Pea protein is the base of most plant protein powders, and the label on each one tells you less than three questions will. How does a shake sit an hour later? Does it stir up with a spoon? Do you like drinking it? We make NØRSE CØDE to answer all three. It is pea, rice and barley protein, built to stir with a spoon.
The nine powders below all lean on pea. They differ in what gets added around it, and that is where a daily shake is won or lost.
Pea protein tastes like pea protein. You can taste it through a cup of coffee, and a powder that leaves it alone has handed the sweetening and the texture to something else on the label.
Try It Yourself
Try it at the kitchen counter before you spend anything. Stir one scoop of any powder into a glass of cold water with a spoon, wait two minutes, and look at the bottom of the glass. A settled layer is grit. Then drink half and notice what is left in your mouth a minute later.
How a shake sits is the other half of the test, and only you can run it. One of our customers put it this way:
"This is the first plant protein powder I've tried that doesn't make me gassy or bloated. The chocolate tastes great and I drink it almost every day and still love it."
That is one person's report of one powder. Repeat the glass test the next morning with the same powder and check whether the bottom of the glass and the aftertaste come out the same.
Figures come from each brand's own product page. Nuzest, Momentous, Ora, Ritual, Sprout Living and Vega were read on 24 August. The NOW Sports row stands on a read from 21 August, because NOW Foods now blocks automated readers. The gum cells in the Orgain row also come from 21 August, since its ingredient panel is now served as an image.
| Powder | Protein | Protein sources | Sweetener | Xanthan or guar gum | Added sugar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NØRSE CØDE | 20g | Pea, rice, barley | Allulose, monk fruit | None | 0g |
| NOW Sports Pea Protein | 24g | Pea isolate | None, unflavored | None on the panel | 0g |
| Nuzest Clean Lean Protein | 20g | Pea isolate | Thaumatin | None | 0g |
| Momentous 100% Plant Protein | 20g | Pea, brown rice | Cane sugar, stevia, monk fruit | None | 2g |
| Ora Organic So Lean & So Clean | 23g | Pea, rice | Monk fruit | None | 0g sugar† |
| Orgain Organic Protein | 21g | Plant protein blend | Erythritol, stevia | Guar, xanthan | None added† |
| Ritual Essential Protein Daily Shake 18+ | 20g | Pea | Rebaudioside-M, monk fruit | Xanthan | 0g |
| Sprout Living Epic Protein Original | 26g | Pea, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed | None, unsweetened | None | 0g |
| Vega Sport Premium Protein | 30g | Pea, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed | Stevia leaf extract | Xanthan | None added† |
† Brand's own wording on its product page, which we have not checked against a panel. Ora's page lists 0g sugar per serving, Orgain's says no sugar added, and Vega's reads No Added Sugar.
Protein runs from 20g to 30g, so every powder clears the dose a shake needs and the sweetener and gum columns do the sorting.
We built ours around a spoon. One scoop dissolves in hot or cold liquid, which we call SmoothBlend, with no slurry step and no blender unless you want one. We chose no xanthan and no guar on day one, and prebiotic acacia fiber, a soluble fiber that helps the shake feel like food, is what got the texture there after over a thousand iterations, over two years.
The proteins are pea, rice and barley, inside a label of nine natural ingredients. Allulose and monk fruit sweeten it to 0g total sugar and 0g added sugar, with no sugar alcohol behind them. It contains coconut, from the MCT oil, and the barley means it is not gluten-free, so if you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, skip this one. We make it in our own facility in Petaluma, California, and we third-party test every input for heavy metals.
One reviewer on how it mixes: "Really like the clean ingredients, mixes well with milk, yogurt, fruit, etc."
Pea isolate and nothing else. It comes unflavored, so a banana, a splash of juice or a lot of cocoa settles the taste each morning. Some people like having that job.
Three items make up the label: pea protein isolate, natural flavors and thaumatin. Thaumatin is a sweet-tasting protein from the katemfe fruit, which makes this the only powder here sweetened by a protein instead of by stevia, monk fruit or sugar. Nuzest states no gums, thickeners or emulsifiers sit behind it, at about 20g a serving. The table can't tell you how that sweetness lands, only a glass can.
If you are drug-tested for a living, NSF Certified for Sport is the reason this one is on the list, and the page goes further by describing independent testing for purity, potency and label accuracy. The protein is PURIS pea with organic brown rice, and the panel carries no gums. It is also the only powder in the table with added sugar, 2g of it, from organic cane sugar alongside the stevia and monk fruit, which is worth knowing if you count sugar. There is a longer comparison with Momentous if it is on your shortlist.
Eighteen organic superfood sources ride along behind the pea and rice, from acerola and acai to broccoli and kale, plus a five-enzyme blend. It suits someone who wants a greens-and-berries powder and a protein in one scoop. Ora states no gums, no stevia and no erythritol, and sweetens with organic monk fruit.
NØRSE CØDE Plant Protein
20g protein per serving, dissolves in any liquid, no blender needed.
Shop NØRSE CØDEDates matter on this row. When we went back on the 24th, the ingredient panel was an image we could not read as text, so the guar and xanthan cells stay three days old, from the 21st. What we did confirm on the 24th is 21g, erythritol and stevia, and no sugar added. The USDA Organic seal covers how the ingredients were farmed. This is the only row in the table with guar and the only one with a sugar alcohol.
Ritual sells this one by age band, and the 18+ version is the one we read. Organic pea protein carries the 20g. Xanthan gum handles the body, with sunflower lecithin and coconut MCT oil alongside, so anyone avoiding coconut has the same check to make here as with ours. Its own instruction says a shaker bottle or blender gives the best result.
Nothing sweetens this one. Unsweetened is easy to admire in August and harder to face on a dark morning in February, so give it a smoothie with its own fruit in it. Pea sits alongside pumpkin seed and sunflower seed protein, and it is the only label here that also carries chia and Jerusalem artichoke root, at 26g from a 38g serving.
Built for recovery after training, and the 180 calories a serving reflect that job. Vega now titles it Protein + Recovery and still shows the old name on the page.
The table cannot say what any of these tastes like, and neither can we for the other eight, because we have not drunk each of them for a month. Taste decides whether a bag gets finished or ends up behind the oats, so we tested ours the one way that does not depend on knowing whose it is. In a blind taste test, more people chose NØRSE CØDE than Orgain.
A customer, on the afternoon shake: "Chocolatey, satisfying but still light some how. Just right for an afternoon snack!"
The table reads one column at a time, so match your situation to the column that answers it. Each row stands alone.
| If this is you | Read this | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| A shake has ever left you heavy | Xanthan or guar gum, then Sweetener | Orgain, Ritual and Vega list a gum; the other six list none. Orgain's erythritol is the only sugar alcohol among the sweeteners these brands name. |
| You count added sugar | Added sugar | Momentous is the only row above 0g, at 2g. Ora, Orgain and Vega are marked † because their figure is the brand's own wording. |
| You want to choose the flavor yourself | Sweetener | NOW Sports and Sprout Living list none, and both come unsweetened. |
| You avoid gluten | Protein sources | NØRSE CØDE is the only row listing barley, and it is not gluten-free. The table says nothing on gluten for the other eight, so check their pages. |
| You want more than 20g a serving | Protein | Vega lists 30g, Sprout Living 26g, NOW Sports 24g, Ora 23g and Orgain 21g. |
| You will mix it at the counter on a weekday | Entries 1 and 7, since no column covers mixing | Ours stirs with a spoon. Ritual's own instruction says a shaker bottle or blender gives the best result, and a blender adds a wash-up to every weekday morning. |
The label is where you check why a shake behaved the way it did, after you have already felt it. How a shake sits and whether you like drinking it only show up in the glass, so use the rows above to explain what you notice. If the daily number is what worries you, our guide to how much protein you need covers it, and the question of soy as a base has its own page.
Two or three weeks of drinking the thing most mornings settles any of this. Our guarantee runs 60 days, money back, no questions asked, which is enough room to run that test properly.
Ready to try it?
Backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee. If it is not the smoothest protein you have had, send it back.
Shop NØRSE CØDE
