by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
Let’s talk about juice. It seems logical to say that as long as there has been fruit, there has been juice and people love to drink it.
Juice seems to rise and fall in popularity in waves and many remember the home juicing revolution of the 90’s and 2000s. After all, who doesn’t remember the effervescent fitness icon Jack Lalanne giving his stamp of approval to a power juicer in the early 2000’s that seemed to juice anything—and god forbid the remote control get mixed in with the produce, it may juice that too.
Jack and Elaine LaLanne Photo credit: rebuildingyou.com
People seemed to like juicing for the activity, the freshness. People would have juicing parties and bring their own produce to come up with the perfect blend; but nowadays, they seem to just jump for the healthy aspects in a bottle and the words defining it all are ‘cold pressed.’ What does it mean? Is it better than the opposing hot pressed? Enter Tasty6, one of the DC area’s newest juice peddlers that has a bright, fresh and colorful blend of juices on its menu. Tasty6 was primed and ready to explain the new approach to juice and just what they are offering the eager audience of fruitopians looking for a taste of the freshness.
According to the company–“Our juices are cold-pressed – first crushing the fruits and vegetables, and then applying up to 9 tons of pressure to extract the highest nutrient and juice yield with all the nutrients of the fruit and veggies, all without using heat. This produces a drink that’s thicker and has about three to five times more nutrients than normal juice. It reduces exposure to oxidation and last longer than regular juice” —makes enough sense. More effort, better product.
But how does it taste? “Our recipes all blend the finest fresh, raw, organic ingredients to create nutrient-dense and super-nutritious juices and foods…we take care that all our juices and foods are formulated to include all “six” tastes – sweet, sour, salty, astringent, bitter, pungent – as we believe they are key to a balanced and satiating meal.”
Hollywood on the Potomac decided to put all that to the test with a panel of expert tasters and experimented with some mixing methods to take the healthy doses toward the mainstream.
Seasonal Juice—Bright yellow color immediately drew in the whole panel as the first bottle to crack into.
Panelist A: Immediate citrus notes but a strong bitter taste as well. You can taste the individual ingredients: Pineapple, lemon, salt and turmeric.
Panelist B: why would you put salt in a drink? Don’t you put turmeric in Indian food? This could be a marinade for pork
Panelist A: It’s very sweet for no sugar
Panelist B: Tastes like someone reduced down the juice I normally drink. Don’t they add water to juice [this does not] so it isn’t overly sweet?
Panelist A: Sweet tones, spice aftertaste–a combination I usually reserve for chicken but not all bad
**Mixed with bourbon makes a sweet and spicy whiskey sour which everyone enjoyed**
Silhouette “Skinny Boost”—Everyone liked the look at the color of it, grapefruit apple flavors drawing people in but they were skeptical of spices like black pepper.
Panelist A: Right off the bat, the fresh grapefruit is very refreshing.
Panelist D: We’ve got more turmeric and black pepper this time. Leaves a spicy aftertaste in the back of your throat.
Panelist A: The spice is very raw in your mouth—it feels like a second wave and I wish it were more subtle
Panelist D: I think it starts off nice but finishes a bit sour, nice and filling
Panelist A: Reminds me of the taste of the Beyonce lemonade diet with cayenne and syrup. Brings my energy up.
**Mixed with vodka—silhouette screwdriver is a natural fit**
Staminator “Beets Supreme” –It’s hard for everyone to ignore the rich and hearty red color of this bottle and the lightnight bolt on the bottle inspires promise for this juice.
Panelist A: I’m keeping this one for myself. It tastes like beets. Earthy, refreshing, light and balanced. I’d definitely have this one again and feeling a good energy boost.
Panelist A: If I drink too much of this will I turn red? I
**Mixed with Tequila and triple sec for a really nice beet Margarita**
Immunoxer “Green Delight”—The group seemed to identify with this green smoothie mix as a popular set of ingredients for today’s juicers—Kate, Apple, Spinach, Cucumber.
Panelist C: that tastes like the real deal–something that would come out of a mega juicer
Panelist A: This seems like the trendiest group in the set and what people think of as health food
Panelist C: Taste all the elements—a little sweet, a little salty, bitter back end
Panelist B: Salad in a bottle
Panelist A: I wanted to hate this since it screams healthy but it’s pretty good
**Mixed with gin, the cucumber shines for a natural floral flavor**
Refresh “CoCoMelon”—Everyone guessed they knew what to expect with this bottle but had the most surprise when tasting it.
Panelist A: Tastes salty
Panelist D: It smells like the inside of a fresh pumpkin but the taste is nice
Panelist A: I totally get the pumpkin thing and now it’s all I can think of
Panelist D: It’s light and refreshing
**Mixed well with Rum for a summery drink with an island feel**
Power “Mighty Almond”—This bottle was the dreaded one of the batch, trying to understand the way that nuts and herbs and spices make a ‘juice’.
Panelist A: It looks like and smells like flavored milk….possibly a batter. French toast mix with cinnamon and eggs and milk maybe.
Panelist D: It’s Nutty and earthy, I don’t really know what I’m drinking
Panelist A: It’s a little like diluted eggnog, the texture is strange to me
**Mixed with Cinnamon – “it tastes better with cinnamon because now it tastes like cinnamon”**
Awaken “Liquid Gold”—that bright orange color was clearly carrot juice.
Panelist A: It tastes like carrot juice ginger. Why wouldn’t I just eat a carrot?
Ultimately that last bottle summed it up—juicing might be fun and make some good cocktail ingredients but it made us just miss the real food going into it. Fresh flavors and ingredients are sure to help pack a healthy punch and Tasty6 does it as good as any we’ve tasted…but we’re apt to seeing our veggies on a plate rather than in a glass.
If you want a good glass of juice though, check out Tasty6 at http://tasty6.com/
