company is now testing retail sales in Los Angeles and, starting this week, Austin.

Two dozen 7- Eleven locations in the Austin area are now selling four flavors of Soylent: Original, Cacao, Cafe Coffiest and the new Cafe Chai. Each drink is designed to provide the vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates and protein that the body needs. They cost $3.99 per bottle.