Coconut water and kombucha are mainstays of spa menus, but to appeal to cutting-edge health nuts. Some cafes and juice bars in Los Angeles and New York, like Brooklyn's beQu, are trying something different: pressed juice. It's a style of raw, minimally processed beverage that, if you believe its proponents, offers a nutritional density up to five times higher than that of standard juice-shop offerings. That's because the produce is slowly pressed rather than ground and pulverized.
1 | The Theory
Standard juicers oxidize and degrade the nutrients in fruits and vegetables. Pressing preserves them, say aficionados of pressed juice.
2 | Who's Drinking It
Liquiteria in New York's East Village counts Natalie Portman, Blake Lively, and Ed Norton among its regular pressed-juice customers.
3 | The Healthiest Combo
Green juices pack the greatest nutritional punch because they're loaded with nutrients like the mineral magnesium, which relaxes the body and mind.
4 | The Cocktail Upgrade
Cafés like Liquiteria and beQu in New York offer custom-made pressed juices that can double as cocktail mixers. For a vitamin-rich Bloody Mary, try fresh-pressed tomato juice with cucumber, parsley, celery, lime, and cayenne pepper.
5 | What the Pros Use
Created in 1934 and used by most pressed-juice bars, the Norwalk applies 1,000 pounds of pressure to everything from apples to kale. (norwalkjuicers.com; $2,395)