What the heck is it?

First let’s start with what exactly cold-pressed juice is. I’m sure at this point we’ve all seen the fancy bottles and shops sprouting up around Chicago. Our first inclination might be to ask, “A juice store? Why on earth would I shop at a juice store?” Whelp, we asked ourselves that question and then proceeded to enter said store of juices. We won’t lie the first time you saunter up to the counter and the juice lady asks “what’ll it be?” You might panic. Green, pink, red, yellow, black and white bottles all neatly line the shelves. Take a breath it’s ok, this was our exact experience.

So we asked “what is pressed juice?” The answer is as follows: Cold- pressed juice uses a hydraulic press to extract juice from fruit and vegetables, as opposed to other methods that use a centrifugal juicer which is the juicer we are all familiar with and often have at home. Cold-pressed juice has actually been proven to contain more nutrients than juice made with a regular juicer. With this process comes a steeper price tag with the average juice costing around $10.00 a bottle. So why are we spending so much money on one bottle of juice? Well, the hydraulic press uses thousands of pounds of pressure to extract the maximum amount of liquid from fresh fruits and veggies. No additional heat or oxygen is used in the process, meaning that no nutrients are lost in the heat of traditional pasteurization allowing you to consume more of the stuff that’s good for you.

Why should I drink it?

Ok so $10.00 is a lot of money for a bottle of liquid that you’ll potentially chug down in a few seconds. Trust us though, it’s worth it. Be honest with yourself, you know it can be a struggle to get you daily dose of veggies. We all have busy schedules and active social lives making it hard to slow down and eat right. The struggle is real folks!

Drinking cold-pressed juice is a natural and efficient way of massively increasing your consumption of raw fruits and vegetables in just one sitting. So if you’ve been slacking just one bottle can help get you on the right path. Also regular consumption of cold-pressed juice has some awesome health benefits such as increased energy levels, boosted immune system, bowl regularity and detox functions. It may not be something you pick up on the norm but if you feel a nasty cold coming on or your tummy just isn’t right a few bottles may just be what you need.

How does it taste?

Umm delicious! Look, at the end of the day you aren’t going to consume something that tastes bad. We found the juices we sampled to be super tasty and satisfying. The thing about cold-pressed juice is that the people making them seem to be very passionate about thee work they’re doing and therefore put a ton of thought into the product. There seem to be endless combinations each one more interesting than the last. Honestly it’s like being in a healthified version of Charlie and The Chocolate factory, only Willy Wonka is now the juice lady.

Where can I buy some?

The awesome thing about food trends is that the trendy item starts to pop up everywhere you go. So while the most ideal place to grab a cold-pressed juice is still the juice store, large brick and mortar stores are now carrying juicy goodness. Mariano’s, Trader Joe’s , Whole Foods and Snap Kitchen all carry simple blends. Some of our favorite local Chicago spots include Owen + Alchemy, City Press Juice & Bottle. Owen + Alchemy recently closed their retail shop in Logan Square but will be rolling out some wholesale products and working on some cool new projects.

Live with Reside:

Featured shop nearest Reside Living properties: City Press Juice & Bottle.

Properties: Reside on Surf, Reside on Wellington and Reside on Barry