Making Jamba Juice at Home!

We've done smoothies a few weekends, but today is the day to finally try to recreate Jamba Juice at home. On a hot summer day, smoothies hit the spot just right.

Jamba Juice was founded in 1990 in San Luis Obispo California. It was actually the "Senior Project" from Kirk Perron, a student at Cal Poly.
If we're going to make Jamba Juice at home, branded cups are a necessity. Ian jumped right on that, cutting out the logos for me.

And then taping them onto cups. Thanks buddy!

Alli helped me get all the ingredients set up, and let me tell you, we've got a few.
Fruits - Pineapple, Cherries, Coconut, Strawberries, Blueberries
Juices - Lemonade, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice
Ice Cream - Lime Sherbet, Vanilla

And despite having all those ingredients, we're still missing a couple to exactly replicate the Jamba Recipes. Oh well, these will be "inspired by" Jamba.
Ian and Theresa really wanted a Strawberry Surf Rider, which is Lemonade, Strawberry, Peaches, and Lime Sherbet. Instead of peaches, we substituted Pineapple. Sounds refreshing.
Alli is helping add the lemonade.

And Ian is helping out with strawberries.

Quick aside. At one point, years ago, Theresa and I were going to Jamba Juice a couple times a week. It was not an inexpensive habit. But what was so good about how they made their smoothies? For us, it was the texture. Their blenders could pulverize anything you put in them.
You could see that they were using Vitamix blenders behind the counter. Besides that, there's nothing all that unique about ingredients they're using. When the Vitamix traveling booth came to our local Costco, Theresa and decided to spend the big dollars on a real Vitamix blender and a short time later we were making delicious smoothies ourselves!
That was back in 2002. Since that time, I've only had to replace one component on it (a $16 potentiometer) and it's still running like a champ! It can blend anything. Frozen strawberries, no problem. Whole frozen peach (pit removed)? Yes, we've done that before too.

Alright, time to blend it all up! I agree, it does get loud.

One difference between the recipes we made at home and Jamba Juice is that we don't add any ice. By starting with frozen everything, there's no reason to water things down with ice cubes.
For Theresa and Ian, a Strawberry Surf Rider. Lemonade, Strawberry, Pineapple, and Lime Sherbet.
Alli's making something unique for herself. Pineapple Juice, Cherries, Strawberries, Pineapple, and Lime Sherbet.
Chi didn't want ice cream, so hers is just juice and frozen fruit. Lemonade, Strawberries, and Blueberries.
Richard wanted a little of everything. Lemonade , Pineapple Juice, Strawberries, Cherries, Pineapple, Blueberries, and Lime Sherbet. Whew! That all fit in 1 cup!
For myself, I wanted something that Jamba took off the menu a long time ago. Years ago, they had a Pina Colada with Pineapple Juice, Pineapple chunks, Frozen Banana (which I would substitute for more pineapple), Coconut Flakes, and Vanilla Ice Cream. They took it off the menu and when I tried to order it off the Secret Menu, they didn't have coconut flakes (at the time). It just wasn't the same for me. But today, I can make it myself, exactly how I want it.

These smoothies are definitely tasty!
Theresa was funny. Normally when I give her a 16 oz smoothie, she says it's too much and can barely finish it. But putting a Jamba Juice logo on the front, she thought to herself, "Wow, that's a really small Jamba Juice." and half of it was gone before she knew it.
16 ounces is actually the Small smoothie at Jamba, with the Medium and Large being 22oz and 28oz respectively.

And my Pina Colada was just as good as I remembered it. Love that coconut. Jamba Juice was really tasty today!