Time for a cuppa - FruitBroo Review!

Recently I came across an intriguing brand via one of my fellow Black Milk lovers (known as Sharkies), called FruitBroo. A brand new range of seriously tasty juicy fruit drinks specially blended to be served hot. 100% natural with no caffeine, gluten or dairy and only 15 calories a cup! It sounded WAY too good to be true.

I’m a huge fan of Twining’s herbal teas so was curious to see how these little fellas matched up! After nipping to a local Sainsburys to grab one, I gave it a go! The contents of this little bottles is a concentrated intensely fruity syrup that you simply add hot water to create a steamy hot mug of goodness! 

Yum!

Got to at least try giving the healthy thing a shot!

I took to Twitter to express my delight at this new discovery immediately and got chatting to the FruitBroo guys. They very kindly sent a box of the entire range winging its way up to Manchester the very same day! The day they arrived, it was chucking it down – the perfect situation to settle down with a hot beverage!

The packaging is brilliant – appealing, colourful and fun, which was no surprise when I later found out FruitBroo is the brainchild of Mike Brehme, the man behind Clipper teas! The FruitBroo guys claim you can get 15 cups out of their 100ml bottle and recommend using two teaspoons full. However after testing this method in the office at work, it didn’t go down too well – there was a resounding reaction of “too weak”.

So when I gave it a bash at home, I went a little wild and simply poured it from the bottle enough to cover the bottom of the mug! I tend to like things pretty strong! The first thing you notice upon opening each bottle is the fantastic smell that hits you. It literally makes your mouth water and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. 

Apple and Ginger Spice

I’m a sucker for anything with ginger in but the ginger flavour isn’t particularly overwhelming with this mix. It’s got a very wintery scent to it but it actually tastes very sweet – the only way I can really think to describe it is Christmas in a mug!  Certainly a favourite for me and took me straight back to memories of the recent Christmas Markets in Manchester.

Elderflower and Lime

The delicateness of the elderflower gives this tea a very subtle taste and the tartness of the lime gives it a little kick to stop it from being completely bland. Personally not a fan as a hot brew but I do think, it would make an extremely pleasant cool drink in hot weather. I’ll definitely be giving it a go when if the weather perks up  - brewing it up, then leaving it to cool and adding ice and possibly a dash of sparkling water!

Honey and Lemon

This was my least favourite out of the range. Whilst you can smell the honey when opening the bottle, when transferred into tea form, it was completely overwhelmed by the lemon flavour. Unfortunately this one was definitely a thumbs down – I think I’d still prefer to make my own honey and lemon with actual ingredients instead.

Lemon and Ginger

Totally swinging the other way, this was another one of my favourites. The scent of gingerbread hit me the minute I took the lid off and I wasn't disappointed with the flavour. Warming, beautifully aromatic and tingling all my taste buds (and it seemed to help nip my cold in the bud), I've already polished off the whole bottle! Oops! (FYI, I only got 6 cups out of it but they are pretty big mugs!)

Peach, Pear and Honey

This is a really difficult one to put my finger on! The blend of flavours is very sweet, with pear probably being the most prominent but it’s quite hard to describe – a truly fruity blend! Emily, from my office, described it as 'Hubba Hubba after the flavour has gone!". Think the jury's still out on this one.....

Rhubarb, Apple and Cinnamon

I actually hate rhubarb. I don’t eat the stuff, I don’t like anything that has rhubarb flavouring and generally avoid it like the plague. So I was apprehensive of trying this particular flavour. Yet once again, I was pleasantly surprised. The apple and cinnamon flavour provides a perfect antidote and whilst it wouldn't be my first choice of flavour, I certainly didn't dislike it. It tastes a little bit like apple pie!

The Verdict

I’ve got to say my personal favourites were the Lemon and Ginger and Apple, Ginger and Spice (I clearly have some sort of ginger issues going on here!). I tend to find with fruit teas, I have to leave the tea bag in to get an intense enough flavour and it can often tip over into tasting TOO strong. Not so with these bad boys – you add as much or a little as you like and enjoy the perfect fruit brew!

The dinky little bottles mean these could make really cute little presents and they are currently retailing at £2.50 a bottle. What I’d really like to see from them in the future is a pack where you can get all the flavours together and perhaps a 250ml bottle for those of us who like them a bit stronger *wink wink*.

You can find FruitBroo in your local Sainsbury’s store in the speciality tea aisle or just order via the FruitBroo Website (free delivery if you order over 10). 

Follow Fruit Broo on Facebook/ Follow @FruitBroo on Twitter

A Fruity Explosion - The Frozen Fruit Company Review

I'll start off by saying I am NOT a fan of healthy food. 

Takeaways, sweets, chocolate, crisps, McDonalds, that's pretty much my staple diet. Every now and then, I buy fruit, eat a bit, forget about it and it goes off. So I adopt a buy now, eat now tactic! However, since I've been spending time with @SpamellaB, I've been encouraged to, well, eat a little healthier.

So when The Frozen Fruit Company got in touch with us on Twitter, I was determined to give it a go. However as I read through the blurb -  just made from fruit, free of additives, flavourings, chemicals, fat, refined sugar, colourings and calories - I was bloody suspicious. To me those are all the things that make food and especially desserts, tickle my taste buds.

When a box arrived up in Manchester for Pamela & I, I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it anyway. I had it in my head that it would be sour, tangy, bland and tasteless crushed up fruity yoghurt or fruit sorbet wrapped up in pretty packaging . We each took a pot of each of the three flavours, Strawgo, Orangeberry and Blackberryblue and headed home to test them out.

 You can read Pamela's review of The Frozen Fruit company from a healthy food lover's perspective of them on her blog over on - SpamellaB.com 

Check it out. 

No seriously, I mean it. 

It's an excellent read!

I'm not just saying that because I'm her friend and biased - her blog is what started our friendship in the first place.

The first thing I noticed was the package was VERY pretty. I'm a sucker for things that look luxurious and gold rimmed lids with clean labels and colourful pots appealed to me straight away. They remind me a little of the Duchys Original range.

In true junk food lover style, I scoffed a plate of fish & chips before settling down to test out the frozen fruit pots. The first thing that I noticed when browsing in the ingredients is it's literally just fruit. It's not an ice cream mix, or a sorbet mix or a frozen yoghurt - just pure fruit.

The first thing you notice when you take the lid off, is how punchy and bright the contents appear. When I knew it was just fruit, I was expecting it to look quite chunky but the reality was a smooth looking, vibrantly coloured treat. Things were off to a good start! I decided to get started with the Strawgo flavour first.

Made up of mango & strawberry, it was surprisingly sweet. I find strawberries can often be quite tart,  but the creaminess of the mango was a pleasant counterbalance and even after a night in my freezer, it was still quite pliable and didn't give me the dreadred brain freeze. I also have very sensitive teeth and normally, can only manage small mouthfuls at a time with ice cream before it hurts.

Not so with The Frozen Fruit!

It simply melted into my mouth before it had a chance to attack those dreaded nerve endings.

Next up came Orangeberry.

Tangier then the first one, the flavours didn't blend with each other rather than explode together to create an overwhelming distinctive taste. I could pratically taste the Vitamin C getting to work in my system and it rather reminded me of a Calippo ice lolly. Quite possibly my favourite - I think it would work very well with a creamy dessert like cheesecake to mix up the flavours though the Frozen Fruit guys suggest you can try having it with with granola for breakfast.

Finally, BlackberryBlue.

The Frozen Fruit guys sent us tasting cards which describe this one as their most subtle and least sweet. I love berries, particularly when they're all mixed together or those forest fruit type ranges but they were pretty spot on with their description here. For me it was the most disappointing, I could barely taste anything and for something that looks so dark and appealing, I was a little bit gutted by the lack of flavour. Thumbs down for that one unfortunately, sorry guys!

The verdict

Whilst I won't be rushing to change my eating habits any time soon (you've got your work cut out Spam!), these were definitely a surprising alternative for me and a way for me to snack on something healthy and good for me without wasting money on fruit I won't finish whilst at the same time satisfying my incessant sweet tooth. I'll definitely be stocking up on the Orangeberry one!

The 500ml tubs are pretty filling (I still have about half a pot of each left after two days of scoffing) and because they're fat, dairy and gluten free, low in calories and contribute towards your 5-a-day, they're suitable for just about anyone! Now if only I could get my hands on the little bitesize 120ml tubs, I could quite happily snack on these all day long as an alternative to all the rubbish I normally eat and tick my 5 a day box (one for breakfast, mid morning, lunch, mid-afternoon & dinner = SORTED!)

The mission is to bring them up to Manchester and get them stocked somewhere so I can constantly get my hands on them!

If you want some tips on how to jazz up your frozen fruit, check out the fantastic Creative page on their website for amazing serving suggestions. It's making my mouth water just looking at them....better head to the freezer!

BAFTA and the "British" films

This week, the nominations were announced for the 2014 EE BAFTA awards which will be hosted on Sunday 16th of February. 

Luke Evans (most recently of The Hobbit fame) and Helen McCrory (or Draco Malfoy's mother for you Harry Potter fans out there), were up bright and early to present the list at BAFTA HQ and luckily the whole thing was live-screened for the rest of us mere mortals. You can watch it below or on BAFTA's Youtube channel

Some of the results were expected with American Hustle, 12 Years A Slave, Captain Phillips and Gravity each scooping a serious handful of nominations in several categories. However, the category that really got people talking was Best Outstanding British Film.

It raised the question - what exactly constitutes a British Film? Gravity, Rush and Saving Mr Banks don't immediately jump out as "British". According to the British Film Institute in order to qualify, films must meet the requirements of one of the following:

• The cultural test for film
• One of the UK’s official bilateral co-production agreements
• The European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production

In order to pass the cultural test, at least one of the film production companies must be registered in the UK. The cultural test is a points-based test where the project needs 16 of a possible 31 points to pass across four categories.

Source: Olswang

 My personal feeling is all of these points should apply for a film to be truly defined as "British" but some would argue that to do so would be too limiting and prevent individuals getting the recognition they deserve for having worked on such films.

Take Gravity for example. Predominantly filmed at UK based Shepperton Studios using a crew of British artists and technicians, the special effects were overseen by British company Framestore and it was produced by the British David Heyman, (best known for his work on the ‘Harry Potter’ films). However it was the brainchild of Mexican direction Alfonso Cuarón (best know for Y Tu Mamá También) and financed by US company Warner Bros. So would you call it a British film? I wouldn't.

There's no denying it ticks the right boxes to qualify as a British film but it hasn't stopped a few feathers being ruffled, especially at a time when the British film industry is struggling to expand and places such as Pinewood may see their future drawn into question if they can't expand and big hitters like Disney and Marvel are threatening to go elsewhere.

You can sign the petition to expand Pinewood here

It also doesn't help when the BFI publishes statistics suggesting British films barely return any profit - how can we be proud of our film culture if the very body that is supposed to represent it is saying that it's quite frankly, not really worth it because you won't get your money back?

Producer Ken Marshall wrote a very strong article in response to the BFI which I highly recommend - read it here . His excellent film, Filth, which is what I would consider a "British film", didn't even get a look in in a single category. I know the BAFTAs have recently become seen as good indicator of how films will fare in the Oscars but as the British Academy Film Awards, I'd like to see a little more recognition of the excellent homegrown talent and films we produce in the UK. If the BFI itself has no faith, I predict we will see more and more films like Gravity being claimed as British in the years to come.

Looking forward to 2014 already

So another year has ended and a new one is beginning. 

2013 was certainly an interesting year - I remember starting out feeling unsure about my job, unsure what I was even doing with my life and generally, being a massive worrier! But slowly over the course of the year, things started to change.

People took a chance on me in my professional life and helped me to continue to grow from strength to strength. I made some awesome new friends who I've carried through into the new year. And I discovered Black Milk.

"A clothing brand?" I hear you say. "How can they change your life?"

Aside from the fact that the clothes are a dream for a geeky, sci-fi, fantasy obsessed girl like me, they helped me carve out something of an identity for myself - I became affectionately known as Crazy Leggings Girl at work - it also introduced me to a whole online community of equally obsessed but incredibly friendly girls (and we even all meet up during the year).

The Black Milk online community is global and it's what continues to drive the brand and it's success as the years roll by. But I'm getting off topic!

In 2013, I got to focus on working in Social Media which I fell in love with. Through my work, I met some fantastic people who went on to become friends in the "real world" - a special shout out goes to @SpamellaB. 

I also got the chance to attend some fantastic events such as Manchester networking event, Twitfaced and an all day event at the BBC in Media City called #SocialMediaWhatsTrending which brought together a series of panels and speakers that only the BBC could get together all in one building! 

Panelists included blogger Jayne Robinson @JaynesKitch (check out her amazing blog here: http://www.jayneskitschen.co.uk), Matt Cooke from Google, Luke Lewis from Buzzfeed & Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper.

So how can 2014 better this? It's already doing it

The infamous Kitten Camp (cat memes + social media + free beer) is heading up to North for the first time & alongside Pam & my other amazing friend, Fay @fayscho, we are bringing it to Manchester. Definitely need to try and get my hands on these for it!

Manchester Digital Marketing event Twitfaced returns on January 31st where the Digital, PR & Social Media community descends onto a bar and proceed to get....well you can guess!

I'm also going to try and stay on top of blogging a bit more! New sections coming in 2014 will include my thoughts on film, theatre, social media and travel. Watch this space!

It's already shaping up to be a good year!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin