Organic Market Near the Station!

There are a lot of markets and places to choose from to get your groceries around Ibaraki. You have big-name grocery store chains like Kasumi, CO-OP, Benimaru, and many more. A lot of these grocery stores have a lot to offer, but they don't often offer local organic options. If you are one of these shoppers who is frustrated by the lack of organic produce or products, I have some good news for you! Today I am going to be talking about Bio QUON.

Bio QUON

Bio QUON is a brand new organic grocery store that just opened up in Hitachinaka City. It is located right next to the escalators leading into Katsuta station. This new place has been open for a few months now and the locals really like it.
I recently went to Bio QUON out of curiosity to check out what was inside.

Inside

From the outside, Bio QUON looks like a small place, but it is quite spacious. On the right side of the grocery store are all the different organic spices, herbs, sauces, and even cosmetics.
On the left side of the stores is where all the organic produce and drinks are. They even have my favorite organic ginger ale that I have had before at the Village Market Tsukuba.
Further to the back of the produce section is the cafe area. You can order a drink and or food at Bio QUON and have it in the cafe area while you wait for your train. If the cafe area is full or if you are a counter type of person, you can enjoy your drink or food at the counter area which is right across from the fresh produce.
Speaking of drinks and food, let's look at the menu.

The Menu

Sorry, my non-Japanese speakers, this menu is only in Japanese. Not to worry, I will translate. From top to bottom:
Organic Donuts
Coffee (Ice or Hot)
Ice Cafe Au Lait (Oats Milk)
Organic Ice Tea
Herb Tea (Ice or Hot)
Almond Butter Smoothie (more on that later)
Banana Smoothie
Organic Apple Juice
Organic Orange Juice
Sapporo Beer
No chemical Kakigori (strawberry, mango, grape, lemon, plum, peach)
Fresh Herb Tea

Quite a lot of organic options at this place.
During my first visit, I was with the lovely Mrs. Ibaraki Eats. She works close by and decided to grab a drink before heading back to work. Both of us only wanted one drink and it would be a smoothie.

Almond Butter Smoothie

I have talked about almond butter before on the blog. I talked Almond Tree Shaker, an Ajigaura company that makes amazing almond butter. I talked about them being at the Ajigaura Ibafornia event and selling amazing vanilla ice cream with almond butter, and I have talked about buying their almond butter to take home and spreading it on some toast. Almond Tree Shaker makes excellent almond butter and Bio QUON uses that tasty almond butter to make a fantastic smoothie.
After ordering the smoothie, the staff made it right behind the counter area and we waited with anticipation. When we received it, my wife took the first sip and gave it the thumbs up. I took the next sip and got a thick smoothie full of tasty almond butter and cream. This ice-cold smoothie was great for a hot summer day and I can't wait to have another.

Coffee (Ice)

On my second trip to Bio QUON, my wife was unfortunately busy working so I went by myself. That day, I decided to grab a snack and some coffee. I know Saza Coffee is right next door and Saza is great, but I wanted to try Bio QUON's coffee. It was over 35 degrees the second time I visited so I asked for an iced coffee.
What did I think of this coffee? Smooth and easy but a bit weak. As you may know, I am a strong coffee drinker. I love it when the strong coffee taste hits me after one sip. This coffee didn't have that but it was smooth. I am not a big fan of a huge amount of acidity in my coffee. This coffee tasted like it barely had any and it was a tasty iced coffee. I wouldn't mind having this coffee during the day, but not after I have woken up in the morning.

Organic Rice Balls

Another menu item at Bio QUON is organic rice balls. There are two types of organic rice balls: Nonchemical tuna and salted kelp, and nonchemical fermented brown with plum.
I decided to go with the brown rice rice ball. There are a few positives and a few negatives with this rice ball. One positive is that the plum inside the rice ball was delicious and the brown rice was a perfect companion to the plum. The other positive is that it is a super healthy rice ball. If you are trying to lose weight, these rice balls will certainly help with that.
The negatives are the size and price. I am sure you can tell from my hand in the picture that this is a small rice ball. That small rice ball is close to 300 yen and I am not sure the price is right for this size.

Donuts and Vegan Rice Bowls

A few other food items you can order at Bio QUON is the organic chemical-free donuts. There are a bunch of different flavors of donuts. Unfortunately, I have yet to try the donuts. I did however get to try the vegan rice bowl.
I should explain that the vegan rice bowls are not from Bio QUON. The rice bowls come from a vegan restaurant in Mito called Vegan Cafe Terra. I think Bio QUON and Terra are buddies. Terra supplies Bio QUON with rice bowls and sometimes hamburg (no meant of course) lunch bentos. The rice bowls and bentos aren't always available at Bio QUON, but I think they are available at least a few times a week.
After a long day at work, my wife went to Bio QUON and bought the Terra vegan rice bowl. She brought it home and we had some of it for dinner. The rice bowl brought a bunch of different vegetables, two falafels, hummus, and brown rice. It was a super healthy rice bowl and a dream come true for vegans in Ibaraki. I am not a vegan myself but I did appreciate how tasty the vegetables were. The falafel, unfortunately, not so much. It wasn't as crunchy on the outside as it should have been. The hummus was OK. What I liked were the vegetables with the brown rice. Not a bad rice bowl all in all. Super healthy as well. I did not feel overly full when I had it. I am sure I will visit Vegan Cafe Terra one of these days and talk about it.

Bio QUON is an interesting grocery store. There are not many organic chemical-free grocery stores in Ibaraki that are vegetarian and vegan friendly. I am truly interested to see what the future has in store for Bio QUON. I go to Hitachinaka quite often, so I am sure I will be going back from my almond butter smoothie and to try some organic donuts.

So if you are looking for a healthy organic option for your grocery shopping, why not stop by Bio QUON at Katsuta station? Who knows, you might see me there, sipping on my smoothie while trying the donuts.
Enjoy!

For more information on Bio QUON, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/bio_quon/