An acai bowl is considered a healthy snack or meal.
The acai berry is a Brazilian berry that has become popular with Americans because it was marketed as a fruit with high antioxidants. In Hawaii, smoothie and drink shops offer acai bowls for between $5 to $15. I visited three popular stores—Salted Lemon, Jamba Juice, and Robeks—and this is what I found out.
There are a few types of acai bowls commonly available:
An acai oat bowl contains puréed acai berry or acai powder. The toppings can be a mix of anything, but the most ones are granola, bananas, strawberries, and other types of fruit.
The berry beet acai bowl, features beet blended with acai. The toppings usually consist of fresh fruit, coconut flakes, and nuts or seeds.
The banana acai bowl is topped with blueberries, bananas, and granola nuts.
The most common acai bowl is the fruity acai bowl. It is topped with bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and granola.
SALTED LEMON
Located on Liliha Street in Honolulu, Salted Lemon is known for using organic ingredients in their smoothies and bowls. The acai bowl is one of their popular items. They put honey on the bottom of the bowl before filling up the bowl with the acai smoothie. It is topped with strawberries, bananas, blueberries, and granola with a light layer of honey. Overall, the bowl is very sweet and one can get bored of the acai when you’re someone in the middle of the bowl. It ends with a mouthful of honey, acai, and fruits, making it taste like a huge gulp of syrup.
JAMBA JUICE
Jamba Juice is a familiar franchise found all over the island. Their acai bowl is topped with sunflower seeds, granola, and bananas. They use organic produce and the acai smoothie contains 100% fruit juice. From beginning to end, the acai with the granola makes for a wonderful combination.
ROBEKS
Robeks, located in Pearlridge by TJ Maxx, has different sizes for acai bowls. The price differs by $1-$2 depending which one you order. The acai in the Robeks’ acai bowl is thicker and has more of a sweet, creamy taste than usual acai bowls. It comes with banana, granola, blueberries, and strawberries.
Acai bowls can contain from 43 to 100 grams of sugar, 370 to 600 calories, and from 5 to 10 grams of fat. Accordingly, consuming too many acai bowls can be counterproductive if you’re trying to eat healthily. Ultimately, it is best to have a well balanced diet with various varieties of fruits and vegetables.
