Are you ready to join ‘the Club’? No membership, gold-medals or magazine cover shots needed, just a thirst for some all-natural ingredients…
Enter to win! On Thursday, October 23 (contest may be extended to get more entries) – a winner will receive a pre and post workout meal and two t-shirts! Enter on the Maui Made Facebook page– (Contest post pinned to top while entries being accepted)
If you’ve been on Maui for any length of time, you know that we have our share of world-class athletes, from world-champion windsurfers and stand-up paddlers to Olympic skiers who live and train on Maui in the off-season. For a while now, some of Maui’s top athletes have been turning to Tugger Balcom for their performance enhancing beverages. Now, we’re not talking about some secret formula of artificial chemicals or banned substances, these are real, natural ingredients, formulated specifically for athletes for pre- or post-workout.
Red Juice, Blue Juice,
Me Juice, You Juice… Lots of Juicing options at the Sporting Club of the Pacific – All Natural Ingredients!
Outdoor seating at the Club… no need to wipe the sand off your feet!
And because of some ‘obstacles’ recently created by the government in regards to selling ‘raw’ beverages through wholesale, Tugger decided to open up a juice bar in Paia to sell his ever expanding line of juices, coffee and ‘fuel’ for athletes (and, the rest of us, too). So now, whether you have just finished your CrossFit or barre class, you are training for your Maui to Molokai run, or you are just headed to the office, you can come grab some fuel at Paia’s newest hot spot, the Sporting Club of the Pacific. Plus, the seating is outdoors so you don’t even need to wipe the sweat off your brow or the sand off your feet. You might even get to run elbows with some of these world-class athletes…
Tugger’s entry into the performance beverage world began with his own struggle with severe psoriasis. After eliminating sugar, dairy and eggs from his diet, and seeing success with that change, he started moving away from drinks with artificial ingredients and towards more natural sources of hydration and energy. Simultaneously, Tugger took a course in free diving, and learned about using chlorophyll as a means to be able to hold your breath for longer periods of time. (And if you want to know more about how this works, you should probably go talk to Tugger).
Pineapple Hibiscus Water and Pineapple Chlorophyll Water!
Cold Pressed Coffee in the custom made Coffee presser!
After getting positive feedback from big-wave surfers and free divers from his first round of bottled juices, Tugger began wholesaling. Alive and Well, Choice and the Kuau Store were selling out each week, but a new law forbidding the sale of raw juice changed his focus, just as the space behind Puka Puka in Paia (the former Paia Bay Coffee) opened up.
His initial line of two drinks- a pineapple and chlorophyll juice and cold-pressed coffee – has expanded (and is still expanding daily) to : three types of Hydration drinks, four Fresh Juices, Strong Coffee, Wellness Shots, Blended Beverages and Acai and Green bowls. (Menu printed at bottom)
100% Maui Coffee- Custom Roasted and Blended by Maui Coffee Roasters.
The story behind the name and the brand, Sporting Club of the Pacific, is probably a whole separate blog post, so I’ll just say that Tugger has assembled a group of world-class artisans from around the Pacific, blacksmiths, speargun makers, surfboard shapers, and more, into a kind-of artists co-op (and again, talk to Tugger if you want to learn more about this, or visit the website). Because the brand is based on custom-made equipment for high-performance, his juices naturally fit into this project as well.
As much as possible I try to blog about personal experiences, so I ventured into the Sporting Club of the Pacific (although I apparently ‘just missed’ about a half-dozen sports superstars who had visited that morning) and its clear that Tugger’s his enthusiasm for quality, researched ingredients is evident in his products. The acai bowl was delicious (luckily it was cleared away before I was tempted to lick the bottom), each of the juices were pure tasting, and not too sweet or overpowering as some juices can be, and the coffee was excellent as well, although I now need to go back and try it with the house-made coconut cream.
The Delicious Acai Bowl at Paia’s newest hot-spot, Sporting Club of the Pacific
Well by now you are probably sick of reading and ready for some delicious and performance enhancing nutrition, so here’s what you need to know:
Menu –
Hydration
Pineapple chlorophyll water
cold pressed local maui pineapple juice, organic liquid chlorophyll,
pineapple hibiscus
cold pressed local maui pineapple juice, house brewed organic hibiscus
Local Coconut water
Fresh Juice
Raw and Cold Pressed
Green
Cucumber, romaine, kale, pineapple, aloe juice, chia seeds
Red
Beet, carrot, coconut water, lemon juice, ginger, himalayan salt
Blue
pineapple, coconut water, leon, ginger, maca, cayenne, clue spirulina
Yellow
100 % pure maui pineapple
Strong Coffee
Black
100% Maui Beans, custom roasted and cold brewed
White
Served with House Coconut Cream
Shots
Wellness Shot: Turmeric – with fresh pressed local turmeric, orange juice and black peppercorn for maximum absorption of nutrients!
Maintenance
Fresh local ginger, echinacea, apple cider vinegar, oregano oil, local lemon, local honey
Mother’s Milk
House made coconut cream, coconut MCT Oil, EFA oil, Cinnamon, Lemon
Turmeric
Fresh Pressed Local Tumeric, Orange Juice, Black Peppercorn
Cayenne
Concentrated Cayenne Pepper Tincture
Blended
Number 1
Almond Butter, bananas, Hemp Protein, MCT Oil, Maca Powder, Flax Sees, Chia Seeds, Cacao Nibs, Dates, Local Honey, Himalayan Sea Salt, Trace Mineral Blend
Number 2
Organic Strawberries, Fresh Pressed Local Ginger, Coconut Water, Aloe Juice, Local Honey, Probiotic Blend.
Number 3
Fresh mint, bananas, kale, vegan protein blend, spirulina, lemon juice
Number 4
Avocado, Cucumber, Mango, Coconut Water, Vegran Protein blend, Glutamine
Bowls
Acai
Acai and strawberry blend topped with fresh fruit, Maui Sands*, hemp sees, goji berries, local honey
Green
Banana, pienapple, kale, spirulina blend with Maui Sanes, fresh fruit, goldenberries and cacao nibs, maple syrup
*Maui Sansa in a hand-crafted blend of toasted superfoods including oats, almonds, Flax, Sesame, Hawaiian Honey and Sea Salt
Tea
MK Light
Secret Service
It seems everyone on Maui is jumping on the juicing and acai bowl (my new favorite!) trend, and Jamba Juice – at least on Maui – is no exception. In January, Jamba Juice Hawaii started offering freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices at all of their Maui locations, with expansion plans to the rest of the islands in June. Since I’m now a celebrity blogger (whatever, just go with it), I received an invitation to sample the new juices, and when I arrived I was impressed to see all the new selections on the menu. (It’s been a while since I’ve been in a Jamba Juice – we have a Vita-Mix and make smoothies at home.) They now have sandwiches, acai bowls, and of course, the new juice menu. And everything comes with a guarantee- if you don’t like it, they’ll give you something else. This is a great option if you are new to juicing and aren’t sure if you really enjoy kale mingling with your pineapple juice… But when I went in for my sampling, according to Jen, the manager of the Maui Marketplace location, no one has returned their juice yet! In my expert opinion, the recipes seemed pretty spot on.
Each Maui store is now home to a new, exclusive multi-fruit juicers that accommodate the unique blending process necessary for Jamba’s freshly squeezed-to-order juice. According to the press release, these juices “feature fresh whole produce, including locally grown apple bananas… There are zero artificial ingredients and zero added sugars.”
Maui Made 