*intentional spelling error; if it ain't punny, it ain't funny.
at first when the team at savse asked if i'd like to review their super smoothies, i did quietly wonder to myself as i accepted the offer ~how i would go about reviewing what is essentially five tall glasses of fruit and veg, but nevertheless, i accepted. they arrived, i was pumped to find them of super (ha) bright and fun packaging, and really... that's all it takes to suck me in; i am a consumer to my core. riiiight about the time they arrived on my desk in their sleek silver cool bag, i started to get sick. you remember how i've been a bit poorly? yeah, so they'd arrived just as the flu had taken control over my sinuses, and i was sending myself home from work.
seeing as each of the 100% natural smoothies contains two of your five a day of fruit and veg, it was sure as hell a great place to start in healing all that ailed me; i made it my mission to drink one a day on top of my usual diet of a ~fairly balanced variety of veg and protein, and hoped to the skies above that the cold pressed nutrients worked their magic as a matter of urgency.
initial thoughts: going to love super red and orange, going to hate super purple, keen to try super blue, and super green was a mixed bag of thoughts. i kicked off the week with super orange (mango, passionfruit, orange, celery, apple, lemon and carrot), and was right - it was delicious. more mango-ey than orange-y (i'm not a massive fan of pulpy citrus normally), and really easy to drink. not as thick as i was expecting for a smoothie, so more of a thick juice. when i think "smoothie" i think maybe dairy based; yoghurt or something to make it thicker and more of a meal. these smoothies are 100% fruit and veg so there's nothing nasty in there to add to the blend. best to give a quick shake up before you go in for the first mouthful too.
day two was super blue (blueberries, kale, beetroot, spinach, blackcurrant and apple), and again, a lovely sweet juice. weird, because i don't usually like blackcurrant flavoured things (funnily enough because the flavour reminds me of being sick), but the sweetness from the current really balanced out the other, bitey-er tastes (looking at you, beetroot). day three was super green (pear, broccoli, kiwi, lemon, banana, kale, spinach and apple), and like i say, i wasn't sure what to think. when i juiced a few years ago, all of the green mixes came out tasting just foul, so i wasn't sure how this was going to go. the sweetness from the kiwi and banana was really dominant in this and held its own against the weirder ingredients like the broccoli, and i was pleasantly surprised. so far, i was three for three, with super orange the blue the clear leader, followed closely by orange then green.
day four, was super red (strawberry, orange, kale, spinach, broccoli and celery); i knew i'd like this because basically you give me anything that's remotely pink and my brain will automatically like it. that was before i read the ingredients and realised it held within it, more of that weirdo broccoli in a drink, but at least this time it had the decency to mix it up with berries. the strawberry/orange combo was a real winner, and again, i couldn't taste the broccoli or any of the other super greens within. super red shot up the ladder to a steady number one.
which leaves us with super purple (beetroot, apple, lemon, lime, mango and avocado); a terrible combination of flavours if i've ever seen one, and one i ~knew i'd hate, based on previous experience. back when i was juicing a hundred years ago with almond milk, one of the recipes called for beetroot, avocado, peanut butter and almond milk, and besides it being the most awful colour anyone's ever seen and as thick as the winter is long, it was the rankest tasting thing i'd ever consumed. it smelt like fish and tasted like a salty explosion, and i actually haven't eaten beetroot since. but, come day five of the savse challenge, and i did just that; challenged myself to try it, at the very least. it was horrible. it went in the bin. i'm not yet past the original beetroot and avocado horror it seems, so no.
final thoughts: super purple remains a solid five on the list. but, in a trial of five, to be 80% pleased with the products is pretty good going, i'd say. you can buy these bad boys at asda and ocado at the moment, and right now they're even on offer at asda - £2 for the 250ml bottle. considering a punnet of berries costs just that, i reckon that's pretty good value too. would i buy again? definitely. would i recommend to a friend (i.e. you)? oh hell yes. do i think they contributed to making me better? i mean it's possible, isn't it. i took little to no medicine while sick, and survived on smoothies, juice and tea (never water), so i imagine the extra vitamins and nutrients were a welcomed addition to my system.
so how's that for a review of what's essentially five tall glasses of fruit and veg?
have you tried savse, or are you likely to now? lemme know!
