Hold your horses! Before you go out into the wild blue yonder looking for this juice bar, please…read morenote: The Health & Beauty Juicery, though local, does not have a storefront. Instead, they are delivery based (and in a few cafes in and around town).
I met the enthusiastic folks behind this business in the middle of last year while organizing an event where I got to sample a few of their juices. Hailing from the land of "we'll pay $10 for juice!" ie. Vancouver, Canada, the price point here didn't scare me... I understand from making my own juice, how much produce goes into one little bottle and am happy to pay for not having to clean a juicer (never again Breville, never again...).
But after that first event, The H&B Juicery sort of fell off my radar. My occasional green juice cravings were met through lunch meetings at Urban Angel and I didn't really find a strong reason to pay the big bucks for juice.
... and then I got sick.
Let's make something clear: I can get sick just by SAYING the word "flu"... between chaotic hours and some fun insomnia, my immune system is completely out of whack. I'll catch something every eight weeks or so and be out for the count for a few days... this does not make for a really productive life.
Enter: my new juice superheroes.
So these folks have a juice called Immunity: it has lemon, turmeric, ginger, agave, black pepper and water (tastes less weird than it sounds) and this is my lifeblood when I have a cold. I get the 500ml bottle which will run you £8. Those who scoff at that price have obviously never tried to track down and then juice turmeric... I generally order this the second day of a cold and it arrives within two days. The owner is generally the gal who delivers, so I know this stuff is fresh. I will drink all £8 of that juice in one day (probably not encouraged) and it kickstarts me back into the land of the living. Case in point: I had a bottle delivered today. This morning, I blew my nose and it made me so dizzy I fell over and I couldn't sit upright for an hour... this evening: I am writing a Yelp review! Sitting up! And I drank some things! Lookit me go!
It's not a miracle worker but it's not hogwash either: lemon, ginger and black pepper are tried and true cold cures.
I usually grab a second day juice as well - either a green juice or the Boost: cucumber, apple, fennel, mint, ginger and lemon. Less intense but still good for sickness stuff. If you've got a stomach flu to contend with, their cashew milk is insanely good, mild enough for an upset tum and will give you the added kick of protein when you haven't eaten solid food in three days.
So, you'll never find me on a juice cleanse... and I doubt i'll ever go back to juicing on the regular (though, to its credit, it did make an impact when I did) - it's simply too pricy... but anytime I have a big event, a big deadline, feel a cold coming on or am already on the sick train, this place is and will continue to be my go-to.
It's way better than Lemsip.