Super Smoothie

I like Wise Cicada Organic Food Store in Newmarket (Auckland, New Zealand). But more specifically, I really like their cafe, with it’s worldly, diner-like feel.  Very few people know that their head chef (Renata Holicova) is a wholefoods educator and raw food enthusiast. It’s reassuring to know that anything you order is plant-based and organic, and their prices are very reasonable considering! They have a different hot dish offered daily, an extensive salad bar, and a super-delicious array of cakes and slices. The cakes and slices are all raw, gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free and egg-free.

What strikes me as a little disappointing is that while Little Bird Unbakery enjoy cult status in Auckland, it is not so for Wise Cicada. This comes down to having a more ‘foo-foo’ brand and the type of customers that this attracts. Oh well, that just means less waiting in line, and more available seating for me when I feel the need to treat myself or am just too lazy to make something myself!

Wise Cicada only have three smoothies to choose from. It doesn’t sound like a lot of choice, does it? Each smoothie, however, contains a whole heap of ingredients.

From a business point-of-view these fancy milkshakes make sense, but from a health perspective they certainly don’t.

The Super Smoothie contains the following ingredients:

Fruit
Banana and Blueberries

Seeds
Sunflower, Pumpkin, and Chia

Nuts
(That’s what it says on the board)

‘Super foods’
Acai, Sacha Inchi, Maca, Raw Cacao nibs, and Lucuma.

Milk
Hemp

12+
(due to the ‘nuts’)

$12
(you can add a shot of Vitamin C or Multivitamins for $2 extra)

5/10

My Super Smoothie was a lavender colour (due to the Blueberries and Acai), and was presented in a plastic takeaway cup. I would have preferred that it had come out in a glass – as I was having it there.

6/10

I didn’t add the shot of vitamins, as I didn’t think it was necessary. Wasn’t I shelling out $12 for a Super Smoothie, for all the nutrients it already contained?

I could detect the banana and perhaps the blueberry. Although I might have imagined it because of the colour? Unfortunately, I couldn’t pick anything else out of the mix.

Note: I’m giving them a slightly higher score here than I might have normally, as this smoothie could have easily tasted really bad with the number of ingredients it contained.  I’m also rating them higher as they used fruit and lucuma powder to sweeten their smoothie, rather than adding maple syrup, agave syrup, honey, or coconut sugar. So technically it is still a smoothie and not a dessert!

4/10

I would have expected my Super Smoothie to fill me up for at least 2 hours (with all its carbs, protein and fat), but it didn’t.  I was hungry again after about 20mins. And FYI:  I’ve tested it twice now! I also didn’t notice any significant increase in my energy levels or mood.

on Wise Cicada’s Super Smoothie:

5/10

 While this smoothie may have cost $12, it wasn’t worth that much to me.