In 1994’s Pulp Fiction, the world was introduced to the eye-poppingly high-priced $5 milkshake.
In 2017, we’re getting another rich offering: it’s called a “$16smoothie.”
“There’s no hiding what it is,” Kate Taylor Martin, 31, said, about the admittedly high-priced drink at Nutbar, her barely months-old “healthy coffee shop.”
“We’re calling it what it is.”
Taylor Martin is also telling it like what it is.
The price tag on the $16smoothie is due to a detailed and lengthy ingredient list that includes almost all of the trending health foods du jour, including bee pollen, moringa, which is a leaf said to be rich in vitamins, matcha, turmeric, hemp seeds, almond butter, blueberries, seasonal greens, avocado, carrots, vegan protein powder, ginger and E3Live, which is blue-green algae.
Because of its impressive contents, the smoothie also has something else: a unique taste that prompts a warning from Taylor Martin whenever it’s ordered: “it looks like mud, it tastes like health.”
This has not deterred her customers.
The smoothie gets a lot of love. Staff have scooped more than 100 of the thick, greenish drinks since Nutbar opened its doors at 1240 Yonge St., near Summerhill Ave., in December.
Clearly, there’s a market for this kind of thing.
That’s exactly what Taylor Martin noticed a few years ago when she decided to leave her job in PR at St. Michael’s Hospital, and later its foundation, to become a holistic nutritionist.
After seeing the obesity crisis from a health-care perspective and realizing that getting proper food on the go is an access issue, Taylor Martin wanted to help, she says. She sensed an opportunity for a coffee shop, of sorts, where customers could pop Betist in and grab quick food that isn’t high in white flour and sugar.
In the last year, as she geared up for Nutbar’s opening, Taylor Martin conducted focus groups with potential customers in the neighbourhood, she says.
“I found that continually there was this sentiment to have menu offerings that went above and beyond what’s currently available from a health perspective,” she says.
As for taste? That was “not a concern,” she says.
Taylor Martin makes clear that taste is a concern, however, when it comes to the other items on her pared-down menu of “superfoods” and “superdrinks.”
The Vanilla smoothie with a shot of espresso ($12.50), for instance, tastes like a chicer, healthier and yummier version of a Tim Hortons Iced Capp. One might also consider Nutbar’s cookie dough ball ($3) a less-guilty way to have a Timbit. There are bowls on offer too and toasts, which Taylor Martin says are made with bread from College St.’s Prairie Boy Bread that is fermented and more digestible than traditional baked goods.
Really, I’m here for the $16smoothie.
Before I take a sip, Taylor Martin gives me a smile and seems to hold her breath. She cautions me again to focus on how I feel, after I imbibe, rather than on the taste. I heed her words but go for it, sucking the swamp-coloured slush onto my tongue. It’s cold and pleasant and slightly crunchy.
It is not sweet at all, which is a bit of a shock. Interestingly, the taste hints of pesto and, yes, that inexplicable quality you can only call “health.” It is definitely not for every palate or wallet. But, isn’t there salvation from punishment? After a few swigs, I’m hooked physically as well as psychologically and feel like patting myself on the back for drinking the whole thing. I really, really like this smoothie. And it filled me up until dinner.
Online
Michele Henry checks out this healthy-tasting smoothy at thestar.com/life
Got an idea for Sourced? Email mhenry@thestar.ca
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