Flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate
You may have seen Purely Inspired Organic Protein Powder at Walmart or some other “low cost” store.
It’s one of the cheapest, widely available vegan protein powders, which is why I had to get a tub and put it to the test.
You can see from the overall score that it’s pretty decent, even if it’s not the best vegan protein powder.
I’ve divided this review into the 4 main aspects of a protein powder, each with a score out of 25 (with a high score always being best).
Table of Contents
Nutrition and Protein in Purely Inspired
The nutrition score for a vegan protein powder can be calculated using this formula:
It’s basically checking for one thing: what percentage of the total calories come from protein?
The whole point of a protein shake is to get protein, so that’s the only thing that the formula checks for.
You can refer to my testing methodology if you’d like to know how I derived this formula and the ones in the coming sections.
We can get the data we need from Purely Inspired’s nutrition label:
With 80 calories from protein (20 grams), and 130 calories overall per serving, it gets a score of 17 out of 25.
It’s not a terrible amount of protein, it’s just less than quite a few of the other options. This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for most people.
Ingredients
There’s a few interesting things of note in the ingredients list:
- Organic Protein Blend (Pea Protein, Brown Rice Protein)
- Organic Acacia Gum
- Organic Cocoa Powder
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Organic Guar Gum
- Organic Natural Flavors
- Organic Rebaudioside A (Stevia Extract)
- Organic Fruit and Veggie Blend
- Digestive Enzyme and Probiotic Blend
This is an organic protein powder, if that’s important to you.
It also has a fruit and veggie blend which gives it a lot of vitamins and minerals (particularly iron).
Finally, the digestive enzyme and probiotic blend should help it digest easier. If you’ve had gas problems with other vegan protein powders, this could be a big deal.
Pricing: How Expensive is Purely Inspired?
You can find Purely Inspired in Walmart for a great price.
The problem is that it’s often sold out or sometimes not available for long periods of time.
A more reliable option is Amazon, which is where I took pricing information from.
Purely Inspired only comes in one size, which is 680 g / 1.5 lb.
In order to compare protein powder prices fairly, I look at the price per 100 grams of the size closets to 1 kg (2.2 lb).
In this case, there’s only one size, so getting that value is straightforward (I update this pricing information periodically so that it remains accurate).
Next, I plug that number into this formula:
This spits out a price value of 21.7 out of a maximum score of 25.
In practical terms, this means that the protein powder is very cheap, and cheaper than almost all other vegan protein powders.
Mixability: Does Purely Inspired Mix Well?
The next important aspect of a protein powder is how well it mixes in real scenarios.
To measure this, I created a simple, consistent process to fairly measure how well a powder mixes:
- Pour 450 mL of unsweetened almond milk in a shaker bottle
- Add in 35 grams of protein powder
- Shake for 45 seconds
- Pour through a fine strainer and weigh the remnants.
The weight of those remnants (or clumps) is then put in this formula:
This protein powder mixed very well, with only 1 gram of remnants. You can see them in the strainer picture below:
Plugging in 1 gram of remnants to the formula, you get a mixability score of 21.9.
This is a good score, which basically means that in most situations, you’ll barely taste any clumps.
How Good Does Purely Inspired Protein Shakes Taste?
Last up is taste, the only area where the powder has to be rated by my opinion.
To stay consistent, I try and rate the powders according to this table:
| Taste Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 25 | Amazing, would drink for enjoyment alone. |
| 20 | Very good. |
| 15 | Drinkable, not really good or bad. |
| 10 | A bit of a struggle to get down |
| 5 | Quite bad |
This was a pretty easy one to rate.
It has a decent amount of chalkiness, and a bit of an aftertaste. But worst of all, the flavor was just not good.
With that being said, it’s still drinkable, just not particularly enjoyable. Based on the table, that’s a clear taste rating of 15.
Overall Review of Purely Inspired Organic Vegan Protein Powder
Purely Inspired is a cheap protein that mixes really well. If those 2 aspects are important to you, it’s a good option.
However, the protein content is a little on the low side, which is bad if you’re watching your calories.
Additionally, the taste really isn’t good, although the shake is drinkable.
At this point I can’t really add any more. It’s up to you to decide if that sounds like the best protein powder for you.
Alternatives to Purely Inspired
- Future Kind – Not only is Future Kind my #1 overall brand, it’s also an organic protein powder. It tastes great and has a really high protein content. You can see my full thoughts on it in my Future Kind vegan protein review.
- PlantFusion – This is one of my favorite overall protein powders. Like Purely Inspired, it has a blend of plant protein sources, and also has digestive enzymes. However, it scores better in most categories. If you want to see more about it, see my PlantFusion protein powder review.
- The Plant Era – This is another organic protein powder that is about on the same level of Purely Inspired overall. However, it has a better protein content and tastes a bit better. See my Plant Era vegan protein powder review for more details.
