The elephant’s favourite choice is mine too. Wondering if my latest diet is the bamboo or grass? I am always partial to sugar cane juice that it is sold on the streets be it in Brazil, Pakistan, Vietnam, Hong Kong or India. Hotels seldom serve this juice, rich in carbohydrate and iron probably because the machine is very expensive. Also, it is cumbersome to clean and the juicing process itself is messy. The machine ranges anywhere from Rs 15,000 - Rs 1 lakh depending on the manual or the automatic model. Pondy Bazaar has several of these in the corners, buzzing with house flies. They look very unclean and they are too. I had the juice a while back with crushed ice and mint and fell ill within the next hour. I believe it was due to the ice and not the juice. Sugar juice is excellent in fighting dehydration, jaundice and also detoxes our body.
Dayalan M, next to our airport, manages to keep his machine clean as he covers it with a huge plastic sheet and has clients who come in cars. He uses only disposable thermo containers and charges Rs 12. Never drink the juice at North Boag road as it is the most unclean machine I have ever witnessed. Amma Naana used to have a very hygienic way of extracting the juice but they closed down the counter as there were not many takers. Marina beach has several of these vendors and they keep moving from place to place. They are OK I guess and Babu Nayagam says he uses the sea water to disinfect the machine. The best place to buy this juice is near Quality Inn Sabari in Thirumalai Pillai road where two North Indian lads sell the cane juice with varied flavour like chaat, pepper, mint, and lime. Don’t ever try the chaat as the sugar cane juice tastes like Bhel Puri. I spit it our immediately. He blushed and offered me some more. I truly believe that juices should be had unaltered and that’s why I am not a huge fan of mocktails. Another place where you can drink the juice without worry is on Venkatanarayana Road. The juice costs Rs 15 and they may charge a rupee extra for ice or lime. My friend tells me that cane juice is tastier when mixed with coconut water. A very hygienic place, however, was “Juice of Saccharum Officinarum”, a tiny outlet started by my friend G Mithun in Trichy. He closed it down within a month as people thought it was too clean to be healthy.