By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
You Gotta Try This is the Rock River Current’s weekly dining feature focused on signature dishes at your favorite local restaurants. Want to see one of your favorites here? Email news@rockrivercurrent.com to suggest a local staple.
Where: Ripe Life Juice Co.
Address: 308 W. State St., Suite No. 135 in Stewart Square in downtown Rockford
Opened: September 2021
Owner: Jamar Luster
Hours: 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to noon Saturday
You have to try: Strawberry banana smoothie
What’s in it: Strawberry, banana, coconut water, honey, banana powder, maca root
Why you should try it: “Our fruits are hand-selected. We choose everything for optimum ripeness, optimum freshness. We make sure that everything that we actually select for each smoothie is the best it can be,” Ripe Life Juice Co. Owner Jamar Luster said. “On top of that, we add a lot of super foods in everything. In this strawberry banana, it has maca root and banana powder added to it, which really increases the vitamin and mineral content inside of the drink.”
There’s no sugar or preservatives added to any of the smoothies. “It’s incredibly sweet, though,” Luster said. “If you do get anything sweet, we only use honey or agave nectar.”
Related: Ripe Life Juice Co. takes fresh approach to property nutrition
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Pro tip: Ripe Life‘s biggest seller is its hydration blend, which is the shop’s take on orange juice and another must-try. It has orange, pineapple, banana, maca root and banana powder.
“Even though it says hydration, it’s actually an immune booster,” Luster said. “It’s good for these times during COVID and what not. It’s high in Vitamin E, manganese, Vitamin C, lot of potassium, it does a lot for the skin, a lot for flushing out the system and kind of just giving you that boost.”
For more information: ripelifejuice.com; facebook.com/RIPELIFEJUICE
Previously featured: The combo at 15th & Chris in Rockford
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.