Memphis is FINALLY getting an all-vegan food establishment!!! As of right now, there is no restaurant or cafe serving only vegan foods. But that won't be the case when the
Cosmic Coconut vegan juice bar opens in April in the empty storefront next to Muddy's Bake Shop on Sanderlin in East Memphis.
On Tuesday, Cosmic Coconut proprietor Ashley Dunn welcomed a few vegetarians and vegans over to sample her offerings. She'll mostly serve freshly-made vegetable and fruit juices, as well as smoothies made with fruit and plant milk (no dairy allowed!). And she'll be selling a few raw vegan sweet treats too.
When I walked into Ashley's guest house on Tuesday, she was busy making wheat grass shots to get us started:
Next up were samples of three of her juices — Green Lemonade (lemon, ginger, chard), a beet juice with carrots, ginger, chard, and some other tasty stuff I can't remember, and a refreshing cucumber-apple juice. Here's my co-worker and fellow vegan Hannah enjoying her cucumber-apple beverage:
After the energizing juices, Ashley switched to smoothies. We tried two kinds — her namesake Cosmic Coconut (fresh young Thai coconut meat, banana, pineapple, and coconut milk) and a fruity goji berry smoothie. I LOVED the Cosmic Coconut the most, but I'm a sucker for anything with coconut:
Ashley warned us to save plenty of room for dessert. She made three samples of raw vegan desserts she plans to offer in the store. My very, very favorite were these Coco Nuttys — a cookie made with raw nuts, cacao, and coconut. These were melt-in-your-mouth fantastic!
And then we tried the lemon-coconut thumbprint cookies made from cashews, coconut butter, and lemon juice. After coconut, lemon's probably my second favorite fruit. So of course I loved these!
I failed to take a photograph of our last dessert — a chocolate avocado pudding with rice whip! — but trust me when I say that it was dream-tastic.
Margot McNeeley of
Project Green Fork joined us for samples, and she had a little fun with the wheat grass "poop." Here's she is modeling wheat grass dreads:
By the way, Project Green Fork is a local certification system for restaurants who practice sustainability through recycling, composting, and using green cleaners and earth-friendly packaging.
Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted on Cosmic Coconut's official opening date. But if you live in (or ever visit) Memphis, you must stop in and try Ashley's juices, smoothies, and desserts!
And this cute ass sign out front:
Inside, I was faced with loads of choices! For now, Cosmic Coconut offers juices, smoothies, coffee, tea, and smoothie bowls (topped with coconut, granola, or walnuts). They eventually plan to add raw desserts and snacky foods, like guacamole and hummus:
After much deliberation, I finally settled on a large Chocolate Covered Almond Smoothie:
This was made from bananas, So Delicious coconut milk, almond butter, cacao powder, and carob powder. It was all I had for lunch, and it was so satisfying. The delicious combo kept me full right until dinner time. I can't wait to try the juices and smoothie bowls.
