What's actually in a ginger shot

Fresh root, pressed and bottled

A cold-pressed ginger shot is fresh ginger root, pressed into juice and bottled in a small 60ml serving you take in one go. Ours carry a little lemon or apple to soften the heat, and nothing else you wouldn't recognise. No concentrate, no added sugar, no filler. What's in the bottle is essentially a lot of fresh ginger, pressed and frozen close to its peak.

That's the whole idea. A ginger shot isn't a formulated supplement built around an isolated compound. It's the raw root itself, in a form that skips the chopping, grating and juicer-cleaning. The quality comes from the ginger going in and the way it's handled, not from anything added on top. It's the same principle across our cold-pressed shots, whether that's ginger, turmeric or beetroot.

How much ginger is really in there

The number that actually matters on a ginger shot is how much fresh root went into it. This is where shots differ most, and it's the figure worth looking for. A gentle, everyday shot might use around 10g of root softened with apple and lemon. A serious one packs three times that into the same 60ml.

Across our range that runs from a smooth Gentle Ginger Shot at 10g up to Ginger Max, which carries 30g of raw ginger in a single shot for people who want the full force of the root. Same 60ml bottle, three times the ginger. When you compare shots, root weight tells you more than the label's front-of-pack wording ever will. We break the strengths down properly in how a shot compares to capsules and powders.

Where the warmth and bite come from

The heat you feel is gingerol, the natural compound that gives fresh ginger its warmth and characteristic bite. It's the part of the root scientists have looked at most closely, and it's what makes a ginger shot feel active the moment it hits your mouth. When ginger is dried or cooked, some of that gingerol converts into a related compound called shogaol, which is why dried and powdered ginger tastes different from fresh. Cold-pressing raw root keeps the shot closer to the fresh end of that spectrum.

You don't need the chemistry to enjoy a shot, but it explains the sensation. That immediate warmth in the mouth and throat is gingerol doing its thing, not spice in the chilli sense. It's the reason a fresh shot feels lively where a spoon of ground ginger in warm water feels flat.

Why gingerol gets studied

Ginger is one of the more heavily researched culinary roots, and gingerol is usually the reason. Published studies have looked at it in areas like nausea, digestion and the body's inflammatory response, which is why you'll see ginger turn up in the research literature far more than most kitchen ingredients. Lou, our nutrition advisor, takes the view that this history is worth knowing about, while being clear about what it is: research into the compound and the root, not a claim about what any single shot will do for you.

The honest framing is that the research has examined ginger, not that a 60ml shot is a treatment. Effects in studies depend on dose, form and the individual, and a food isn't a medicine. If you're curious about a specific area, the sensible move is to read the research yourself and form your own view, ideally alongside your GP if you take any medication. What we can say plainly is what's in the bottle: fresh root, cold-pressed, with the gingerol that makes ginger worth the centuries of attention.

Why there's lemon or apple in the bottle

Pure ginger on its own is fierce. A small amount of lemon or apple rounds off the edge and makes a shot something you'll actually reach for day after day, rather than brace yourself against. It's a balancing act, not a bulking one. The ginger stays the lead; the lemon brightens it and the apple takes the raw edge off the heat.

That's the line we hold: enough to make the shot approachable, never so much that it turns into a sweet juice wearing a ginger label. No concentrates, no added sugar, no filler. If a shot's ingredient list is long and the ginger is buried halfway down it, that tells you something about how much root is really in there.

Cold-pressed and frozen, not cooked and shelved

How a shot is made changes what you get. Cold-pressing uses pressure rather than heat to extract the juice, so the raw root keeps its character rather than being cooked out for shelf life. We then flash-freeze rather than pasteurise, which holds the shot at its freshest until you defrost it, instead of heat-treating it to survive months on a shelf.

It's the difference between a shot built to sit in a warehouse and one built to taste and feel like fresh ginger. That choice is the whole reason for doing it this way, and it's worth a guide of its own, which is why we cover what a cold-pressed ginger shot actually is in more depth.

The things a good shot leaves out

Reading a ginger shot by what it doesn't contain is as useful as reading what it does. A shot built around fresh root doesn't need added sugar to be drinkable, doesn't need concentrate to hit a price, and doesn't need preservatives if it's kept frozen rather than shelf-stabilised.

• No added sugar. The only sweetness is what a touch of apple brings.
• No concentrate. Concentrate is cheaper and it shows in the taste.
• No fillers or bulking juices to pad out the volume.
• No heat treatment, because freezing does the preserving instead.

A short, recognisable ingredient list is the sign to look for. Ginger, a little lemon or apple, and not much else.

What goes into each of our ginger shots

The core three, by what's inside:

Gentle Ginger	Ginger Max	Ginger Turmeric
60ml, 10g ginger softened with apple and lemon	60ml, 30g raw ginger	60ml, 15g ginger with raw turmeric and black pepper
Smooth, easy, everyday	The fiercest, full force of the root	Earthy, warm, the founder's daily pick
New to ginger shots	You want it to properly bite	You like the ginger-turmeric pairing
from £16.95	from £18.95	from £16.95

From gentle to fiery

The bottom line

A good ginger shot is a simple thing: fresh ginger root, cold-pressed, with a little lemon or apple to round off the heat, in a 60ml hit you take in one go. The quality lives in two places, how much root goes in and how it's handled. Look for root weight over front-of-pack wording, a short ingredient list, no added sugar or concentrate, and a shot that's frozen fresh rather than cooked for the shelf. Get those right and the rest, gentle or fiery, is just a matter of taste. Start with the Gentle Ginger Shot if you're new to it, or go straight for Ginger Max if you want the full force of the root.