For a protein smoothie in Lisbon, Aura's ENERGY (€10) is built on a chocolate protein base, and every Aura smoothie comes with a choice of whey or plant-based protein: in Campo de Ourique, Santos and on Uber Eats.
A protein smoothie is worth ordering for one reason: real food carrying a real dose of protein, not a token scoop stirred into juice. At Aura, a wellness bar in Campo de Ourique, ENERGY pairs that chocolate protein base with cold brew, cacao nibs, banana and dates.
Plenty of Lisbon drinks are sold as "protein smoothies" while quietly skipping the two things that decide whether they actually are one: a named source and a dose big enough to matter. Whey, from dairy, digests quickly and is rich in leucine, the amino acid that switches on muscle repair; plant proteins such as pea, soy and rice do the same job, especially when blended so their amino acids complement each other. A single scoop lost inside a wall of banana and apple juice can leave you with less protein than a small yoghurt. A bar that can name the source and the dose is a bar worth ordering from.
The right order depends on what you actually need it for
How much protein you need depends on what the smoothie is replacing. Three situations cover most cases:
Just finished strength work?Chase a real dose, not a huge one. A 2009 dose-response study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gave young men 0–40g of egg protein after leg-resistance training and found muscle protein synthesis was maximally stimulated around 20g, with the 40g dose adding little extra repair, just more protein oxidised for energy (Moore et al., 2009, DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26401). The protein also needs to be complete— carrying all the essential amino acids and enough leucine to cross the repair threshold — and to arrive within an hour or two of training, the easy part to get right. The study was small and specific to young men on a single training session, so treat 20g as a well-evidenced floor to aim for, not a ceiling to fear crossing.
Training endurance, or about to? The dose still matters, but timing and steadiness matter more. Our ENERGY smoothiepairs its protein base with ginseng, rhodiola rosea and maca — adaptogens that support endurance and steady the energy once the cold brew's caffeine settles, rather than spiking and dropping you.
Just hungry, no training involved?The protein still counts, only the urgency doesn't — which is where powder and whole food work best together. Whole-food protein— nuts, seeds, nut butter, oats — arrives with fibre, healthy fats and micronutrients, but at a lower density, so you need a fair amount of it to reach a real dose. Protein powderis concentrated and quick to digest, with nothing else to chew through first. The most useful smoothie layers the two: a protein base for the dose, plus banana, cacao and almond milk for the real-food carbohydrate and fat that turn a drink into something closer to a meal — the layering behind the ENERGY smoothie, whichever situation brought you in. For scale, without ordering anything: 20g of protein is roughly three large eggs plus a large pot of Greek yoghurt — useful to know whether you're standing at our counter or your own fridge.
One label worth reading past: "protein-enriched" on a menu can mean anywhere from a genuine scoop to a spoonful added mostly for the word. If a bar can't tell you the source (whey, pea, soy) or roughly how much is in the glass, the number matters more to the label than to the drink.
Yes, you can make a protein smoothie vegan
Across all three situations above. Every smoothie on Aura's menu is available with your choice of whey or plant-based (vegan) protein — you simply tell us when you order. Kept plant-based, the ENERGY base is fully vegan alongside its banana, cold brew, MCT oil, cacao nibs and coconut whipped cream. The same choice runs across the rest of the functional smoothie range, from BLISS to JOY, so a dairy-free protein smoothie is never a special order here — it is just how you ask for it.
Where to get one
Our ENERGY smoothie (€10) is the one built for the hour after training: chocolate protein base, cold brew for a clean lift, banana and dates for carbohydrate, MCT oil and cacao nibs, adaptogens for the endurance case above. The cold brew's bitterness settles against the sweetness of the dates and cacao nibs, finished with homemade coconut whipped cream. Like every Aura smoothie, it is labelled gluten-free. For how it compares with the city's other options, see our guide to the best smoothies in Lisbon by goal.
You can order it at the Campo de Ourique flagship on R. Domingos Sequeira 11A, on Uber Eats across Lisbon, or — the most convenient timing of all — from our bar inside MVMT Studio in Santos, a training space with a sauna and cold plunge, where a protein smoothie is a few steps from where you finish. For anyone training in Santos, that is the difference between planning a protein hit and simply having one waiting. Whey or plant-based, by training situation or by nothing at all — either way, it is a real protein smoothie, not a flavoured one.