The cold-pressed juice trend is becoming increasingly popular in North America. Whether it is for detox, an energy-boost, or staying healthy, there is a bottle of nutrient dense juice that will fit your needs. This is what you will find at Just Pressed, the newest cold-pressed juice bar next door to Falafel Avenue. We spoke with the owner Patrick Andraous to know more about this latest juice trend and why it is indeed one of the best juice bars in Montreal.
The cold-pressed approach uses a special juicer that squeezes out every drop of liquid from fruits and vegetables. To give you an idea of quantity, 50 lbs of carrots is pulverized into 7.5 L of carrot juice. Unlike the juicers we use at home, Just Pressed does not use conventional centrifugal juicers, which heat the fruits and veggies, resulting in a loss of nutrients according to Patrick. He also owns an orange juicer that extracts solely the juice from the pulps without the bitterness of the rind.
Just Pressed uses 100% organic fruits and are never hpp’d (high pressure processed). Juices here are guaranteed fresh up to 4 days. Be skeptical of juice bars claiming to last more than a week. When you see cold-pressed juices sold in plastic bottles with a darker shade of color, it is likely pasteurized via hpp. Here is why: juices in plastic bottles are put under extreme pressure to kill all living enzymes in the juice. Increasing pressure results in an increased juice temperature to over 22°C defeating the purpose of cold-pressed. Here the juices are glass bottled and vibrant in colour as you can see in the pictures. You are sure to get the real stuff.
Also, most ‘green juices’ available in the market might not be authentic green juices. For many, their base is mainly apple or orange juice blended with enough greens to look like green juices. At Just Pressed, their green juices are made mostly of greens without hindering taste.
Some of their bestselling juices include:
– Morning Greens: kale, cucumber, celery, parsley, apple, and lemon
– Liquid Gold: apple, lemon, and ginger
– Beets by JP: beets, pineapple, apple, carrot, orange, lemon, and ginger
– Spicy Carrot: carrot, pineapple, grapefruit, ginger, turmeric, and lime
To start off your morning feeling good, opt for their açai bowls (smoothie with açai berries) with fresh fruits, almond butter, house-made almond milk, and plant-based proteins such as hemp seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds. They are packed with protein, antioxidants, and vitamins. One does not need to rely on protein powder as you can get the same amount of protein from whole food.
Their energy balls are equally delicious. One is an oatmeal cookie mixed with hemp seeds and cranberry. The other is made of cocoa, lemon, and organic medjool dates.
For lunch options, Just Pressed has partnered with Délicieux Veg Fusion Cafe offering vegan sandwiches such as farro bean balls served on pesto pita bread with cashew tzatziki and spicy veganaise. Soon, Just Pressed will be serving overnight oats (oats soaked in milk overnight) from the startup YumiBox.
Just Pressed strives on sustainability and making social responsibility a part of everything they do. They use paper straws and compostable cups. Glass bottles are reused. When you return 9 empty bottles, you get the 10th bottle free.
Opening hours: Monday-Wednesday 7:30am-7pm; Thursday-Friday 7:30am-7pm; Saturday 10pm-5pm; Sunday 12pm-5pm
2020 Boulevard Robert-Bourassa, Montreal, QC H3A 2A5
Photos courtesy of Victor Yu (@randomcuisine).
