Comment · Fri, May 28, 2021 · ND Owner
This tub of Nootropics Depot L-theanine smells like musty pizza (confirmed by wife).
Original post in this thread
Happy_Stardust · 0 points
This l-theanine has a very strange smell. I’ve been buying l-theanine powder for years from multiple vendors and never had it smell like anything at all, so I’m quite hesitant to use this product, and it makes me question all the claims ND makes about purity testing (which is a bummer, because they are always coming out with interesting compounds). I tasted a small amount to see if it was in fact l-theanine, which I believe it is—it has the normal slightly sweet umami taste—but something is definitely off. In all fairness, I did contact ND support, and they provided the certificate of analysis showing it passed, along with an offer to return the product (it wasn't expensive enough for me to even bother boxing it up and returning it). Nevertheless, you can show me COAs all day, but if a regularly odorless compound smells like weird a musty pizza restaurant, I ain't puttin' it in my body, and I'm certainly going to question the other products. Anyone else had this issue? Lot number is LTHS1081720.
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EDIT: Apparently this may be due to ND l-theanine particle size being very small, making it easier to smell compared to other brands.
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What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
Was this from 5 months ago? My team brought it to my attention back then. I had them bring me a jar from your lot to smell. Everything was normal. I also had them pull the retained sample from our lab, and that was perfectly fine as well. I then went through all the lab data, and that was perfectly fine, too. Just to be absolutely sure, I just drove into the office and had my team get our second completely sealed retained unit from that lot, and our two retained samples from the raw material again. I just smelled them and they are as they should be. That's how L-theanine smells. It is VERY fluffy, which is probably why you are smelling it more. When a powder is more fluffy, you get more particles that waft up in the air. Then you can smell those a lot stronger. L-theanine has a distinct umami smell when wafted. Semolina flour, the type used to make pizza, also has an umami smell to it. That could be why you associate it. Smell is very subjective, though. However, I could see how you could associate it with a pizza restaurant. I grew up in a pizza restaurant. When semolina flour would fluff up like that, you would get a similar smell. The batch you got is ultramicronized, so the particles are very very small. They fluff up like crazy. This is what you are smelling. The theanine particles themselves fluffing up into your nose. A more coarse batch will not give this smell, because the particles would not be fluffing up into the air like this one. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your L-theanine, I can assure you.