Orange Peel: Smoothies with a side of bubble tea
Ready for something new? Ready for something really delicious with low calories? Have you ever heard of bubble tea smoothies? An icy, delicious drink with tapioca pearls. Remember, I promised you adventures in eating? Well, here you go. For this adventure, I headed to the Orange Peel with my brother-in-law Mitch, father-in-law Bob and mother-inlaw Marcia along with Nick and my girls.
Many people hear “bubble tea” and think of actual tea, as in green tea. Some of the bubble teas have green tea but most are just delicious flavors like honeydew, kiwi, orange cream, passion fruit and guava. The bubble tea smoothies are made with a lot of ice so they are deliciously refreshing. Nick got the summer special. Get ready for it: Thai coconut pina colada with fresh strawberries. It was everything that a summer drink should be - fruity, icy and just plain delicious. To make it even more exciting, it had large tapioca beads in the drink. Everyone agreed that this was their favorite drink. If you are a little hesitant to have giant tapioca beads in your drink, you can choose to have your bubble tea made without the beads. Or you can choose to have lychee jell (sweet gelatin cubes) instead. Or, if you are feeling truly adventurous, you can have both in your bubble tea.
My next favorite new creation was the Nutella Breakfast smoothie. Yes, Nutella, that delicious hazelnut chocolate spread that you can put on practically everything. The Nutella Breakfast has bananas, Nutella and fresh raspberries. Chocolately Nutella banana yumminess. To make it a true breakfast, you can have granola in the bottom or choose to have it mixed in. This was unlike anything that I have ever had before and honestly, I loved it. My brother-in-law Mitchell did too. He said, “I could eat this every day. It is a fun new way to get your breakfast in.” They have a variety of other breakfast drinks as well like Nutter Butter, which has smooth peanut butter, vanilla, strawberries and bananas. I’m ordering that one next time.
Eliza ordered the Orange Cream Dream, which tasted like an orange creamsicle with fresh-squeezed orange juice and a hint of banana. Eliza said it was “Yummy and bananny.” I really liked the bright, fresh orange flavor mixed with the creaminess of the banana.
I ordered the Skinny Berry, a green smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, spinach, kale, wheatgrass and apple juice. Honestly, I was a little worried that it would taste like vegetables, but it was deliciously fruity. I loved all the berries and that was the main flavor. I also liked getting all the veggies mixed in.
The smoothies are nondairy and made with fresh fruit (a whole cup’s worth) and fruit juices. They have four types of smoothies: tropical, berries, citrus and classic. You can also order a Naked Fruit Smoothie, which has double the fruit. For every smoothie, you can choose your sweetener and you have quite a few options: sugar, honey, stevia, Splenda or agave. They also have infusions like wheatgrass, soy protein, calcium, vitamin C, ginseng and more. They even have cold-pressed organic juices.
So if you feel the need for a cool, healthy beverage, head over to Orange Peel and find your blend. There are a variety of options, and all the smoothies can be customized to fit your tastes so you can easily find something to fit your mood. The Orange Peel is located at 1850 W. 500 South in Springville, They are open Monday to Friday from from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.