Suja Organic's cold pressed juices are so dang expensive (but, sigh, worth it)

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

Suja Organic's cold pressed juices aren't cheap. As someone who grew up with chronic poor brain -- the core of my hippocampus that holds on to expired foods a bit too late and refuses to throw out boxes because they are "the nice cardboard" -- I will never tell you to drop $109.99 on an 18-pack of juice.

But I will tell you this; Suja's juices are pretty dang good.

The company's cold pressed blends live up to the price. The ingredients are expansive and unique. The flavors are bright. And, whether it was just the result of having something tasty to sip or something else, I did feel better after drinking them.

How do they taste? Let's talk about it.

Turmeric Love: C+

Let's start with possibly the most confusing flavor in the bunch. There's pineapple, passionfruit and lemon here... but instead Suja decided to lead with turmeric juice. I did not even know you could juice a spice, yet here we are. Still, I'm more optimistic about that than the passionfruit, which always tastes like stale rubber to me.

This pours like a glass of pulp free orange juice. It smells spicy, with the ginger-adjacent effect of the turmeric wafting off the top. It's not especially appealing.

Fortunately, it tastes better than it smells. I understand why they led with the turmeric, because that sweet/spicy combination is front and center. It's potent but not overpowering, pairing with the lemon to create a tart beverage that's both juicy and dry. The lemon and turmeric also wash out the other flavors, which is good news when it comes to passionfruit but kind of a bummer on the pineapple side.

Although the black pepper here is minimal -- it's the last ingredient in the list -- it does seem to linger in the aftertaste. It's fairly minor, but you notice it. It helps with that dry finish, even if it's a bit weird.

Either way, this is a well made drink that offers a handful of flavors I don't care for. That makes it a little tougher to fairly grade. Take that C+ with a grain of salt. Let's see what's next.

Ginger Love: A-

This seems more my style -- spicy ginger and acidic fruits (lemon, pineapple) should make for a crisp, dry sip. And, whoa, the smell off the top of this pour is potent. You get that sharp ginger right away, like you just sliced open a root.

The first sip isn't nearly as pointed. The ginger is clean and crisp, but the fruit juice does a nice job tempering it. The lemon is the first thing you taste, but it's not overly sour. The pineapple (and a little stevia) help balance out that tartness before you get a heap of ginger.

The end result is closer to a spicy lemonade than a ginger ale. The two sides work very well together, though they do leave a bit of an acidic aftertaste. The balance is deftly handled; a three-way wrestling match between big flavors that can be overwhelming on their own. Instead, you get a drink that combines the best qualities of each -- though, admittedly, I think I'd like a little extra pineapple in the proceedings.

It's an impressive drink that clocks in at only 20 calories per 12 ounce bottle. Not bad.

Citrus Immunity: B

Finally, an orange drink that can't be arrested for its crimes. This flavor looks much denser and juicier than the last two, a trait backed up by its 100 calorie payload. You're getting decent helpings of orange, pineapple and mango here, along with a little ginger, coconut water and even some cherry extract.

All of that sounds awesome, frankly. It's also gonna provide 230 percent of your daily vitamin C requirement, so there's that, too.

It's obviously thicker than Suja's less-juicy offerings. The orange is the headliner but you get a little bit of pineapple sweetness and acidic to mix with that. Unfortunately I'm not getting much of the other flavors listed here. It mostly tastes like a slightly creamy, pulp-less orange juice.

That still makes it a pretty good juice, just not as enticing as the label makes it seem. I was hoping for more of a tropical feel and got a Tropicana one instead. It's fine, just slightly disappointing.

Lemon Love: A

Now this seems familiar. Lemon and cayenne were a big part of late-2000s juice cleanses -- enough that it even became a joke on The Office. At no point did drinking spicy-sour water mixed with a little bit of maple syrup (if I'm remembering it correctly) for a week seem appetizing. But as a one-time shot to perk me up or help my gut health? Sure.

It pours a lemonade yellow with small red freckles of pepper flakes. Stevia's here to replace the maple syrup, which feels like an upgrade. It smells fresh and clean with juuuust a hint of spice toward the end.

The drink itself is a very tasty lemonade variant. The citrus is bright and it's balanced and sweet. The cayenne clocks in at the finish. It's not powerful enough to heat up your tongue, but it lets you know it's there and that you're finished with the sip. Combined with the acidic of the lemon it leaves a dry aftertaste that keeps you coming back.

The end result is a slightly complex, extremely drinkable 10 calorie lemonade. It may not have enough cayenne to keep Aaron Rodgers feeling good and I'm not sure if it has any notable effects aside from the minor mood boost of drinking something delicious, but I'm on board. This is the best Suja flavor, by far.

Vibrant Probiotic: B+

I'm drinking this one on a night where I have no place to be, just in case. It pours thicker than the other Sujas, which I'll chalk up to the combinations of strawberry and raspberry purees at the top of the ingredient list (along with the honey added as a sweetener. More drinks should use honey. That's Sprecher's whole jam and their sodas are awesome).

It smells fruity and slightly sugary, like you just popped the lid off a freshly blended smoothie. The first sip is gentle. The thickness coats your tongue more than the other flavors, lending a soft sweetness that's tempered by a touch of tartness from the raspberry, lemon and cherry within.

That leaves behind a slightly acidic aftertaste which is familiar after drinking the Lemon Love. It's nice, if a bit basic. I kinda want to blend it up with ice and actually try it as a smoothie now. Ooooh, or add some vanilla protein powder to it and make it a shake. This would be a wonderful way to truly baffle my stomach about what it's getting.

Anyway, pretty good.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?

This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Suja's cold pressed juice blends over a cold can of Hamm’s?

I can get Hamm's at about 50 cents per 12 ounces. Even with a subscribe and save discount I'd be looking at about $6 per bottle for Suja. So no, my terminal poor brain would not allow this.

But if you're a normal person who wants something healthy that also tastes great, hell yeah. Suja's flavors are complex and at least a little weird, but there's a ton of care that's gone into each of them. You'll find something you like.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Suja Organic's cold pressed juices are so dang expensive (but, sigh, worth it)