Grooow Juice 果簍
Add: 124 Wuyuan Road, near Wulumuqi Road
Tel: 54365667
Hours: 10am-8pm
Price: 22-32RMB/cup
Visited: Mar 2016
After visiting a Sunday market on Anfu Road, I was looking for a place to sit and chill but didn’t want coffee or tea (yes these days actually exist). Remembering that there’s a juice shop on Wuyuan Road, I wandered in that general direction and arrived at “Grooow Juice” (果簍 in Chinese). Cute shop front! Let’s drink.
周日在安福路逛完市集後想找個地方坐下，卻又不想喝咖啡（咦，Sugared & Spiced也有不想喝咖啡的時候），想到五原路上有家賣果汁的小店，便一路逛了過來。店的名字叫做果簍，光看門面就知道不是一般的果汁店，風格文藝的很，還寫著 ”大樹底下好乘涼” 幾個字樣。二話不說，進去瞧瞧。
The shop is tiny with only two tables and five chairs. Soft guitar music in the air.
小店裏就兩張桌子五把椅子，音響播放著輕松安靜的吉他樂。
Fun books.
有不少有趣的書籍。
And CDs that the owner collected mainly from Taiwan and Japan.
以及唱片，很多都是老板從台灣和日本挑選回來的。
There’s even Bossa Nova Beatles for kids, how awesome is that.
居然還有給小孩子聽的 Bossa Nova 版本 Beatles。
Grooow Juice’s owner is Ken, a soft-spoken man from Zhejiang Province, who had been working in advertising for 10 years before he started the juice shop. I first met him at an event, and we subsequently ran into each in all sorts of places – cafes, markets, work occasions…but it wasn’t until visiting his juice shop did we get to chat a bit more in depth. He told me that he grew up on the mountains, where picking wild berries and eating fresh fruits was very much a part of his everyday life. He has always loved making juices, but between when he first had the juice shop idea and actually opening it, it took 8 years.
果汁店的老板是盧丹（鹵蛋?），浙江人，開果簍之前在廣告業工作了10年。我和盧丹在一次活動上認識後就不停的巧遇于各種地方 － 咖啡店、市集、工作場合…不過直到這次來他店裏喝果汁，才有機會深聊。他說他從小在山上長大，家鄉有許多果樹，童年就是在采野果吃水果中渡過的。一直喜歡做果汁，本來只是在微信（公衆號 “grooow”）上分享自己爲家人做的東西，後來就真的開了店。我也是轉行人，好奇的問了他從有想法到真正放手去做之間隔了多久。他笑了笑說，八年。
On the cashier, his daughter.
收銀機上貼的是女兒的照片。
The menu at Grooow Juice is divided into four parts: seasonal juice, weekly special, smoothie, and hot drinks. It was a chilly day so I went with dates pumpkin milk (28 RMB), served hot, exactly what I needed at the moment. There are many alluring options on the menu like dragon fruit strawberry pear, passion fruit banana orange pear, avocado banana milkshake, avocado kyoto matcha, ginger dates milk tea…
菜單分爲季節果汁、本周推薦、濃香果昔、還有暖心熱飲。天冷，我先點了杯熱的紅棗南瓜奶（28元），好喝，還真暖心，完全就是我當下需要的。一邊喝一邊想著下次來要點什麽，比如季節果汁裏的粉粉火火梨、百香果蘋果橙，濃香果昔裏的百香果香蕉鮮橙梨果昔、牛油果香蕉奶昔，或者暖心熱飲裏的京都抹茶牛油果、姜棗奶茶…
I then tried the weekly special, kumquat apple pear (28 RMB), another delicious drink, with the perfect fruit flavor pairing and sweetness. All the fruits and vegetables used at the shop are selected by Ken and his staff, and since it’s his first project in the F&B industry, he started with not much knowledge and simply tried each produce one by one, and only when he is satisfied with the quality does he share it with his customers. He uses a low-speed cold press method so minimize oxidation of the fruits, making sure that what you drink is actually nutritional.
暖起來後又嚐了本周推薦的金桔蘋果梨（28元），又是一個好喝，水果風味搭配和甜度都剛剛好。果簍店裏用水果蔬菜都是盧丹和夥伴們親自挑選的，由于第一次做餐飲業什麽都不熟悉，總之就是一個一個試，試到自己滿意的，再分享給客人。做果汁時用低速壓榨，和市面上常見的高速壓榨比起來較不會讓水果氧化，喝下去的是滿滿的營養而不是糖水。
Ken happened to have some cookies handmade by his wife and shared them with us. At first bite, I thought the cookie was bland as it wasn’t really sweet, but a few more bites later, it really grew on me. The low sweetness fits well with the healthy vibe of Grooow and also doesn’t affect the juice flavors, making the pairing especially fitting.
當天店裏正好又盧丹太太做的手工餅乾（順便一提，老板娘是位大美人）。第一口的感覺是，這餅乾也太不甜了，不過接著幾口下去，卻越覺得這樣淡淡的很適合果簍。有種非常健康的感覺，而且不會影響到果汁的滋味，搭配起來（又是）剛剛好。
Ken also brought out a bowl of delicious cherry tomatoes for us to try, and seeing that I really liked them, packed a box for me to go. Apparently he often treats guests with random things as if they are guests at his home, believing that it’s unnecessary to charge for everything, but at the same time he is well aware that the shop needs to sustain itself and is always working on improving efficiency and increasing volume, for example by selling online (through a Chinese app called “餓了麼”).
老板又拿出一碗品種叫做 “千禧” 的小番茄和我們分享，看我喜歡，還讓我外帶了一盒走。他說店裏的都是客人不是客戶，招待客人是不需要斤斤計較的。當然，店畢竟是要經營下去，他也不停的在做調整將工作變的更有效率，同時也在網上通過中國的 App “餓了麽” 外賣。
Other than juices, there are also related products on display. I didn’t try this honey, but the raisins behind it are delicious – I couldn’t help but put one after another in my mouth. These are available for tasting, and a bag costs around 40 RMB.
店裏還有一些相關的産品。花蜜我沒嚐，不過後面那個新疆阿勒泰特級黑加侖是極好吃的，甜而不膩，讓人忍不住一個接著一個往嘴裏放。店裏有試吃，一袋大約40多元吧。
Amazingly, a tiny shop like Grooow Juice has its own magazine publication. There’s only one volume so far, and it depicts the story of Mama Fang and her fruit trees in Thousand Island Lake (千島湖). Photos are taken by a friend, the words are written by Ken himself – there’s no fluffy language, just real, authentic words that really touch the heart. Second volume coming soon.
果簍居然也有自己的小刊，目前只有一冊，敘述的是 “千島湖甘山村” 方媽媽和她果園的故事。照片是一位朋友拍的，文字是盧丹自己寫的，風格沒有絲毫的華麗或浮誇，是能觸動人心的樸實。據說第二刊快要出來了。
Grooow Juice has been opened a little over one year now, and Ken is doing things at his pace, improving the shop bits by bits, offering not just delicious juices, but also music, books, and occasionally workshops/sharing sessions. It surely is a place worth coming back to again and again.
果簍開幕至今一年多，盧丹照著自己的步調不斷的改進，除了帶給客人們好喝的果汁以外，還有音樂、書籍、偶而也會有些小講座、和農人們的合作上也希望可以走上公平貿易。慢慢來吧，但肯定會越來越好。總之這是個要一來再來的舒服地方。
果簍
地址：五原路124號，近烏魯木齊中路
電話：54365667
營業時間：8:30am-8pm
價位：22-32元／杯
造訪：2016年3月