The Plant Era was founded by Nicholas Orsini who discovered the power of plant-based diets while training for an Ironman. His recovery accelerated and performance was improved.
During a cycling trip in 2015, Orsini was constantly disappointed in the sports nutrition options available. He didn’t like that they had added sugar and artificial sweeteners, lacked organic options, and didn’t mix or taste very well.
So The Plant Era was born and after nine months of trial and error, Nicholas finally had a product he was happy with.
Hey! We compare vegan protein powder a little differently here. Instead of arbitrary grades, we calculate three numbers based on hard data – Price, Potency, and Profile.
Price is cost per 100 grams of pure protein.
Potency is amount of protein per kcal.
Profile is amino acids completeness.
Let’s get down to the details.
Nutrition
The Plant Era’s protein powders are relatively pure for a flavoured product, with one serving size (30 g) of strawberry basil hitting you with 20.8 grams of protein, 2.7 grams of carbohydrate, and 2.0 grams of fat. The dark chocolate flavour nets you, per serving, 21.3 grams of protein, 2.0 grams of carbohydrate, and 2.2 grams of fat.
Both products are also enriched with B12, iron, and calcium.
These powders contain mostly organic ingredients (the protein sources in particular) with some artificial ones, like xanthan gum, but definitely nothing too weird.
The proteins are a blend of two sources: pea protein and brown rice protein, with pea protein making up the vast majority of the product, which I actually prefer.
I quite like the nutritional content of both of these flavours: the mixability, flavour, and macronutrient profiles are really quite good and the list of ingredients is short and sensible. This is clearly a no-bullshit product in terms of nutritional content and I like that.
Especially since it tastes so damn good.
Value
The Plant Era’s pricing for their protein powders are pretty fair for organic, flavoured, plant-based protein powders. Even though they’re still on the expensive side if you tend to use a lot of protein powder per month, it’s not as pricey as some of the others we’ve reviewed so far and it has an ace up its sleeve in terms of flavouring.
Buying from the Plant Era will set you back €58 for 33 servings (coming in at about €5.9 per 100 g). Buying with a subscription (-20% discounts) that goes down to €46.60 (or €4.7 per 100g).
Flavour
Strawberry Basil
Mixed with water, it produces a shake that is slightly grainy, but this actually complements the half-sweet, half herbal nature of the product rather well.
The result is creamy, but not too thick, which is a plus in my book. It also mixes surprisingly easily, with no clumping.
I’m amazed how tasty this flavour is! Usually I loathe artificial strawberry but this one is really nice. It’s the first strawberry flavoured protein powder I actually like. Maybe it’s the addition of basil that did the trick!
The herbal notes are an awesome addition to the sweetness of the strawberry.
Mixed with oat milk, you’ll get a shake that is a bit thicker, but it tastes super good. I can’t believe I’m actually liking a strawberry-flavoured protein product. It’s slightly grainy still, but nothing one can’t handle.
The herbal elements come out a little bit stronger with water than with oat milk, where sweeter notes hit more powerfully. Still, you can taste that this is not just something that’s kinda-sorta meant to taste something akin to strawberries, but actually taste more authentically.
Overall I’m really satisfied with the taste of this one. It’s on the sweeter side, but I could actually get used to this and the sweetness is definitely not overpowering.
Dark Chocolate
When mixed with oat milk, this shake is ideally balanced for me between thick and watery. There’s a very slightly noticeable grain, but it mixes really well in a regular shaker.
I’ll be honest: taste-wise, I have a love-hate relationship with chocolate protein powders in general. They can be either very delicious (which is why I frequently opt for them) or they can be bland and uninspired. I’m happy to say that this one belongs to the former category.
I’ve tried a number of chocolate flavoured plant-based protein powders before and this one actually reminds me of the glory days of whey’s mixability, with the added benefits of being plant-based!
The taste makes for a great dessert-style protein shake, while the fact that it’s not overly thick makes it a reliable option for anytime shakes too. I love that it’s not overly sweet and actually tastes like chocolate too, which is another plus.
Mixing this flavour with water reduces the thickness further, making it an incredibly easy shake to drink (and thus more versatile.) However, the trade-off here is that it produces a slightly less delicious shake than if you mix it with oat milk.
I’ve got to hand it to the Plant Era though, the powder still mixes really well, producing little grain, and the chocolate flavours still taste authentic.
To really bring out the best in this protein powder in terms of flavour, I would suggest using oat milk (or other plant milks) and, to be fair, this is a recommendation the company makes on their packaging as well. I would also advise you to follow the recommended liquid measurements, as this balances their flavours perfectly.
I still think that of the two flavours I tasted from the Plant Era, Strawberry Basil is the most interesting of the two but this one is admittedly a bit more versatile!
Products
The Plant Era Strawberry-Basil
The Plant Era Dark Chocolate
Verdict
The fact that I’m recommending a strawberry-flavoured protein powder baffles me, but the Plant Era has succeeded in making it work, and then some! I’m really impressed by the flavour.
The pricing is fair but not something I could recommend when you’re on a budget and consume a lot of protein powder (like I do). However, as a treat, this one belongs among the very best-tasting vegan protein powders and it is not as expensive as some of the others among that category.
I also love that you’ll be supporting another strictly vegan company with your purchase.
Overall, I definitely recommend this one, particularly for it’s very interesting-tasting strawberry basil flavour.