NOTE: All food and beverages were complimentary. All opinions are based on my own personal experience.

Last month, I was invited by Zomato to enjoy a private tasting at Commodity Juicery on Fraser St. I drink juices I make with a blender at home, but this whole cold-pressed juice thing is fairly new to me. I brought along M and E who were keen to learn more about cold-pressed juices and what a juice cleanse was all about.

The store is fairly small and is more of a take-away place. There’s really only three stools at the counter plus some chairs against the window. As mentioned, they focus on cold-pressed juices and these are listed with colourful numbers along with the ingredients for each.

In addition to juices, they offer plant-based ready-to-go meals. They range from salad bowls, soups, and desserts. When they say plant-based, it basically means vegan (so no dairy, seafood, or meats).

On the side, they have a fridge filled with their freshly made cold-pressed juices in take-away bottles. Carissa, the co-owner who hosted our private tasting said these can last up to 4 days unopened.

Sample of Cold Pressed Juices

We got to sample some of the cold pressed juices which were customer favourites. This colourful array of fresh juice from left to right included:

10: Sunrise: grapefruit, apple, lemon, mint
8: Orange Roots: carrot, turmeric, apple, lemon
6: Purple Puppy: beet, cucumber, cilantro, orange, apple
1: Sweet Greens – pineapple, kale, romaine, cilantro, green apple, lime
7: Morning Love: carrot, yam, lemon, cinnamon
4: Bright Greens: romaine, cucumber, kale, parsley, green apple, celery, lemon

My favourites included Sunrise, which is the perfect drink if you love fruitier flavours, and Sweet Greens, which again was a sweeter juice. I’m a sucker for fruiter juices even though it may have more sugar. You could really taste all the ingredients in the juice and it tasted very clean and fresh. M even mentioned why he had never tasted these kind of flavours in a juice before. These go for $10 a bottle normally.

 

Kale Chips

We then got to sample some of their Kale Chips which are lightly seasoned with chili. These were delicious and addicting. E and I both agreed we could snack on these all day long at work.

Minestrone Soup

A new addition to the menu is the Minestrone Soup which Carissa said is from her grandmother’s recipe. This was hearty and flavourful with a good assortment of vegetables and beans. No chicken broth is used, so this is vegan friendly.

Kale Caesar

The Kale Caesar is again a vegan version as the Caesar dressing is actually cashew-based yet still giving that anchovy flavour. To substitute Parmesan cheese, the salad is sprinkled with Rawmesean, which is a raw vegan substitute and tastes just like cheese! We could hardly tell! The salad was a mix of kale and romaine and this is normally topped with coconut bacon which is the bomb!

Mighty Greens

One additional juice we tried was the #3: Mighty Greens. This was made with cucumber, green apple, mint, romaine, celery, kale, and lime. This juice is supposed to help with weight management, liver cleansing, digestion, and suppressing appetites.

Matcha Mylk

Moving on, we tried one of their milk based drink, the #12: Matcha Mylk. This is made with cashews, almonds, matcha, maple syrup, and vanilla bean. I found this to taste like those Vita-Soy drinks but much more clean and less sugary.

Macaroons

For dessert, we tried their Coconut Macaroons. These were surprisingly very delicious even though they are vegan. A subtle sweet flavour and it gives you that feeling of begin full. Carissa said these would be good to have just before you go to a yoga class.

Relief Shot

We were all curious about what these “health shots” were so Carissa let us try the Relief Shot. This is usually taken in the morning to get you going and powered up. The Relief Shot’s ingredients included lemon and ginger and was topped with some cayenne. Wow, this took us by surprise and that spicy and gingery flavour really woke us up. I could really use this every morning.

Overall, we had a great time at the private tasting and enjoyed the introduction to a plant-based diet. Who knew vegan could taste so good! The staff are also very  knowledgeable and passionate to help find you the best fit and flavour profiles you enjoy. Juice cleanses are available as well so if you are looking into something like that, Commodity Juicery is a great option. A location is also in Smithers for those of you up north.