By Donna Price

dprice@americanpress.com

Story, photos by Donna Price

dprice@americanpress.com

There is no drive-thru window at Kingdom Nutrition Smoothie and Juice Bar at 411 W. College St., and that’s not an oversight. Owner Ryan Dickerson said they didn’t want one.

“We like to interact with our customers and you lose some of that with a drive-thru. We want them to come in and enjoy the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Yes, Kingdom Nutrition is faith-based. But don’t fret if that sort of thing makes you uncomfortable. You’ll be fine here. These people are simply incredibly nice and welcoming.

The staff is all masked up for safety, there is plenty of room for social distancing and you’ll be in and out in a matter of minutes because service is quick.

Energizing teas and meal-replacement shakes are what Kingdom Nutrition is all about.

Their 32-ounce, sugar-free, $8 teas come in four levels. Choose from energy, “lit,” loaded or extreme teas. There are over 50 varieties of the loaded teas alone, with names like All-Nighter, Tiger Tea, Spring Breaker and Lil Red Wagon.

Loaded teas contain a tea concentrate, vitamins, aloe, ginseng, guarana and special ingredients called NRG and Lift Off. Dickerson said one can expect energy, mental alertness and clarity after drinking these teas, with no “crashing” as with some energy shots.

The 20-ounce, $7 meal replacement shakes have 24 grams of protein and, in spite of having names like Overstuffed Oreo and White Chocolate Snickers, only 200-250 calories. Shakes can be enhanced with other add-ins.

During my visit, I decided on a loaded tea called Swamp Juice because Dickerson recommended it after asking if I preferred my tea sweet or tart and I replied tart.

“Swamp Juice is one of our most popular flavors,” he said.

When I was handed this two-toned drink with its teal-green, Florida-beach-water colored top and orange, sunset-colored bottom, I wondered why they hadn’t named it something like “Upside-down Florida Beach Sunset.”

But once back in my car I remembered Dickerson had said to stir the tea before drinking it. When I did that, I understood from whence the Swamp Juice name came, because the beautiful colors did take on more of a swamp water appearance.

At first taste, I would have guessed this tea contained lime juice, ginger and honey. But actually, it’s made up of sour apple, orange, pineapple and “blue blast” flavors.

Dickerson said these large teas can last a person all day if they aren’t gulped down all at once.

But it was 93 degrees inside my car and it felt even hotter than that. This ice-cold delicious tea was gone in minutes. But at 24 calories, there was absolutely nothing to feel bad about.

I did have more energy throughout the rest of the day, but not a jittery too-much-caffeine kind of energy. Just an alert kind of energy. I liked the Swamp Juice tea very much.

Stop in soon to learn the ins and outs of how Kingdom Nutrition teas are put together and how you can replace a meal with a dessert-like shake.