Truck 8 - Juice Caboose

Truck:  The Juice Caboose

Location: Kitsilano Farmers Market

Type of Food: Juice, smoothies

Sidekicks: My mom and my sister Erica

Food Ordered: 

Mom and me

• Today's Special - Pear, Ginger and Apple Juice

Erica 

• The Bandit - Hemp Seeds, Vanilla Bean, Strawberry, Coconut Butter, Raw Cacao Nibs, Agave

The Verdict: 
This cart was a little bit disappointing for me.  As my mom summarized "it was not the best".  She only had a few sips of the drink and let me finish the rest - something that she wouldn't have done if she liked it.  I understand that it was early when we arrived at the market, but I was hoping that this cart would present a delectable taste experience like the previous juice truck I got to visit the Juice Truck.  Unfortunately, there were a couple of things that supported my experience not being the best.


Firstly, the slight disorganization threw me off - the girl at the window didn't know what the special was and the back of the cart looked really chaotic.  I believe that entropy is the sign of genius, but when it comes to food prep that's not exactly what I want to see.  I would have forgiven this seeing as it was early and the two girls seemed fairly nice otherwise, but it was the second element which made the experience not the best.


The second black mark for me was that the drink was not cold - at all.  Erica's was almost cold, but mine was pretty warm.  The temperature meant that I had fresh but warm juice.  Not the best flavour experience.  I love pears and especially love ginger so I was disappointed that this drink didn't fulfill my needs.


Erica was indifferent about her drink, but said for the price you couldn't really beat it.  


I would be willing to give them a second chance - maybe if I try them later in the day they'll be on their game...


Favourite Thing(s) About This Truck: The children element.  I loved how they had a train set out front and there are pictures on their blog of them letting kids colour all over the truck!  This is really cool!  


Also when I asked them about what they did with the "leftovers" from the juice they told me that we were free to take it home for our compost or as chicken feed.  I think this is a really neat idea - but I wonder what they do with the "leftovers" if people don't take them.  They also don't have a sign advertising this so I wonder if people actually know that they are available for you to take home.


Accessibility: This truck seems to "roam" around to the different markets.  Follow them on twitter @juicecaboose if you want to find them.  It looks like they are pretty regular at the North Shore Green markets and I've seen them about every other week at the Kits Farmers Market.


Green Rating: It sounded like they might compost everything, but then again they may not.  The girl at the window didn't really seem to know.  They did offer me the "leftovers" to take home for my compost or for chicken feed, so I guess if you asked them you could take the compost home.


Rating: 3/5 
Value:  4/5

Check out the cool train set in front of the caboose!

Erica contemplates her smoothie choice

My mom tries her juice

Truck 7 - The Juice Truck

Truck: The Juice Truck as featured on Eat St.

Location: Abbott and Water St. in Gastown on weekdays from 11:30-5:00 and either in Kitsilano or Gastown on the weekends
Type of Food: Juice, smoothies
Sidekicks: Sisters - Kim and Erica and Erica's boyfriend David
Food Ordered: 
Kim and Tara

• The Avocado Pineapple - Avocado blended with pineapple, coconut water, lime, vanilla and          agave 
• The Raw Chai Brownie - Dates with raw cacao powder, hazelnut, coconut oil, ground flax seed, maple syrup, vanilla & chai spices 

Erica and David 

• The Strawberry Coconut - Strawberry blended with coconut meat, coconut milk, banana, raw cacao nibs, vanilla and agave 

The Verdict: 
Yummy!  A meal in a glass.  We loved how they use coconut and coconut water in a lot of their options!  Delicious and nutritious!  The combinations in the smoothies that we had had great texture, something which I often find is missing from a good smoothie.    


For the price, I would definitely hit up this truck as opposed to going to a franchise like Booster Juice or Jugo Juice.  At least you know where the ingredients are coming from and they don't put things like sorbets or yogurts in any of their drinks.  In fact, this truck doesn't put any milk in any of their beverages - they use substitutes like almond milk and soy!  The price point is slightly more - probably about $1, however if you take into account all of the freshness in these cups, it's definitely worth the extra dough!


I loved the Raw Chai Brownie!  Chocolate and chai - how can you go wrong with that combination?  It tasted like a Terra Breads Chocolate Chai latte, (which I love!) without the milk!  Kim thought the chai was a bit overpowering, but I love the complexity that the chai spices added to the brownie!


Favourite Thing About This Truck: I love the creativity of the choices!  So many different options that are all delicious and nutritious!  I'd love to hear my Secret Sidekick's opinion on the actual nutritional content but from what I can see they are all great!  I can't wait to get back to try more of the flavours!


Accessibility: A couple of blocks from the sky-train, the location is great for tourists as it is at one end of gastown.  It is slightly more difficult for me to get to on a break.  It is too bad that they aren't open in the mornings, because I would definitely try to hit them up on a workout day before work instead of a franchise.


Green Rating: They compost all of the rinds etc from there juices.  They have future plans to try to incorporate some of these natural "leftovers" by using a dehydrator in the future.


Rating: 4/5 
Value:  4/5

Deciding what to order

The Menu. It can also be found here

Kim paying for our smoothie

Kim enjoying the Avocado Pineapple Smoothie

Erica and David sharing the Strawberry Coconut Smoothie

Raw Chai Brownie - Yum!