Nékter Juice Bar squeezes out tasty, healthy options

Feb. 24—The path to a healthy lifestyle just got easier with the help of Nékter Juice Bar.

Locally owned by Susan Davis, the juice bar chain specializes in smoothies, wellness shots, handcrafted bowls, juices and cleanses. The first Nékter store in New Mexico opened this week at 8001 Wyoming Blvd. There are 200 Nékter stores nationwide, with its biggest markets being in Arizona, California and Texas.

"I really want everyone to love this like I love this," Davis said. "I think it's such a great option for us."

About a year ago, Davis began researching doing a smoothie line .

"I really liked the brand," she said of Nékter. "So I looked further into it and decided New Mexico needs, Albuquerque specifically, needs a healthy option. ... So next I took a trip and learned about all the products and here we are, store number one in Albuquerque. ."

The ingredients for all of Nékter's offerings are listed on the menu.

"All the ingredients, in all of our products, are totally transparent," Davis said. "Everything on the menu is exactly what's in the product that you're ordering. "

A popular item is Nékter's handcrafted bowls. One popular choice is a blend of acai, strawberry, blueberry, banana and pineapple. It is topped with hempseed granola, strawberry, blueberry, and banana. Another bowl is made with blended vanilla protein, strawberry, banana, cocoa nibs, coconut flakes and cashew milk. It is topped with peanut protein granola, fresh strawberry, blueberry, banana, a drizzle of peanut butter, chia seeds and cacao nibs.

"We do a lot of acai bowls and those are super popular and really, it's a nice size product," Davis said. "You get a lot of food for your money and it's freshly topped with fruit. It's delicious."

Its fresh juices are made to order and are packed with about three pounds of fresh fruit and veggies. They include "The Greenie," made with kale, spinach, parsley, celery, cucumber, lemon and red apple; "The Buzz," made with carrot, orange, lemon, green apple, and ginger; and "The Recovery," which is made with beet, ginger, orange, green apple and celery.

Guests can also customize their juice base and add their favorite fruits and vegetables.

There are plenty of smoothie selections to choose from including "The Pink Flamingo" with dragon fruit, strawberry, pineapple, coconut water, and agave nectar as well as a "PB&J Smoothie" with peanut butter, banana, dates, cashew milk, and agave nectar poured over strawberry chia jam.

"A few little parts about the Nékter brand that was really interesting to me is we pretty much make everything in-house," Smith said. "We daily make fresh cashew milk and that's the base to a lot of our bowls and a lot of our smoothies. The fresh cashew milk is one of our little secrets to success,

Cleanses are a big part of the Nékter line.

"We have a cleanse with celery juice that's a week long and then we have another one that is a six-day cleanse that has a number of offerings," Davis said. "Each day the offering is something different according to where you are in the process of the cleanse "

Davis swears by Nékter's wellness shots that come in your choice of ginger and lemon to boost energy or turmeric and apple to reduce inflammation.

"Ginger is really good for your gut," she said. "It's really good for your digestive system. And I think a lot of people use the ginger for that and also for the energy component. I've found it to help me from getting sick.

Davis is happy with the buildout of the store. Her husband, Kevin Davis, was responsible for the job. He was surprised when she decided to get back into the service industry after she had stepped away for a couple years.

" I really miss working with young adults and teaching them how to be successful workers in our environment, in our city, and in our workforce. I think that is so important. I just missed it," she said.