It is Sunday as I type these words.
This is a day often marked by a slow start, including a typically indulgent breakfast and strong coffee. Today, however, I am participating in a “juice cleanse” curated by The Juicery Co., a purveyor of cold-pressed raw juices located down on East First Street’s burgeoning, industrial-chic foodie row, a short strip of once purely functional, warehouse-like buildings re-purposed for forward-thinking businesses.
The Juicery Co. is a neighbour of Finch and Barley and Well Fed, both of which have been described in these pages and share with The Juicery a clean, airy and open esthetic.
I have elected to try The Juicery’s One Day Cleanse, a selection of six juice blends to be consumed, in a prescribed order, every two hours throughout the day. This is a journal of the juice cleanse experience, my first.
8:50 a.m. Juice One, “Green One”
This is an aptly named concoction with a bright, mossy green colour, almost phosphorescent, not unlike an algal bloom. It is comprised of cucumber, green apple, kale, celery, parsley, lemon and ginger. On the nose, cucumber and celery dominate with a fresh, light aroma, inviting and, well, very green. On the palate the juice is bright and tart.
The apple bursts to life and the ginger supplies a prickly lift to the blend. Celery still dominates and, happily, I cannot detect a trace of kale. Following my final sip, I feel refreshed and decidedly unburdened by breakfast.
The Juicery Co. has clearly put some thought into the presentation of their raw elixirs; each juice is contained in a 500-millilitre glass container, shaped like an old-fashioned milk bottle. Each bottle boasts a small ingredient label printed on unbleached paper and hand-tied to the neck with a length of twine. These small details help make eating (or drinking, as the case may be) one’s vegetables much more enticing.
10:45 a.m. Juice Two, “Melon One”
The second potion in the cleanse is made of cantaloupe, orange, carrot, ginger and turmeric. It is pastel orange in colour with a mouth-watering scent of melon and ginger. Ripe, round flavours prevail, with a subtle earthy undertone from the carrots and turmeric.
The juices so far are not overwhelmingly pulpy or thick, a nice surprise. I would drink this one again, outside of the cleanse, but I must confess: I’m getting pretty hungry. A waft of bacon from my neighbour’s kitchen comes through my window.
The Juicery Co. cold presses all of their juices. Cold-pressing is the alternative to centrifugal juice extraction, which, by all accounts, creates heat and oxidation sufficient to destroy valuable enzymes and nutrients. The cold-press juicer slow-grinds and presses, an approach to extraction that allegedly not only preserves the nutrients of the ingredients, but also their flavours.
1 p.m. Juice Three, “Greens Four”
Forest green and opaque, this juice contains kale, apple, lime, mint, alkaline water, and spirulina. My appetite has subsided substantially now. Perhaps it’s because this particular juice is shiveringly bitter and tastes how I imagine pure chlorofyll would. This is a challenging lunch and I am grateful for the relief provided by the familiar, albeit reserved, notes of lime and mint that I can detect in the mix.
3:05 p.m. Juice Four, “Roots One”
I normally struggle with the earthy headiness of liquefied beets. Served whole, roasted, or pickled and accompanied by a creamy dollop of goat’s cheese, beets are among my favourite root vegetables.
The Juicery has achieved a commendable feat with their beetroot beverage; it’s actually very tasty (despite a dubious nose of wet earth) and features refreshing notes of ginger, lemon, fennel, and red apple.
This is not inexpensive stuff. At $68 for the one-day cleanse, each one of these 500-millilitre juices works out to more than $11 each.
That said, there is a significant quantity of organic fruits, herbs and vegetables in each juice and even a cursory search of available home cold-press juicers reveals that these machines cost upwards of $400. Add to that the fact that The Juicery employs nutritionists, naturopaths, and athletic therapists to work with patrons and develop custom blends, and I suppose the notion of expensive becomes relative.
5:20 p.m. Juice Five, Honey and Vanilla Almond Milk
Definitively, the best nut milk I have ever had: rich, creamy, modestly sweetened and packed with vanilla bean goodness. This is a great departure from the crisp fruit and vegetable flavours of the other courses.
7:40 p.m. Juice Six, “Unnamed”
The final juice in the cleanse is a blend of grapefruit, apple, burdock and rosemary, this latter leaving its perfumed, woodsy stamp on every sip. It is a bold and decisive end to today’s juice extravaganza, an experience during which my body, the frequent test subject of all manner of meals, has ingested more vitamins and nutrients in a single day than I frequently do in any given week.
The Juicery Co. is located at 254 East First St., North Vancouver. thejuiceryco.ca
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. Contact: [email protected]
