The new way to drink Coffee plus giveaway

I’ve always thought that are basically two ways to make coffee at home, either using ground or instant. Of course there is a lot more choices to the ground method. Are you going to grind your own beans? Do you have a coffee machine, a percolator or a cafetière? We’ve always kept it simple by just having a cafetière, but it broke last year. I’ve been trying to see if we can get by without replacing it, since we usually only got it out when we had guests. And I certainly wouldn’t wish to upgrade to a coffee machine, as I imagine there must be a lot of waste with all those pods.

Therefore I was very interested to find out more when I heard via the Ethical Influencers network that there was such a thing as coffee bags. These passed my deal-breaker test with no plastic in the bags, so I put my name forward to review New Kings Coffee gourmet coffee bags. I had been putting teabags in the food waste bin for years when I first heard that most brands of teabags contain plastic. Now I either buy loose tea or better still, cut a sprig of fresh mint from my garden, and then compost the waste.

I didn’t even know coffee bags existed, but they definitely sound the way forward, being biodegradable. I was pleased to receive 3 free boxes of New Kings Coffee gourmet coffee bags to review, each containing 10 bags. These currently retail at £6.99 for a box of 10. There was a dark roast from Indonesia, a medium roast from Guatemala and a light roast from Ethiopia. They also do a decaffeinated roast from Peru, which unfortunately I didn’t get to try. Slightly ironic since my coffee of choice whenever I’m in a coffee shop would be a decaf skinny latte.

Plus points for the packaging they used to post me the coffee. The box had been sealed with paper tape. No sellotape in sight. I think this is the first time I’ve received a delivery using paper tape. So no need to remove the tape for recycling. Ideal since it can be so frustrating trying to pull plastic tape off parcels before the boxes can be recycled.

Their coffee is organic and fair-trade, two more ticks. The coffee bags are made from Bioweb, which is a 100% biodegradable product made from a totally renewable and sustainable source of corn starch. These can go in your food waste bin. Or home composting is possible for the bags but the temperature required to fully decompose them is not always sustained in home composters, especially as we enter the colder months.

But they are currently using individual sachets made from a mixed foil and plastic laminate to help keep the coffee fresh for longer. I’m not so happy whenever I hear about mixed materials like this. However they have taken the initiative to team up with TerraCycle, so that these can be recycled by sending them back. As they are a fairly new start-up company, I don’t believe there are any local drop-off points yet, like the way I take my old pens to our library. Plus the outer boxes are made of 75% recycled cardboard. And since they are currently working with their suppliers to find a more environmentally friendly alternative to the foil sachets,  I’d say that still adds upto 9.5/10 on the environmentally friendly front. So well done.

Hopefully they will come up with an alternative idea to the foil sachets soon, which doesn’t compromise on freshness. Perhaps the bags could be sold loose in a jar, as there is always plenty of reuse options for jars.

Simple to make. Pop a bag in your cup. Add hot water, stir, leave for 3-5 minutes, stir again, squeeze and remove bag, add milk if desired. And of course, you have been waiting for a verdict on the taste test. I enjoyed all three varieties, but I’m not a connoisseur of coffee, so although each pack describes what notes the flavour comprises, I personally couldn’t pick those out. I’m similar when it comes to wine.

However I experimented and came up with a variant that I absolutely loved. I tried adding one of the light roast bags to a cup of very hot milk instead of water. For me this was perfection, a real comfort drink. I’m also planning to try the same with both the medium roast and dark roast for comparison.

You can purchase the bags in varying quantities from 4-100, either on a one-off basis or with 10% off via a monthly subscription. The boxes I received have varying best before dates ranging between June 2020 to October 2020, so again thinking about those pesky foil sachets, even if they are needed for keeping the larger quantity boxes fresh, a box of 10 is going to be drunk relatively quickly. Even one foil inner packet containing all the bags which the consumer clips shut after opening would be a step in the right direction, rather than individual sachets.

Also I was very pleased to read that New Kings Coffee support the people and communities in the coffee growing regions, by making a donation to the charity, Grounds for Health, who provide screening, treatment and training to support cervical cancer patients in developing countries.

And I have an offer to pass on to my readers – 20% off any order at New Kings Coffee with discount code: YABM20.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway 3 boxes of coffee courtesy of New Kings Coffee to one lucky winner. That is one each of dark roast, medium roast and light roast, each box containing 10 bags.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

Now to enjoy my next cup of coffee whilst I browse online to find some environmental projects which I could consider contributing towards to help offset the carbon footprint of coffee being flown halfway across the world for my consumption. Coffee is not a plant that can be grown here in the UK.

I’d love to hear about your favourite cup of coffee.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Organic Cacao Butter Buttons recipes plus giveaway

Cocoa butter (also known as cacao butter) is well known in skincare for its moisturising properties but did you know that it can also be used in the kitchen. I didn’t so I was intrigued when I saw it listed as one of the products that Indigo Herbs were looking for bloggers to review.

Once I realised that it is a raw by-product in the cocoa Industry which can be used to make my own sugar-free chocolate, I immediately applied. I’ve always loved chocolate and I have tried to convince myself that it is good for me, due to the iron content, as I easily get anaemic. However over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to reduce my processed sugar intake, but chocolate is one of the areas I’ve particularly failed to reduce. Nearly every visit to my local Co-op, I still come back with a bar, patting myself on the back because it is fair-trade and wrapped in foil and paper, ignoring the high sugar content.

So I was very pleased to receive a 500g packet of Indigo Herbs Organic Cacao Butter Buttons free to review.

Cacao has been harvested from the bean for centuries and dates back at least to the days of the Mayan, Inca and Aztec cultures. It has many health benefits. Cacao is the highest wholefood source of the mineral magnesium, an important mineral for heart health, which is rather lacking in most modern diets. It is also a valuable source of iron and an extremely antioxidant-rich superfood. Plus raw cacao is a great mood enhancer due to the abundance of feel good phytonutrients it contains.

The packet states that these organic buttons are 100% vegan, a natural source of healthy fats and an excellent source of essential fatty acids. On opening the packet, the aroma was absolutely divine, like a rich dark chocolate. And here is a birds-eye view into the packet. You can see that they look very similar in appearance to white chocolate chips, but that is where the similarity ends as these buttons are sugar-free. They are smooth to the touch, and melt easily over hot water.

I currently have lots of apples and blackberries to put to good use, so I decided to come up with a recipe using these.

Apple and Blackberry Traybake

Ingredients (makes 16 slices)

100g cacao butter buttons
300g cooking apples
100g blackberries
250g almond flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
25g date sugar
200ml oat milk

Method

Preheat fan oven to 160 degrees C.
Line a 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Boil a saucepan of water and then turn off.
Melt the cacao butter buttons in a bowl placed in the pan of hot water.
Meanwhile peel, core and dice the apples.
Stir the almond flour, baking powder and date sugar into the melted cacao butter.
Mix in the oat milk.
Stir in the blackberries and chopped apples.
Spoon the mixture into the baking tin.
Cook on middle shelf of oven for about 40 minutes, (until a skewer comes out clean).
Cool on cooling rack.
Cut into 16 pieces.
Serve and enjoy.

This was very tasty and shows how cacao butter can be used in a non-chocolate recipe. However the texture was rather soft, so it would probably have been better to serve this as a pudding rather than as cake. I’ve deliberately kept the recipe vegan and gluten-free, but you could easily adapt it.

And of course, I wanted to try my hand at making my own homemade chocolates. Having been tempted to taste one of the buttons straight from the packet, I knew I was going to have to sweeten the cacao somewhat, but to keep it reasonably healthy, I wanted to add as little of the date syrup as possible, so I gradually added 5g at a time, until discovering that 20g was optimal.

Homemade Chocolates

Ingredients

50g cacao butter buttons
35g cacao powder
20g date syrup

Method

Boil a saucepan of water and then turn off.
Melt the cacao butter buttons in a bowl placed in the pan of hot water.
Mix in the cacao powder.
Stir in the date syrup.
Spoon the mixture into moulds.
Place moulds in fridge for an hour.
Gently press chocolates out of moulds.
Serve and enjoy.

Wow. Thumbs up. These yummy treats both tasted and looked amazing. A nice slightly bitter dark chocolate flavour. I shall definitely be making these on a regular basis. I used moulds which I had repurposed from advent calendars and Easter, but you could alternatively make a bar.

A 500g packet of Indigo Herbs Organic Cacao Butter Buttons currently retails at £12.99 and is also available in 250g or 1kg sizes. They have a long shelf life being dated best before December 2020, although mine will be long gone before then. Unfortunately there is no mention of the cacao being fairtrade. Perhaps that is something that could be looked into.

I also want to talk about the packaging. Regular followers of my blog will know that I began this year with the aim of reducing my household waste, in particular plastic. I’ve gradually broadened this to think of the whole carbon footprint in terms of my purchases and trying to buy more organic and more local products with low food miles. So the buttons get a big tick for being organic. I know the cocoa bean doesn’t grow in the UK, so can’t do much about the fact of the cacao coming from Peru. Just got to accept that. It is the same with other products that I intend to continue purchasing like bananas. One of the things I plan to look into going forwards is how I personally can offset my carbon footprint of these products having been flown halfway across the world for my consumption, with a view to contributing to some environmental projects.

So back to the packaging. Unfortunately there is no mention on the packet of how to dispose of it, which is information I would like to see all food packaging display. I think it looks like either a plastic or a mixed material, probably not easily recycled. It seems reasonably robust, so I will probably be able to repurpose it temporarily as a freezer bag. But what about after that? How about selling them in glass jars instead, or even better loose though refill stores.

I couldn’t actually work out where my nearest stockist is as there seems to be a glitch with that page. Every store on the map seems to currently be listed with a Bristol address.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a 500g pack of cacao buttons courtesy of Indigo Herbs to one lucky winner. Think of all the tempting treats you could make with this.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

Right I’m off to browse the Indigo Herbs website to see what other products they sell. It is thanks to them that I previously discovered my love of chia seeds, something that I now use almost daily. You may check out my chia seed review here.

I’d love to hear your recipes using cacao.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Ethical amaranthine lip balm review and giveaway

I recently discovered the natural skincare brand amaranthine via the Ethical Influencers network. Amaranthine is a small, independent, ethical skincare company based in Edinburgh. All their products are luxurious, handmade, 100% natural and palm oil free. Amaranthine is the first skincare company in the world to receive a palm oil free certification trademark.

Doesn’t that sound great? So I was delighted to have the opportunity to review their lip balm for free.

Dispatch was very quick and the lip balm was packed securely in a small jiffy envelope. I was very pleased to see that the product comes in an aluminium tin. Regular readers of my blog will be aware from my series of posts on reducing waste that I am doing my best to reduce my use of plastic. My existing lip balm is in a plastic tube and I had been rather reluctant to swap to vaseline, which was the only other product I was aware of in a tin.

No such reticence with the amaranthine lip balm. The aroma of the cocoa and peppermint flavour was absolutely divine when I opened the tin. It reminded me of the smell of After Eight chocolates. I couldn’t wait to try it.

I’ve now been using it only for a few days and already my lips feel so moisturised and much softer than before. Easy to apply using your finger tip. Certainly much better than what I was using previously. Of course, my lips need a lot more pampering in the winter, so I can’t tell you currently how it performs in harsh weather conditions.

And according to the website, most of the ingredients are organic. And the shea butter is also fair trade too. So thumbs up from me on the ethical front. It is always great to find a company who focus on sustainability and being eco-conscious. One thing that isn’t mentioned is whether the lip balm has an SPF factor, so that would be useful to know particularly at this time of year.

It currently retails at £4.50 for 14g. An ideal size to keep in your bag for when you are out and about. The bottom of the tin indicates it to be best before 6/20, so I know it is fresh. Plus it is handmade in small batches.

I am certainly happy to highly recommend this product. And do take a look at the range of other products on their website. Also please take a minute to read their very informative blog post regarding palm oil. I found that very useful. For instance I had no idea that glycerin could be a by-product of palm oil. Or that palm oil could be hiding in products under the guise of 100’s of different names.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition courtesy of amaranthine to giveaway a lip balm to one lucky winner. Open to UK and Europe.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear what is your favourite product from amaranthine or your suggestions for additions to the range.

And do you know what the word amaranthine means? I didn’t. It is an adjective and means undying, immortal, eternally beautiful. I think that is so apt.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Sticky Date Flapjack

Flapjack has always been one of my favourite sweet treats and there are so many different possible variants. One of my favourite goto recipes is Sticky Date Flapjack which I had pinned from Ocado. However last month when I clicked on my pin, the link was broken. I had an unsuccessful search around Ocado’s recipe section. So now was obviously the time to come up with my own date flapjack recipe, as I couldn’t remember the full ingredient list or amounts. And I decided to experiment with using coconut oil rather than butter for a slightly healthier version.

I had never tried coconut oil in any cooking previously, but I had just received a free tub of Vita Coco organic coconut oil which I was looking forward to trying, especially since becoming a convert to coconut syrup last year.

Sticky Date Flapjack

Ingredients (makes 12)

225g dates
150 – 200 ml boiling water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
350g oats
90g coconut oil
90g golden syrup

Method

Preheat fan oven to 160 deg C.
Line a 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Chop dates and place in basin.
Add bicarbonate of soda.
Add sufficient boiling water to cover.
Leave for 15 minutes, then strain, reserving the liquid.
Mash the dates into a pulp with a fork.
Meanwhile add coconut oil and golden syrup to a large saucepan.
Gently melt.
Add the liquid from the dates.
Mix in the oats.
Put half the oat mixture into the tin, pressing down into the corners.
Cover with the date layer.
Cover with the remaining oat mixture, ensuring all the dates are covered.
Cook in preheated oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown.
Leave in tin for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack.
Once cool, cut into 12 slices.
Serve and enjoy.

This was really tasty and I’ve still got some coconut oil in the tub, so I’m planning to try using it in a savoury dish next. Although as a newbie to coconut oil, I would love to hear recommendations of what it does or doesn’t work well in.

For other newbies, here is what it looks like. According to the pot it is solid upto 23 degrees C. And it had a very subtle aroma of coconut. Also the coconut flavour in the flapjack was pretty subtle too.

And the pot indicates that in addition to cooking, you can use it as a spread or even use it on yourself as a moisturiser or hair conditioner. Also suitable for removing make-up. That is quite some wide range of uses.

Definitely something that is going on my shopping list.

I’d love to hear what you would use coconut oil for?

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Disclosure. This recipe is an entry into the #Swearbyit challenge with Vita Coco. Find more great coconut oil recipes and tips on using coconut oil at www.swearbyit.com. This recipe uses a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Ethical fashion style choice for Autumn

Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I was really pleased to be offered the chance to select a free item of my choice from the Autumn / Winter season of Nomads Clothing to review. Spoilt for choice, I spent quite some time browsing the lovely collection on their website. Nomads are a fair trade ethical womenswear fashion brand including some organic items, so I decided to narrow my selection down to the organic categories.

In the end I selected a plain teal t-shirt from the range of organic tops https://www.nomadsclothing.com/organic as I thought it would go very nicely with my recently purchased new pair of blue jeans from Marks and Spencer.

The t-shirt is organic cotton and retails at £30. It also comes in 4 other colours – grey, plum, smoke and rust. And you can vary the style, since it has roll-up sleeves.

Dispatch was quick and the t-shirt was well packed. I was delighted to feel how soft the organic cotton felt to touch. And I was correct. It does go well with my jeans. I am very pleased and highly recommend you take a look at Nomads. Also it washed and ironed well.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition courtesy of Nomads to giveaway a £75 voucher to one lucky winner. The prize also includes free postage and packing worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

Plus I have a special offer to share with my readers of 20% discount off your order. Please quote the code BLOG20 when you place your order.

I’d love to hear what is your favourite product from Nomads Clothing range? You may sign up to their mailing list here.

You can find Nomads on social media as follows:-
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

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ORGANii Mouthwash Review

Oral hygiene is very important. Most people will get gum health issues at some point and a lot of us are unaware that it is the biggest cause of tooth loss. Each time I visit the dentist now I get told that my gums are starting to recede and that I may be prone to gum disease. Brushing alone only cleans 25% of your mouth and I get reminded about flossing and mouthwash, both of which I’ve been doing for years.

So I was certainly up for trying a different brand of mouthwash to my usual. I’ve been sent a free bottle of citrus flavour ORGANii mouthwash to review.

ORGANii mouthwashes are currently priced at £5.95 for a 500 ml bottle and come in two flavours (citrus and eucalyptus).

ORGANii is not a brand I had come across previously, but all its products are organic. The mouthwash is formulated with organic aloe vera juice, which made me more interested to try it, as I’ve heard a lot of good things about aloe vera juice recently.

For instance I have a friend who has been drinking aloe vera juice for the last couple of months. Her skin complexion is noticeably clearer, although she does admit that it doesn’t taste very nice.

So forewarned about the taste of aloe vera juice, I gave the mouthwash a try. Result – no problem with the taste at all. I found the citrus flavour very refreshing. Admittedly I was only having a capful at a time and not drinking it. Which brings me on to my next comment. The bottle says to pour a small amount into the lid, then swill around mouth. That makes me shudder at the thought of potential mouth germs multiplying on the lid for over a month. I would much prefer it to say pour into lid, then into a glass for hygiene reasons.

Note it says on the bottle that the product is not suitable for children under 6, however I’m not ready to offer my older children mouthwash yet. Also on this point, I think it should really have a childproof cap, even though it does warn you to keep out of reach of children. Toddlers could easily attempt to drink the bottle if they succeeded in getting hold of it whilst your back was turned, especially if they have watched the parent putting the product in their own mouth.

However putting these concerns aside, it is very competitively priced, has a great flavour and doesn’t contain any controversial nasties like artificial preservatives and added colourants that may be present in other brands.

I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and haven’t noticed any difference in plaque and tartar build-up from my usual brand. But I am impressed how natural it is, so I would be very happy to buy this product.

ORGANii products are available at independent health stores nationwide and online at www.ORGANii.co.uk

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

A nice cup of olive leaf tea – review & giveaway

About 10 years ago on holiday I was introduced to the concept that you could make your own teas when I was offered cups of sage tea made with sprigs of freshly picked sage. Back home I adapted the idea to make my own mint tea using fresh mint from my garden. Ever since, I’ve always been very open-minded to trying different flavours of tea. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to sample some Mirabilia organic olive leaf tea.

I love using olive oil, but I’m not that keen on eating olives, although son1 absolutely loves them. Read on to find out what would I think of olive leaf tea?

I received a free 30g packet of Mirabilia organic olive leaf tea to review. This is a premium loose leaf tea, made from the finest hand-picked leaves from the organic olive groves in Abruzzo, Italy. I’ve seen ladies picking tea leaves from the bushes in Sri Lanka and filling very large baskets which they carry on their back, a job that I am in awe of. Similarly, olive leaf tea has been made in Italy for hundreds of years, being prized for its health enhancing qualities. As well as tea, they also harvest the olives from the Mirabilia olive groves and press to produce extra virgin olive oil.

I followed the instructions which said a pinch of tea would make at least two cups of tea and to brew for about 5-6 minutes. It also said that the tea can be drunk either hot, tepid, cold or iced. I made a pot of tea to share with my other half and we chose to drink it hot. We both found it a pleasant tasting refreshing drink. I also tried refreshing the pot, as it said it could be refreshed once or twice, and deliberately allowed my cup to go tepid. Yes it was fine tepid, a bonus as I quite often get side-tracked. The flavour was weaker and more delicate as I had anticipated, and I still enjoyed it, although my other half found it too weak. I also appreciated how bulky the leaves were, very visually attractive especially compared to the powdery contents of most teabags. The pack came with a reseal label, but I found the packet tore when I opened it, so I was unable to reseal it properly, so I tipped the tea into an airtight container instead.

Take a look inside the teapot

Here are some facts about olive leaf tea.
– Caffeine and tannin free.
– Extremely high in antioxidants
– Antibiotic, anti-viral, anti-fungal.
– Proven to aid weight loss.
– Used traditionally to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
– Proven to boost the immune system.

Also olive leaf tea leaves can be added to a marinade, especially for fish, or used in a spice rub to season a variety of dishes.

A 30g packet of Mirabilia organic olive leaf tea currently retails for £4.69 and comes in three flavours, the original olive leaf tea that I tried and also variants with organic pomegranate and lemon and wild mint. You may purchase instore at branches of Booths and Whittards of Chelsea plus other stores or online. As you only need a pinch, the 30g packet will make lots of cups, so the price sounds fine in my opinion. I highly recommend this product.

Check out Mirabilia organic olive leaf tea on Facebook or Twitter.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a selection of Mirabilia organic olive leaf tea and olive oil to three lucky winners. Each prize will comprise of three packets of tea (one of each flavour) and a 250 ml bottle of their organic extra virgin olive oil.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

Enjoy tea? Here’s another tea review I did back in 2013 of the Butterfly Dance Blooming Tea and Oolong Ginseng Tea Cubed.

Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.