Wheatgrass

Of our three plants, wheatgrass is the best known. It is also the most polarizing. There are people who have been drinking a glass of it every morning for twenty years and need nothing else, and there are people who tried it once and will never touch it again.

We think that says something about the plant. Wheatgrass tastes like what it is: grass. There is little you can do to soften that, and we don't try to.

What wheatgrass is

Wheatgrass is the young sprout of the wheat plant, harvested before the plant forms ears. For us, that is about eight to ten days after sowing, when the grass is ten to fifteen centimeters tall and still bright green.

Important to know: this is grass, not grain. The kernel that the wheat would eventually grow from does not exist at this stage. Wheatgrass is therefore often considered gluten-free — although that depends on the cultivation method and the moment of harvest, and cross-contamination with the seed coat can never be entirely ruled out. If you have celiac disease, consult your doctor before starting.

What wheatgrass is known for

The first thing you notice is the color. Wheatgrass juice is a deeper green than our other two shots, and that green is chlorophyll. It is the substance that plants use to convert light into energy, and wheatgrass is packed with it — it is literally the only thing that plant is doing at that moment.

Since the seventies, a large cloud of promises has surrounded wheatgrass. You will find claims online about detoxification, blood, energy, and everything in between, often based on a single old study or on the similarity between the chlorophyll molecule and hemoglobin.

We don't participate in that. Chlorophyll is a fascinating substance and serious research is being done on it, but that research is nowhere near where the marketing already is. We prefer to share what is actually in the bottle.

Why freshly pressed is different from powder

Most wheatgrass you encounter in the Netherlands is powder. That is made by drying and grinding the grass. Practical, long shelf life, and with a long shadow: drying involves heat, and heat does something to a plant.

We cold-press the fresh grass and freeze it within twenty minutes. No drying, no grinding, no water to make the powder drinkable again. What you have in the bottle is the juice exactly as it came from the press.

You notice that mainly in the taste. Fresh wheatgrass juice is sweeter and fresher than powder, which often has a musty, hay-like undertone. It is still grass. But it is grass at its best.

From tray to bottle

1. Growing. Eight to ten days, without pesticides.
2. Pressing. Cold and slow. Grass is fiber-rich, so this is the slowest press of the three.
3. Bottling. Directly into the 30 ml bottle.
4. Freezing. Within twenty minutes after pressing.

It is best to drink wheatgrass while it is still very cold. At room temperature, the grassy tone becomes more prominent; ice-cold, it is much fresher. Many people drink it in one go and rinse with water afterward — that is not a sign of weakness; that is simply how you drink a shot.

Measured, not assumed

Here too, we have our own shots independently analyzed. That is perhaps even more important for wheatgrass than for the other two, precisely because so many loose figures about this plant are circulating. Numbers from an American study from 1980 say nothing about what comes out of our press in Alkmaar today.

What has been measured, we communicate. What has not been measured, we leave out.

Who is this shot for?

Wheatgrass falls between pea and broccoli. More distinct than pea, less sharp than broccoli, and with a taste you recognize immediately.

If you already know wheatgrass from powder or a juice bar, this is the shot where the difference compared to fresh pressing is most obvious. And if you don't know it yet: drink it cold, in one go, and judge after the third time instead of the first.