I’d bet that even in small-town Louisiana, you could find a place that sells cold pressed juice. Let’s face it: the stuff is awesome. But Torontonians are latching on to the new health trend more than most and it begs the question: Why do Torontonians love cold pressed juice so much?

There are dozens of grocery stores, corner markets, cafes, restaurants and juice-only bars that sell the stuff. Some are chains, and some are awesome little one-off, independent juiceries. For the most part, they’re all awesome. And they’re taking over the desks, fridges and schoolbags of Torontonians all around the city.

So what’s the deal? There are likely three main factors:

Taste

The beauty of cold-pressed juice is that even if it were made 10 days ago, the stuff amazingly tastes like it was pressed just a moment ago. Thank the “cold pressed” part for that. The stuff’s good – real good.

Health

The unhealthy thing about many traditional juices is the added sugar and preservatives. Fresh juice, on the other hand, removes those unhealthy factors, but simply pulverizing fruit in a blender exposes the fruit to oxygen and heat, which can change the flavour and encourage the drink to spoil within a few days.

Plus, cold-pressed juicing helps keep those micronutrients in the juice, some of which are absorbed by the body than if you were to eat a whole fruit, or drink a smoothie. But that’s not always the case.

In short, cold-pressed juices are a great way to get a dose of nutrients you might not otherwise get in your regular diet.

Fashion

Yep, it’s fashionable to have a minimalist glass bottle of brightly coloured fruity contents with a geometric logo in your hand. We Torontonians like looking stylish (hey, who doesn’t?) and the trendy bottles that cold-pressed juice is served in does just that for us.

What am I missing here? Why do you love (or hate) cold-pressed juice?