If the presence of a good juice bar is any indication, Greenville has recently ratcheted up its cool factor with the addition of Southern Pressed Juicery. A partnership between wellness-focused entrepreneur Olivia Esquivel and the Table 301 group, Southern Pressed Juicery offers organic, cold-pressed juices and raw food items.
“Juiceologists” like Simone Clayton, who has been juicing for years, can recommend the perfect potion for what ails you. Tired? Try a Root Shine (beet, orange, pear, tarragon, mint, and lime). Feeling a cold coming on? A Hot Mess (grapefruit, orange, lime, lemon, ginger, cayenne, and camu—a powder high in Vitamin C) should do the trick. Need a brain boost? Order an E3Live Shot, made with blue-green algae from Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon.
Juices are cold-pressed in the shop’s compact kitchen using an industrial juicer. “Cold-pressing makes the ingredients more potent,” Esquivel explains. “The process breaks down the enzymes in the food for you (as you do when you chew food), making the nutrients immediately available to your body.” Organic ingredients are essential. “Otherwise,” asserts Esquivel, “you’re just eating more potent doses of pesticides.”
To complement the menu of juices and smoothies, Chef Xavier Bonnafous, who hails from southern France and quit his catering business in Miami to move to Greenville, offers grab-and-go options of plant-based salads, dips, and raw, dehydrated crackers, energy bowls, and even brownies. The latter are his raw version, made with cacao powder, dates, and cashews for texture, agave for sweetness, and cayenne for a little kick. “A raw, organic diet is a great way to reset your body,” says the chef, a passionate foodie who admits to enjoying a good grass-fed steak now and then.
A small retail area covers one wall of the store with T-shirts, fresh flowers, cold-pressed soaps made by Esquivel’s mother, and the Produce line of natural soy candles inspired by scents from the farmers’ market. Plans are in the works to offer catering services, hold cooking and free yoga classes, and other events that dovetail with the healthy lifestyle the Juicery promotes. Esquivel hopes that Southern Pressed Juicery will dispel any intimidation that people feel about juicing and raw food.
By the numbers, each 16-ounce bottle of juice contains 5 pounds of raw, organic produce, which is pressed with 9 tons of extreme pressure. Is juicing really that good for you? You do the math.
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Southern Pressed Juicery packs their menu with a variety of nutrients, including these below.
Cayenne: Helps with circulation and digestion, and boosts metabolism
Chia: Powerhouse seeds with protein, fiber, calcium, electrolytes, and the coveted omega-3 fatty acid
Spirulina: This natural, antioxidant-rich algae powder is like a shot of energy, especially of B vitamins and a high amount of iron
Turmeric: Anti- inflammatory, antioxidant-rich spice that helps strengthen heart and mind
Wheatgrass: Includes vitamins A, B, and C, oxygenating, with amino acids
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Southern Pressed Juicery // 2 West Washington St, Greenville / (864) 729-8626
Mon–Fri, 7am–6pm; Sat, 8am–3pm
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