The Why Generation – Is Juice The New Coffee?

Standing in the main street this week I noticed something weird. The cafes were dead, absolutely empty…I was intrigued.

It’s a Saturday morning, around brunch time, these places should be packed with hung over 30 year olds realizing how young they are not, intellectual know it all college students and trendy yet incredibly annoying young people. All sipping back the black brew.

But I couldn’t find them. Surely people still come to these places? To relax, unwind, recover.
There are only two possible reasons I can think that this has happened.  Either stress and alcohol have been eliminated from the world, or the economic crisis is so bad that people have gone back to roasting at home (or worse, instant!).
So I continued to walk, but something happened, I couldn’t walk any further, my path was blocked…with people.
People waiting to get their new fix…juice.

The place was packed with all the hung over 30 year olds, the young, trendy people in their designer clothes and even the intellectual bunch of college students.
And then it dawned on me. Is juice the new coffee? All the signs are there!
Look at the stats, Starbuck has had worldwide losses. Boost has had huge growth.
And they didn’t even think of the idea first, there are so many juice stores opening left, right and centre. Even the cafes have had to bow to the juice juggernaut adding them as fast as they can to the menu.

So many Italians crying, so many new age hippies smiling. Any 16 year old that can operate a blender is instantly the employee of the month while out of work baristas beg for spare change on the street corner.
No longer are tonnes of the prized brown bean bought and sold for millions, the greengrocer is the new pusher.  And the heard is coming to drink.

I’m witnessing in front of my own eyes I huge shift in culture, no longer where meetings of the rich, famous and powerful  conducted over fine Peruvian roasted black gold, its done over fresh mangos and passion fruit  drinks with tutti fruity names. And while I’m on it, how come all the companies are intent on turning normal names into something they designate as ‘fun’. What is fun about a mango tango crush? And how do I order it without looking gay?

It’s like the personal fitness craze of the nineties, remember that? Wall to wall fluro that changed colour the more you sweat so people could clearly see how hard you worked out in taebo. Except now nobody isn’t getting fitter, in fact were getting fatter and it’s because of these juices.
There is almost the same amount of calories per 100mL in juice (35 per 100mL) then there are in a can of coke! (40 per 100mL) And the juices come in larger sizes! (Facts sourced from http://www.thedailyplate.com)

But if what I know about Australians is true (and it is because I am one) we love things that are bad for us!
So does this mean that Columbian mountain top growers will now being carrying high altitude fruits by donkey back to be sold as some premium mix?

Who cares? My mango tango crush is ready.