By: Morgan Jacobus, Editor in Chief
photo credit// Morgan Jacobus
There has been a buzz around campus about the new smoothie bar. It is downstairs in Claver Hall, at the Grill. Many students have stopped by Claver before for the market, but now there is so much more being offered. There is the Grill, which has similar items to the Grill in the caf, but with the addition of other menu items like quesadillas (which I hear are pretty good).
Be sure to get there in the afternoons though because it is only open 11am—3pm on weekdays. Don’t miss it!
There are four smoothie flavors available, or you can craft your own. I decided to give each a try. Below are my reviews, in the order that I tried them.
Strawberry Citrus
This smoothie caught my eye first, because it sounded like the Strawberry Surf Rider at Jamba Juice, aka my favorite smoothie ever. It features strawberries, pineapple, peaches, lemonade, lime juice, and Greek yogurt. However, I think my expectations may have been a bit too high. This smoothie isn’t like the smoothie I was envisioning, but it was still tasty. The one that I got mainly tasted like pineapple, which I personally think overpowers it. I am a peachy citrusy gal, and I didn’t taste those flavors, so that was a little disappointing. The yogurt in it makes it thick and creamy, which lingers on your tongue and coats your mouth.
My roommate Mikaela Taylor said it was “wangy but good,” and that it made her face pucker a bit. After trying the Berry Blast, she said she preferred this smoothie.
Overall rating: 3/5 stars, would recommend if you like pineapple and Greek yogurt
Mango Tango
This smoothie is made with mango, pineapple, strawberry, orange juice, and Greek yogurt. Overall, it is more balanced than the strawberry citrus smoothie. Though the pineapple was still a heavy hitter and had the most prominent flavor, you could taste the mango and the other ingredients. It was still smooth, but not quite as creamy as the other, though perhaps the person who made mine didn’t add as much Greek yogurt as before. It was not as tart as the other one either; it still makes you pucker a bit. It is more of a smoothie that I would expect.
I think if you are a pineapple fan, go for the ones with pineapple in it because it is definitely the main flavor that I taste in these smoothies.
Overall rating: 3.5/ 5 stars, not my favorite, but I liked it better than the strawberry because it had more well-rounded flavors.
Berry Blast
There is a story that goes along with my review for this particular smoothie. One day I went to get smoothies with my friends, and three of us chose the berry smoothie, which is made with strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, apples, and cranberry juice. My friend Lexi Wrich tasted hers, which was the first one to come out, and she said it had a little after taste of pine tree. Confused, we each tried it, and it did have a taste of “tree” in it. Then mine was ready, but it didn’t taste like a tree. We brought hers to the lady who made it, who says that she must have put the mint that was supposed to be in the green machine into the berry smoothie.
Without the aforementioned mint incident, the berry smoothie was very tasty. My friends used Mikaela’s description of “wangy” for this smoothie as well. Normally I am not a big berry fan, but this smoothie was really good. A little tart, with a nice berry flavor in addition to the taste of apples and cranberry juice. It was also sweeter than some of the other smoothies I tried, which I was a fan of. Perhaps my liking of this smoothie was because of the lack of pineapples and Greek yogurt, but either way I quite enjoyed it.
My overall rating would be 4/5 stars. Out of the four smoothies, this would be my favorite. Lexi’s rating is 5/5 for color (it was a beautiful magenta/ purple), and 4/5 for flavor. She commented that it has a good apple flavor.
Green Machine
Featuring all things green, it includes kale, spinach, apples, honeydew, mint, apple juice, and chia. In my experience, people either really like or really don’t like green smoothies. My friend Shelby Plummer is someone who likes this kind of smoothie and tried it. Though I am not a very big green smoothie person, this smoothie was not bad. However, this smoothie didn’t have the mint (because of the mix-up where it ended up in my friend’s berry smoothie), so I cannot accurately represent what it would taste like with that in it. I would caution people of the affect of the mint on the overall taste, since when it was in Lexi’s berry smoothie it made it taste “like a tree.”
“I like this one. It is sweeter and more delicious than I thought it would be. I don’t mind the taste of the kale. I am happy with it. One downside is that you have to stir it up a lot so it isn’t grainy,” said Shelby.
My roommate Mikaela tried it and said to her it “tasted like a salad in a cup,” and Lexi said it is a “good way to get your greens.”
For me, I would give it a 2.5/5 stars just because of my personal preferences, but Shelby, who enjoys green smoothies, gave it 6/5 stars.
My Concoction:
In addition to the four smoothies on the menu, there is also the option of building your own smoothie. After trying the smoothies on the menu, I wanted to see if I could modify the strawberry citrus to be more of what I wanted it to taste like, so I decided to include: peaches, strawberries, lemonade, and lime juice. It was my favorite! The taste is definitely reminiscent of the Strawberry Surf Rider at Jamba Juice. I definitely recommend trying the menu smoothies and finding what you like.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars (not quite Jamba, but still really good)
Overall thoughts:
I will definitely be stopping by Claver more often to grab a smoothie, because it is a nice, sweet treat or a healthy snack between classes. You get a nice big boba straw, which lends itself too easy sipping. The lady who made my smoothies would thank me and express how she appreciated me after I thanked her for her smoothie. I would recommend to any Regis student or community member to give these smoothies a try!