Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Trader Joe's Yellow Cold Pressed Juice

During my seven years in Los Angeles, I lost a good bit of weight by drinking smoothies and juices. I frequented Jamba Juice, and when there wasn't one available, I settled for Robek'sSmoothie King, or Surf City Squeeze. Sure they have sugar. Sure they have fat. But with a vita-boost and a fiber-boost, they're more filling and more nutritious than most meals, and they completely curbed my appetite. And while we do have a JJ here in southeastern PA now at the King of Prussia Mall, it's just not really on my way to or from anything, and fighting my way through that mall parking lot every single day just to get a smoothie isn't really an option I'd put on the table. So I'm still searching for something to replace my old smoothie habit.

Unfortunately, this isn't it. This is just really expensive yellow juice. Don't get me wrong, it's natural, it's healthy, and it's 100% juice, but you've really gotta have a massive hankerin' for some yellow pepper juice to buy this product on a regular basis. And for me—this was about all the yellow pepper juice I'll ever need in my lifetime. I didn't just read about yellow pepper juice in the ingredients. I smelled it. I tasted it. It's there. It's there in a big way. It tastes like a juiced yellow bell pepper sweetened with pineapple juice. And that, my friends, is why I can't recommend this product to you wholeheartedly. That and the fact that 15oz. costs five bucks! Sure my Jamba smoothies were pricey, too—but those things were like a whole meal for me.

There's a bunch of pulp that settles on the bottom of each bottle. It's a "shake well" kinda situation. I guess that proves that an actual whole piece of fruit was used. I'm thinking that if you're really really into this type of product, that you should just buy your own fruits and veggies and juice them yourselves. Although, I must admit, I've tried juicing and I know it's a lot of work buying all that produce, cutting it, processing it, storing the unused portions properly, and then the worst part is cleaning the juicer—although I have heard many of the newer juicers magically clean themselves with the help of little elves that live inside the plastic base of the appliance. Plus, it's really not cheap buying boatloads of high-quality fresh fruit either. But I would think you'd get a bit more than 15 ounces for $5.

Whether Sonia was just caught up in all the Instagram hype over these juices or whether she really genuinely thought this thing was worth its price tag, I'm not entirely sure. She was happy with the taste—choosing to focus on the pineappliness instead of the pepperiness. She liked the pulpy texture, too, which I must admit wasn't bad. But you can get that texture in a traditional half gallon of country style OJ for a lot less money. 

There are also Red and Green versions of this pressed juice. We just might be crazy enough to try those, too, but feel free to leave your thoughts about them in the comment section below! 4 stars from Sonia. 2.5 from me.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.
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14 comments:

  1. This sounds awful :(
    Trader Joe's is obsessed with bell peppers. It's almost impossible to buy a salad of theirs if you can't eat bell peppers, nuts, or beans (ask me how I know!). Some real peppers (jalapenos or whatever!) would be a welcome change. But not in juice form, please!

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    1. Yeah, I'd steer clear of this if you're not into bell peppers ;)

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  2. I bought the green variety a few weeks ago. It would give it 2/5. I expected it to be a little sweeter and not so veggie tasting.

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  3. I like the TJ cold pressed juice Green. I can taste the lemons and ginger against all the greens.

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  4. love green juice & was excited to try TJs option. sadly i wasn't a fan. i couldn't put my finger on it but the flavors just didn't mix well. fav bottled cold pressed juice is from Evolution Fresh, Sweet Greens. Starbucks sells them in the fridge section. Love it

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  5. I really hated these juices. The staff got to try them when they first came in an I was instantly put off. This one - the "yellow" one - was actually the best of the three. The other two were quite salty and off-putting. I felt bad for not liking these, since I'm a vegan, and people tend to expect me to like this sort of thing, but nope. Couldn't do it. I'm surprised we sell as many of these as we do.

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  6. Cold press juice costs way more than $5 FYI but I would never spend $5 on these - they taste terrible.

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  7. Maybe I'm just a weird one, but I loved both the green and yellow juices. Then again, I love bell peppers and the taste of ginger...if you're not a fan of the taste of either of those, then don't buy it. But I love how I feel after drinking the juices, I get filled up without feeling heavy. My TJ's doesn't have the red juice...guess I'll have to keep my eye out for it :-)

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  8. Maybe you guys aren't familiar with HPP cold pressed juices...but $4.99 is cheap in comparison. Sure you can buy Naked or other juice brands for less, but they're pasteurized using heat, which takes away from the nutrition. Pasteurizing with pressure insures that the juice is never heated, but is still safe to consume (and apparently is an expensive process). Most of the competitors run $8.99-11.99(!) a bottle.

    That being said, I enjoyed the yellow juice. It was refreshing and tart - I'm a big lime fan. I just don't think you can really compare Jamba Juice to HPP cold pressed juice...of course it isn't going to be the same thing.

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  9. I have both the green (kale) and red (beet) juices in my fridge at the moment. They're both quite bitter/salty veggie-tasting, and hard to drink on their own. I've found mixing them into smoothies and such is a good way to drink them. But still, never buying again.

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  10. I drink a lot of juice, and I LOVED this one. It was cool and refreshing, and you can really taste the bell pepper.

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  11. I really enjoyed both the Yellow and Green cold pressed juices....and I as well found the price to be good compared to other cold pressed juices. The Green is definitely more veggie in flavor than I normally like, but it was good, its interesting how the celery flavor stands out a bit. Im definitely a bell pepper lover and I thought the Yellows mix of pepper and pineapple flavors was super delicious, I will for sure buy this again

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