Oasis Juice Bar - Brisbane CBD. Standing out in the middle of the Queen Street Malls, the word "oasis" may as well be an appropriate term to describe this place. On a given hot day - 300 and counting of them a year in this nape of the woods - a cold, refreshing drink is often really tempting, and this is a whole lot healthier than a bunch of other options that could be selected.
Plenty of people are flocking to this place and awaiting their order (cue more puns) at any opening hour of the place. Tons of fruit adorn the stall, which guarantees that the drinks are all made from whole fruit; even so, individual bananas are available as a takeaway snack (really cheap and healthy). They have a simple payment system figured out here; it is cash only, and you hold onto your money until they the drink is served and then give them the cash. It is pretty nifty, as they are often quick and quite happy in their service.
Over a number of visits, I attempted to sample a reasonable array of their menu offerings (though it is possible, apparently, to select your own fruits and vegetables for a specialty concoction). The menu is divided up into one for juices and another for smoothies.
The first time around it was a smoothie - the Hamilton Heaven, which was a fantastic combination of mango and passion-fruit. This was a great one to start off with trying. It was really cold - they must have used plenty of ice cream for it - and ultimately really thick. The straws were too narrow to be able to drink it properly, and it was too thick to drink like it was out of a glass; that is without using some squeezing as well. Not that that is a complaint, it was like eating an sort of dessert in a cup.
Next up was one of their juices, called "Cleanser" – a wholesome combination of carrot, orange and extra beetroot. What made this one good was that it was not a sweet juice, but a combination of more sour and savoury flavours. Once upon a time, I would not have thought these would be a good combination (or agree with two of the three ingredients as being in juice alone) but now, it is otherwise. The Las Palmas Lime, a combination of lime, apple and pineapple was also good, it tasted nice, if a little sour.
If there was one juice that I did not quite agree with, it was the Caribbean Carrot, Out of the possible suspects of carrot, celery, beetroot and ginger, when celery is the dominant flavour it is underwhelming as most of it is the stringy texture of the vegetable. When it comes to juice, I am certainly more of a fruit person than a vegetable person.
A better one followed, an ice-based smoothie with a combination of watermelon and strawberry called Brazilian Bite. Maybe it was the hot weather, or perhaps the two fruits truly do go together, but this refreshing combination gelled really well and made perhaps the best concoction yet from here.
Just for the sake of trying it out, and other reasons, I made sure to try the Gym Builder. This was a simple banana smoothie with a boost of protein. While I could get used to trying protein drinks, they probably taste best coming from a real source. On the other hand though, this entry still proves that the straightforward combination of banana, milk and ice-cream (maybe honey) is nigh impossible to beat in the smoothie field.
While a combination of apple, orange, pineapple and passion-fruit should sound like a winning combination, the overall flavour of the Ibiza Islander was all to reminiscent of a typical typical store-bought variety of the fruit juice. This might get the s'ok/'ight/6 out of 10 kind of reaction as the best match.
Lastly, and the most recent venture in writing this report, is the Maldives Mango: combining what are the two best fruits to put into a smoothie - mango and banana. It was what I had hoped it to be, but maybe mango and passion-fruit is my new go-to.
After trying a good array, this place does fruit drinks really well and for a fair price. You can guarantee that it is healthy and it stands alone attracting clientele. While to warm up on the colder days, there are countless coffee places around, on a hot day a cold drink is what is often wanted. With a basis of fresh fruit, and a feeling of goodness as a result this is a viable alternative that deservedly turns a profit.
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