Town Center Cold Pressed serves up health

VIRGINIA BEACH

Feeling tired? Anemic? Hung over?

There's a juicy new business in town that says it may have the cure.

Town Center Cold Pressed – tucked away behind a rustic bar inside the Daily Grind Unwind cafe – opened in the fall and has since been serving up fresh, pressed juices made from fruits, vegetables and a whole range of exotic ingredients.

There are orange and carrots for a morning jump-start, almond milk and nuts for a pre-workout snack and a cucumber-watermelon combo to battle that hangover. Add-ons include agave syrup, cayenne pepper and maca, a Peruvian root rumored to boost the libido.

Customers can make their own creation or choose from the menu, which offers juices and juice-smoothie mixes with names like "The Berry Manilow," "Love Machine" and "Juice Lee."

A 16-ounce pour – which owner Briston Tutwiler says packs in about three pounds of fruit and veggies – sells for about $7.

The goal: Make it easier for people to get their vitamins and nutrients. There's no sugar added unless a customer requests it.

"It tricks me" into eating things like kale, Tutwiler said. "I could drink all of this, and it gives me what I need."

The shop is one of a handful in Virginia Beach to capitalize on the juicing trend. Pressing the fruits and veggies rather than blending or pureeing them maintains more of the nutrients, Tutwiler said.

It also requires heavier machinery that's too large for the Town Center space. JuiceBar on Holland Road presses the ingredients for Cold Pressed to mix at its site.

The bar hosts weekend events, including those that offer juice cocktails, and a food truck and second location are in the works, Tutwiler said.

Laura Austin, who works at Town Center, dropped in for lunch last week, choosing a juice-smoothie mix – dubbed a "smuice" – featuring berries and spinach. She said she frequents Cold Pressed about twice a month.

"Ooh, nice," she said as she accepted her purple concoction from the "bartender."

"It tastes great," she said. "They’re all about the purity of the ingredients, and I like that."

Kathy Hieatt, 757-222-5155, [email protected]

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