I Tested Raw Generation's Juices and Smoothies for a Week, and This Is My Honest Review

In a world full of processed convenience foods and high-sodium snacks, it’s safe to say that many people (myself included) could stand to squeeze a few more servings of fresh fruits and veggies into our weekly diets. But in a world that’s also filled with long work days, laundry lists of errands, and minuscule amounts of free time, this can seem like a challenge—especially if you live in a food desert with limited access to fresh produce. Luckily, services like Raw Generation are here to help mitigate that issue.

Raw Generation is a wellness-focused delivery service specializing in cold-pressed juices and smoothies made with fresh fruits and vegetables. The company is perhaps best known for its juice cleanse programs, which we don't love to promote (we're more into supplementing nutrient-rich foods with healthy juices rather than forgoing food completely), but they do have a "Build Your Own Box" option you can use to try the juices in a less extreme way.

Raw Generation's products are all vegan, kosher, and made with no preservatives—you’ll only find fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices, and triple-filtered water in these bottles. All juices and smoothies are shipped frozen and intended to be kept in your freezer until you’re ready to thaw and drink them. I decided to give Raw Generation a try, and here’s what I thought.

How I Tested the Service

Raw Generation’s bread and butter is its green juices, which comprise over half of its menu. But for the purposes of this review, I wanted to sample a variety of the company’s offerings and “drink the rainbow.” Thus, I decided to try Raw Generation’s “Build Your Own Box” option, which lets you pick a box size of either 12, 18, 30, or 42 bottles and fill it with whatever you want. 

For my order, I chose the 12-pack and filled it with the following juices and smoothies:

• Mango Carrot Juice
• Sweet Roots Juice
• Peachy Greens Smoothie
• Spicy Citrus Juice
• Ginger Turmeric Juice
• Apple Celery Juice
• Citrus Carrot Juice
• Vanilla Greens Smoothie
• Mellow Melon Juice
• Tropical Sunrise Juice
• Strawberry Banana Smoothie
• Peanut Butter Smoothie
  

Cost

I'll go ahead and say it: Raw Generation is not cheap. While the juices and smoothies get less expensive the more you order, they range in price from $7.62 to $9.99 per 12-ounce bottle; in many cases, you can grab a bottle of juice from the grocery store for a fraction of that. When placing your “Build Your Own Box” orders, you must order at least 12 bottles, so the price tag racks up quickly. And no matter which size box you choose, you’ll pay a flat rate of $7.95 for shipping.

With that said, there are a few ways to shave some dollars off the total cost of your Raw Generation order. First, you can use the volume-based ordering system and choose a larger box size. For instance, if you choose the 12-pack box, each bottle is $9.99, but if you go up a size to the 18-pack, the bottles drop to $8.33 each. With the 24-pack, they’re even cheaper at $8 each, and the 42-pack offers the lowest price of $7.62 per bottle. 

Additionally, you can sign up for recurring “auto-ship” deliveries, which will send your boxes to you on a regular basis. This will save you 15% off the total cost, and you’ll get free shipping on top of that. So, if you were to choose the 42-pack box with auto-ship, the price drops from $319.99 to $271.99, making each bottle around $6.50. And since the bottles are shipped frozen, you can keep your freezer stocked with the juices for weeks and months on end.

Packaging

My Raw Generation order arrived in a recycled cardboard box insulated with a thick Styrofoam liner, and the juices and smoothies came in 12-ounce recyclable plastic bottles. Raw Generation’s products are meant to arrive frozen, but there was a delay with my mail carrier on the delivery day, and the bottles were partially thawed by the time I opened the box. The bottles still had frost on them and were definitely ice-cold, but the contents were more of a slushy consistency than a hard freeze. The company states on its website that the bottles are safe to drink when this happens, but I still placed them in the freezer right after I unboxed them so they could be kept frozen as intended.

In lieu of traditional ice packs, Raw Generation keeps its products cold with bottles of refrigerant, which are the same size (and look nearly identical) to its juices. Each bottle has a label that clearly states, “DO NOT DRINK,” while also specifying that the refrigerant is nontoxic and biodegradable. Still, if you have small children, it’s probably a good idea to either get rid of these “ice pack bottles” or place them in the freezer immediately after you unbox your delivery so that the refrigerant isn’t accidentally ingested by anyone.

Options

As I mentioned, most of Raw Generation’s menu consists of green juices. In fact, out of the 27 juices and smoothies available, 16 have greens like spinach or kale in them. However, there are a handful of vibrant outliers, including juices like Sweet Roots (made with carrots and beets), Tropical Sunrise (with pineapple and coconut water), and Ginger Turmeric (with the aforementioned ingredients plus apple and lemon). There are also some creamy, nut-and-seed-based smoothies on offer, and I added a few of those to my box, as well. 

Aside from the “Build Your Own Box” options, Raw Generation has three different cleanse programs—the Skinny Cleanse, the Lower Sugar Cleanse, and the Protein Cleanse—along with five different green juice variety packs. All of Raw Generation’s juices and smoothies are vegan and certified kosher, and while the ingredients aren’t certified organic, there are no preservatives or artificial additives in them. Aside from the juices, Raw Generation has a handful of nutritious snacks available, like trail mix and protein bars, as well as a “Daily Super Greens” powder that you can stir into any juice or smoothie for an extra nutrient boost.

Ease of Use

Ordering from Raw Generation’s website is super easy and straightforward. If you’re ordering a cleanse, you’ll simply choose the number of days you want (three, five, seven, or 10) and whether or not you want it auto-shipped before adding it to your cart. (You can pause, change, or cancel auto-ship orders at any time.) 

In my case, I selected the “Build a Box” option from the “Shop” dropdown menu, which brought me to Raw Generation’s full menu of juices and smoothies. From there, I picked my box size of 12 bottles, changed the frequency to “only once” (it will autoselect “every two weeks,” so be sure to change this if you don’t want the auto-ship), and went on to choose my box contents. The juices and smoothies are displayed with colorful photos, and you can click on them to view the ingredient lists. 

To add a bottle to your box, simply click the plus sign underneath the photo (and if you add one you don’t want, click the minus sign to remove). Once I had 12 bottles in my box, I clicked “continue” and was directed to the order summary page to ensure everything looked right. I then clicked “secure checkout,” entered my address and shipping information, and clicked through to the payment screen to enter my credit card info and finalize my order.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Products are both vegan and kosher 
• No preservatives or additives
• Nearly 30 juices and smoothies to choose from
• Variety of box sizes with volume-based savings

Cons

• Lots of diet culture language
• Higher price point than most store-bought juices

Flavor

All in all, I really enjoyed my juices and smoothies and thought the majority were delicious. They weren’t overly sweet, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you like your beverages. I’ll note that the smoothies were a bit thin compared to others I’ve had in the past. Rather than the thick, milkshake-y texture you might expect from a smoothie, these had a consistency that was more like heavy cream. Maybe it’s a result of the freezing and thawing process that Raw Generation’s products entail—but not a bad thing, in my opinion.

I tried a total of 12 juices and smoothies, and here are my thoughts about each one:

• Mango Carrot: I liked this one a lot! I’m not normally a huge fan of carrot juice, but the mango flavor complemented the carrot nicely and made for a really tasty juice. I’d drink this one again, for sure.
• Sweet Roots: This was another surprise hit. The “sweet roots” name refers to a combo of carrots and beets, and in addition to disliking carrot juice, I despise beet juice, so the odds were definitely stacked against this particular bottle. However, the flavor was far less beet-y than I anticipated, and while I could still faintly taste the beets on the back end, it was mostly masked by the apple and carrot.
• Peachy Greens: This one was alright, but it wasn’t one of my faves. It was a little bland, and I didn’t taste a strong peach flavor, which is unfortunate because I love peaches.
• Spicy Citrus: First and foremost, I didn’t find this juice to be “spicy” at all. However, it does have cayenne in it, which I could taste a bit on the back end. The flavor also had vegetal notes from the fennel and cucumbers, with a slight zing from the lemon and orange. A bit of sweetness from the apple, pineapple, and kiwi rounded out this juice nicely.
• Ginger Turmeric: I could definitely taste the ginger in this one, but it wasn’t overpowering, which to me is a good thing. (I like ginger, but not enough to have my nasal cavity sting from it.) It was a nice complement to the apple and lemon, and the turmeric lent a beautiful yellow hue to the juice.
• Apple Celery: This was my least favorite of the bunch, which is odd because I love both apples and celery. However, the celery flavor stood out among the other ingredients, and since the juice is lower in sugar, it was extra prominent and not super pleasant. This is one of those juices that “tastes healthy,” and in this case, that’s not a compliment.
• Citrus Carrot: Carrots pulled through for me yet again because this juice was another one of my faves. The orange and carrot balanced each other out really well, and the hint of ginger came through on the back end for the perfect finishing touch. 
• Vanilla Greens: Honestly, this is the best green smoothie I’ve ever had. According to the menu, this is Raw Generation’s best-selling vanilla cashew smoothie, but with spinach and Swiss chard incorporated into it. While it’s lower in sugar, the cashews and vanilla lend an unbelievably creamy texture—and I barely even tasted the greens. Big fan of this smoothie.
• Mellow Melon: I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but I actually enjoyed it. While I’m not the biggest melon fan, I do really love cucumbers, which featured prominently in this juice. It wasn’t very sweet, but the honeydew and apple were just sweet enough to balance out the greens.
• Tropical Sunrise: This one was probably my favorite out of the whole box. I’m a huge fan of pineapple, and it was the prominent flavor here. The coconut water melded nicely with the pineapple for a piña colada vibe, and the apple cider vinegar and a hint of ginger lent a subtle zing to round it out.
• Strawberry Banana: Definitely the least sweet strawberry banana smoothie I’ve tasted, but it had a nice overall flavor with the tiniest hint of tang from the lemon. Like the vanilla greens smoothie, the creaminess from the cashews made for a pleasant texture.
• Peanut Butter: I absolutely loved this smoothie! It was super creamy from the coconut, banana, and peanuts, and while I thought the hemp and flax seeds might detract from the flavor a bit, they really didn’t at all. This smoothie was the perfect way to close out my Raw Generation tasting experience.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed the juices and smoothies I tried from Raw Generation. Most of them were tasty and flavorful, and even the ones I wasn’t crazy about weren’t bad compared to similar juices I’ve tried. However, there's quite a bit of diet culture language on Raw Generation's website, and the products are also a bit pricey compared to store-bought juice. But if you’re looking for an easy and convenient way to get more fruits and veggies into your diet, especially if you live in an area where they’re hard to come by, Raw Generation can be a great option.