General FAQ
Q. What’s the story behind Suja?
A. Suja means “long, beautiful life” in Hindi. It was started by several people all of which are committed to healthy lifestyles. Founder and chef Eric Ethans was cold pressing juices for friends and family for years and gradually expanded it into a home delivery business. From there and with the addition of experienced beverage industry team members, Suja expanded to a retail offering. The core ethos for Suja is to help people find a healthy way of living.
Q. Is Suja organic?
A. Yes. Our complete line of raw, fresh pressed juice is 100% USDA certified organic. The USDA organic seal is reserved exclusively for 100% certified organic products.
Q. Why is juice so expensive?
A. Not all juices are created the same! The average Suja drink takes more than 2 pounds of fruits and vegetables to make. Many of these vegetables are expensive given their nutritional value. Additionally we use 100% certified USDA Organic produce for everything that we make. Finally, the process of cold pressing requires more involvement. It would be much easier to throw a bunch of vegetables into a fast spinning industrial juicer, however that would leave you with unnecessary pulp.
Q. How much weight will I lose?
A. Suja is a nutritional cleanse designed to give your digestive system a rest and therefore allow your body to eliminate toxins. We have not designed this with a weight loss objective. However, most people do lose weight because the cleanse allows them to refocus on their health priorities and be mindful of their consumption.
Q. Can my kids drink Suja?
A. Of course! We’ve designed the taste profiles so that kids love the juices too. Keep in mind children should not be doing cleanse-only programs.
Q. What's the environmental impact?
A. We maintain a low carbon footprint by sourcing locally. As a result of being organic, our farms are pesticide and herbicide-free. The containers that we provide our juices in are PETE #1 plastic bottles which are extremely recyclable.
Q. Why don't you use glass bottles?
A. Interestingly plastic is a better choice for us than glass for the following reasons:
- 1. Plastic uses considerably less energy than glass to be recycled.
- 2. It is dramatically lighter than other bottle options, which means less fuel is used to create and deliver each bottle.
- 3. Our method of ensuring that the product is safe from bacteria is called HPP. This FDA approved method of heat-free pasteurization can only be done in a plastic container.
Q. How should I store my juice?
A. In your fridge. Hint: You should take your juice out of the box before you put it in the fridge. If you have to leave it in the box, make sure you remove the top so that cold air can get inside. Remember to toss the ice packs in the freezer so they’re ready should you need to tote your juice around.
Q. Is Suja Kosher?
A. Our juices are made to Kosher standards and we are in the process of obtaining our Kosher certification.
Q. What is High Pressure Pascalization and how does it work?
A. High Pressure Pascalization “HPP” uses high pressure instead of heat to inhibit microflora growth in fresh food and therefore naturally extend its shelf life. Unlike pasteurization, pascalization is an external process; the raw product itself is never touched. After the products are in their final packaging, our pressurizing method uses only evenly distributed pressure of cool water (44°F) to short circuit any potential harmful invaders, such as Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella, lactic acid bacteria, yeast and mold.
”Heat” or “flash” pasteurization, or other silly adjectives such as “lovingly” or “gently” pasteurized, results in a juice that is essentially cooked, which kills vitamins, minerals, and live enzymes. We do not now and never will, apply heat to our cold pressed juice. We don’t cook juice.
Q. How many calories are in your juices?
A. An average 8 ounce Suja drink contains about 90 calories. A one day cleanse of six juices has about 1200 calories total. All nutritional information can be found on our website in the Education tab.
Q. Is your juicer the same as my blender?
A. Actually, they are not the same. We cold press, hydraulically. First we grind or cut the produce into a fine pulp. Then we apply thousands of pounds of pressure to the pulp extracting every ounce of juice that the fruit or vegetable has to give. This results in you receiving the most nutritional value possible. A traditional blender uses high speed to spin and often times heats the product. As a result of having the skin liquefied your body still needs to break it down to digest thereby limiting what you can quickly receive into your bloodstream.
Q. Where is your production facility?
A. We make our juices fresh in our kitchen in San Diego.
Q. I want to get regular juice deliveries to my house. Is this possible?
A. Absolutely! We deliver directly to your doorstep in San Diego and Orange County and use Federal Express to deliver to you if you are outside those areas.
Q. I'm allergic to nuts. Do you have nut-free products?
A. Yes, only one of our beverages contain nuts (Vanilla Cloud). If you are cleansing, feel free to substitute that for any other juice on our menu.
Q. What about juicing only until dinner? I have business dinners that I need to attend, and don't want to seem anti-social.
A. Many of us long-term juicers frequently "stay liquid" until dinner. Just make sure you drink enough food (blended) and juice (without fiber) so that when you sit down for dinner your hunger doesn't cause you to overeat. Most restaurants will also accommodate special diets. You can ask for a good bottled water (sans "gas"), a nice vegan soup, and a hefty salad (remember to ask them to add avocado, and other veggies you see on the menu or on the "sides"). Ask with a smile and you'll likely get a lovely, healthy meal that might even inspire your colleagues to do their own cleanse!
Q. How should I store my juice?
A. Keep it chilling in the fridge until you're ready to consume it.
Q. Do you ship nationally?
A. Yes! We ship all of our juices via FedEx according to the following schedule:
- Orders placed Monday-Tuesday by 5pm PST will arrive Friday, same week
- Orders placed Wednesday-Thursday by 5pm PST will arrive Tuesday, following week
- Orders placed Friday-Sunday by 5pm PST will arrive Friday, following week
Note that overnight shipping done only on Mondays and Thursdays.