Good Girl Juice & Café opens in Village Square

Good Girl Juice & Café opens in Village Square - A person holding a bottle of beer on a table - Good Girl's Juice Bar

The purples isles are a little juicier

There is a new member of the Village Square entrepreneurial enclave who is tasked with pressing organic fruits and vegetables into healthy, cleansing juices.

Vanessa Plascencia, a Coral Shores graduate, opened Good Girl Juice & Café last Friday to great fanfare.

“I was juicing from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; we sold out,” admitted a thrilled Plascencia on her fifth day of business.

Amateurs should not confuse her blends with the sugary sludge served as the local smoothie stand. These juices are the good stuff — created to scrub the digestive system and invigorate the soul with essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes.

Cold pressing the juices, as the name implies, does not introduce heat to the process and leaves more of the good stuff in the bottle. Plascenia says her juice label “Key Roots” increases blood flow, promotes a healthy digestive system, increases energy and helps rid the body of all the stuff that has been sitting in there for weeks — like cheese burgers, donuts and other party-goers routinely introduced to the body.

She first witnessed the healing powers of “the juice” as a CPA in Raleigh, North Carolina. She indulged in the Chic Filet, Dunkin Donuts and soon realized she did not move away from home to be “unhealthy and unhappy.”

She gravitated toward a juice bar and quickly discovered that “her happy place” was hanging out with the customers. After a three-day cleanse, “I just felt so good. Lots of energy, lighter on my feet, clearer minded and just saw the impact. I thought, ‘This is what I want to bring home.’”

Now her line includes six vitamin-laced juices including “Morning Breeze” which contains grapefruit, lemon, orange, ginger, chiaseed and mint to the protein packed “Beet the Best” pressed with carrots, apple, red cabbage, lemon, ginger and of course … red beets.

“That’s my favorite,” says Vanessa. “It’s the most nutritional, but they are all so special in their very own way. Some are for energy boosts, others offer protein and some are just for those who need more ‘green’ in their diet.”

Her complete cleanse sells for $48 and are always available in her “grab and go” cooler that looks more like a produce case than a drink display.

Those needing a little more sustenance in their diet can pickup beet or carrot hummus, tabouli, or a Vietnamese chicken wrap prepared by the neighboring Bad Boy Burrito.

Other adjoining enterprises rounding out the under-40 power squad include Liz Huddleston’s Miss Monroe Boutique, and Arce and Mooney’s Ucumbe gift shop.

Customers can grab a single bottle for $8 or mix any three ingredients for a juice of the day for just $6.

Good Girl Juice & Café

81868 Overseas Hwy., Islamorada

305.394.2251

Open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Line Up

Morning Breeze

Grapefruit, orange, lemon, ginger, chia seed, mint

Appetite suppressant, fat burner, inflammation reducer

Sun Rise

Orange, bok choy, carrot, celery, turmeric, pineapple

Inflammation reducer and loaded Vitamin C for energy

Beet the Best

Beet, carrot, apple, lemon, ginger, red cabbage

Increases blood flow and reduces inflammation

Sunset Delight

Spinach, beets, bok choy, apple, cucumber, lemon and ginger

Increases blood flow, reduces inflammation, hydrating and packed with protein

Green Team

Kale, collard greens, cucumber, apple, lemon, turmeric, spirulina

An advanced juice high in protein and anti oxidants with Vitamin A

Almond Milk

Sprouted raw almonds, alkaline water, cinnamon, Himalayan salt and yucan root

High in protein and healthy fats and promotes relaxation

*All vegetable and fruit carcasses are composted at the Otherside Cable Park on Long Key.

Jason Koler, born in Florida and raised in Ohio, is the “better looking and way smarter” Keys Weekly publisher. When not chasing his children or rubbing his wife’s feet, he enjoys folding laundry and performing experimental live publishing.