I Questioned The Popularity Of Erewhon Smoothies. Then I Made Them At Home.

I was raised in the Midwest, where practicality reigns supreme and coupons are a beloved form of currency. And while I’ve spent my formative 20s as a New York transplant where overspending is the trend, my paychecks go toward obscene rent prices and trendy dinners out before they do groceries. I grew up shopping at the local Jewel-Osco and now enjoy a good Sunday stroll through the aisles of Trader Joe’s. It’s safe to say I’m not exactly Erewhon’s target audience.

The cult-favorite store, which is exclusively found in the surrounding Los Angeles area, is hailed by some (read: me) as the influencers’ Wawa. It’s where hyper-oxygenated water is the norm and a jar of artichoke hearts will run you $48. It’s also become a breeding ground for viral TikTok content, which is why your FYP is likely wall-to-wall with $100 lunch hauls and sushi sandwich reviews. But the luxury grocer’s celeb smoothie partnerships are what really put it on the map, even for those of us not lucky enough to live close enough to try them out ourselves.

The Erewhon Smoothie Lore

The Erewhon lore dates back a few years. Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Smoothie, which debuted in June 2022, kicked off the craze. Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Bella Hadid, Kid Laroi, Sofia Richie, and so many more celebs have partnered up with the luxury grocer ever since to release their own iterations — all of which are packed with holy grail wellness ingredients like sea moss, chlorella, spirulina, collagen, and colostrum.

Here’s the thing, though: I could never quite get behind the $22 smoothie, even if my own monthly budget has more than enough room for a $22 martini. At least those have vodka in them. However, as the mostly impartial and completely chronically online journalist that I am, it felt wrong to make such a judgment without sipping one of the A-list endorsed, colostrum- and sea-moss-packed smoothies for myself. There’s gotta be a reason the entire Internet has practically deemed ’em liquid gold, right?

Of course, I didn’t just hop on the next red-eye flight headed out of JFK to LAX. (That flight would really put a damper on my aforementioned martini budget for the month.) Instead, I decided to bring the famed smoothie bar to my 400-square-foot studio apartment. I set aside a Saturday afternoon for the task and visualized myself strolling leisurely through the Erewhon aisles — as I virtually selected my ingredients on Instacart instead. I had four recipes sourced and ready to go: the Hailey Bieber Strawberry Skin Glaze Smoothie; the Sabrina Carpenter Short ‘N Sweet Smoothie; the Kendall Jenner Peaches & Cream Smoothie; and the Sofia Richie Sweet Cherry Smoothie.

Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin

The Ingredient Breakdown

• Malk Organic Almond Milk
• Strawberries
• Banana
• Sea moss gel
• Liquid hyaluronic acid
• Powdered collagen
• Coconut cream
• Dates
• Avocado

It only felt right to start with Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie — she’s basically our No. 1 modern-day it girl. Plus, I had a few pesky breakouts I was hoping to resolve with a little help from the nutrient-heavy bevvy. It was dreamt up as a promotional tactic for her skin care line, Rhode, after all.

Since nothing online indicated that the “liquid hyaluronic acid” (which acts as a moisturizer when used in skin care) is actually edible, I avoided adding that to my blender and slathered some on my skin that night instead. However, I was prepared with sea moss thanks to a few targeted TikTok ads from last month. Although I was a little apprehensive that the mineral, vitamin, and protein-packed gel would… taste like it’s packed with minerals, vitamins, and protein, the flavor was as refreshing as influencers have touted. The strawberry and cream blend felt simple and nostalgic like the ice cream bars I’d order on hot summer evenings as a child, but with a smooth base that was easy to sip.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘N Sweet

The Ingredient Breakdown

• Malk Organic Vanilla Oat Milk
• Organic coconut water
• Agent Nateur Holi (mane)
• Organic blue spirulina powder
• Honey
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Tocos (vitamin E relative)
• Vanilla collagen
• Dates
• Coconut cream
• Strawberries

Look, I was committed to the L.A. wellness girlie bit as much as I could be, but my bodega sells BEC, not tocos. I just wasn’t able to track down the vitamin E relative used in Sabrina’s smoothie recipe. And while I found the Agent Nateur Holi(mane) online, I couldn’t justify the $99-a-pack price tag — even in the name of journalism. I don’t have Eras Tour opener money like our girl Sabrina.

Despite these missing parts, I was committed to replicating the recipe to the best of my ability and budget. I even recreated the tie-dye effect that has become a calling card of Erewhon by spooning Greek yogurt in a swirl on the sides. However, it wasn’t the aesthetics that ultimately sold me on the smoothie — it was the depth of the flavor profile. It was sweet (hence the name) but not overpowering, thanks to the creamy vanilla oat milk and coconut water, which balanced out the mango, pineapple, date, and strawberry combo.

The blue spirulina powder, which offers immune system support and anti-inflammatory benefits, as well as the vanilla collagen, only made me feel that much better about the fact that I made the smoothie for three straight days in a row after.

Sofia Richie’s Sweet Cherry

The Ingredient Breakdown

• Malk Organic Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Magnesium
• Tart cherry juice
• Colostrum
• Calm powder
• Pure maple syrup
• Pineapple
• Avocado
• Coconut cream
• Pitaya powder

As soon as I realized Sofia Richie’s Erewhon smoothie was basically just an elevated version of TikTok’s sleepy girl mocktail (and tossed in a blender), I was sold. Unlike Sabrina and Hailey’s recipes, this cherry-forward concoction leaned more sour than sweet.

It featured just the right amount of tanginess, thanks to the juice; however, my lips weren’t too puckered. The creamy, neutral taste of the avocado and sweet notes of coconut cream, pineapple, and maple syrup leveled out the tartness. I wasn’t sucking it down in quite the same fashion as the others, but the cherry juice, magnesium, and Calm powder combo put me straight to sleep afterward. That’s reason enough to keep it in the rotation.

Kendall Jenner’s Peaches & Cream

The Ingredient Breakdown

• Peach kombucha
• Cocoyo yogurt
• Maple syrup
• Collagen powder
• Peaches
• Goji berries
• Coconut cream
• Aloe vera juice
• Electrolytes

I don’t drink kombucha. Or at least I had never had kombucha before that fateful Saturday afternoon, when I found myself huddled over my bullet blender with a bottle of Synergy. As a hot girl with stomach issues, I was excited to experience the hype — without having to suck down the vinegary concoction straight.

Turns out, the fermented beverage blended seamlessly with the rest of Kenny’s ingredients, including frozen peaches, goji berries, Cocoyo yogurt, maple syrup, and coconut cream. The gut-friendly blend has a much more subtle sweetness than her bestie Hailey’s smoothie, while the aloe vera juice adds a citrusy undertone. Yum.

Erewhon Won Me Over

Call me a convert! Call me a green-juicing, Buffalo-cauliflower-eating, L.A. wannabe because it’s official: I get the hype. Maybe not to the point where I would spend my weekly paycheck on raw milk and chicken noodle soup, but I’ll at least moonlight as an Erewhon smoothie blender from the comforts of my NYC studio every once in a while.

After doing a little research on the ingredients packed in these recipes — including everything from the colostrum to sea moss gel — and tasting the creamy, sweet smoothies for myself, I realized they really just might be liquid gold after all. Fortunately, you don’t need a red-eye flight to LAX to snag one for yourself. But, maybe I’ll make the pitstop to the West Coast when they name a smoothie after me. Erewhon, you listening?