I’m linking up with Running with SD Mom for Try Out Thursdays today.
As you’ve probably seen in some of my race reports lately, I’ve been drinking a lot of juice in the day or so before a long race to help hydrate better. I believe that a lot of my stomach issues stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t hydrating well in the days before a race, which really doesn’t do me any favors on race day.
That being said, the nice folks at Garden of Flavor sent me an awesome package of juices to try out. I received a package with 7 different juices, 1 bottle of Vegan nut mylk and then their 4 new Cold Pressed Energy drinks in exchange for this review.
They overnighted me a package and all the juices were still super cold when I opened the box.
I tried the following juices: (my thoughts are in italic)
Green Harmony: A mix of dark leafy greens & more active probiotics than yogurt.
Ingredients (all organic): Cucumber, Apples, Romaine Lettuce, Kale, Celery, Lemon, Spinach, Parsley & over 1 billion deliverable probiotic cultures.
Green Harmony had a strong celery flavor which overpowered most everything else for me. I was excited about this one because I thought it would taste sweet because of the apple, but that was not the case. Green Harmony is definitely a veggie juice.
Mean Greens: Alkalizing greens including lots of kale and chlorophyll
Ingredients (all organic): Celery, Cucumber, Kale, Spinach, Romaine & Lemon
This was one of my favorites, it was definitely a veggie drink with no fruit outside of the lemon, but it was super smooth with no aftertaste. I didn’t get the strong celery taste I did with Green Harmony.
Appleade: A digestive supporting lemonade that fortifies the immune system
Ingredients (all organic): Apple, Lemon, Ginger Root & over 1 billion deliverable probiotic cultures
Appleade had a super smooth flavor and tasted a bit like cold apple cider with a kick of ginger. I really liked this one too and would use this as a substitute for a spicy lemonade.
Twisted Roots: Ingredients (all organic): Carrot, Beet & Lemon
I really wasn’t expecting to like this one as I am not a fan of beets but I was pleasantly surprised. Twisted Roots was really a lot sweeter than I was expecting. I haven’t had a lot of luck with beet juices because they are too strong but this one I would definitely recommend.
Tumeric Tonic: A crisp lemonade infused with 3 ancient spices, cayenne, ginger & tumeric root.
Ingredients (all organic): Purified Water, Lemon, Blue Agave, Tumeric Root, Ginger Root, Mint, Cayenne Pepper & over 1 billion deliverable probiotic cultures
This was probably my least favorite of the juices, it had a strong ginger flavor, but I think it was the tumeric I don’t really like.
Goji Pineapple: Garden of Flavor’s “super drink” including the super food, Goji berry which is packed with protein, amino acids & 3x the antioxidants of blueberries.
Ingredients (all organic): Pineapple, Goji Berries, Apple, Ginger, Mint & Lemon
A lighter tasting, sweeter juice with a slight kick of ginger. The first time I tried this one, I wasn’t sure about it, but the second time I tried it, I thought it was pretty good.
The Grasshopper: A mix of dark leafy greens, pineapple & mint with a shot of wheatgrass to provide 10 grams of plant-based protein.
Ingredients (all organic): Wheatgrass, Pineapple, Apple, Mint Tea, Kale, Spinach, Romaine, Parsley, Mint & Lemon
Another of my favorites, I was really skeptical of this one at first because of the tea & I’ve never really had Wheatgrass before. Made of 12% tea, 88% juice, this is the only juice that is not 100% juice. Super smooth, sweet and just overall yum! This was definitely the sweetest of their juices.
White Knight: Garden of Flavor’s version of Cashew Milk. This dessert in a bottle is a creamy semi-sweet milk with a touch of cinnamon.
Ingredients (all organic): Purified Water, Cashew Nuts, Agave Nectar, Vanilla Bean, Cinnamon
Cashew milk has always one of my favorites, and the White Knight doesn’t disappoint. It was different than the other cashew milks I’ve tried in that it was incredible smooth. Most cashew milks have a bit of substance to them and this one didn’t so I was waiting for the thickness and it never came. The flavor was right on though and I enjoyed this one.
On the Cold Pressed Energy side they sent me a bottle of each of the four flavors: Guayusa & Aronia berries, Guayusa & Tumeric, Guayusa & Wheatgrass & Guayusa & Pear.
Guayasa delivers 100mg of natural plant based caffeine providing sustainable energy without the jitters or crashing.
Of the four drinks, I only tried the Guayusa & Pear, I’m not really an energy drink kind of person and outside of coffee & the occasional soda I don’t drink any drinks with added caffeine. I liked the flavor of this one, it was kind of like a pear tea drink.
Sean tried the other 3 cold pressed energy drinks and liked the Wheatgrass & Aronia Berries. He didn’t really like the flavor of the Tumeric & Ginger one. I guess neither of us are fans of Tumeric lol. Which is unfortunate because I’ve heard a lot about it being good for runners.
Based in Cleveland, Garden of Flavor juices aren’t available in California yet, but they are all over the Midwest, mid Atlantic and Northeast. If you are in those areas of the country you can find Garden of Flavor here.
All in all I was impressed by the flavors and the variety of juice that Garden of Flavor offers and if it was available in San Diego, I would definitely be using some of these juices as part of my pre-race juicing routine.
Do you drink cold-pressed juice? And if so what is your favorite kind?
