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Torani Strawberry Flavored Syrup Makes VERY Memorable Tea, Matcha, Milkshakes, Smoothies…

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Iced Matcha with Torani Strawberry Syrup

Torani Strawberry Flavored Syrup (Amazon link)

If you have tea lovers on your shopping list, a fun, unexpected gift idea is flavored syrup. Torani makes about a gazillion flavors and each is a knockout. Strawberry is a personal obsession, so it’s one of my favorite flavored syrups.

Adding a little Torani Strawberry Flavored Syrup to tea or matcha (whether you’re drinking your tea hot or iced) gives your drink a wonderful flavor, but the possibilities don’t stop there. You could also add a little unexpected zip and flavor to coffee or, if you choose to… hot chocolate. Personally, I wouldn’t dare of adding anything to or taking anything away from a hot cocoa but to each their own!

In addition to adding a little fun personality to tea, I love the idea of adding a little flavored syrup to milkshakes or smoothies – especially in the winter when you have to use frozen fruit. They need the extra flavor a great syrup brings.

I’ve also used flavored syrup to sweeten homemade whipped topping for iced matchas and iced coffee drinks.

You can find Torani’s complete line of extraordinary syrups – and more! – on Amazon (Amazon link to Torani products). You can even find Torani Flavored Syrup with dispensers (Amazon link)!


Monin Flavored Syrups with Pumps (So Many Delicious Options!)

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One of my daughters (brilliant girl that she is) had a Monin Peppermint Syrup (Amazon link) on her Amazon Wish List, along with a set of pumps to use with it.  Another daughter… her sister… saw the syrup and pump and (brilliant girl that she is) added the Monin Lavender Syrup (Amazon link) with pump to her own Amazon Wish List!

Their mother (that would be me) just informed their youngest sister… and, thereby, my youngest daughter…. that she has (at last count) found 7 different flavored syrups she wants!

Pretty clear where they got their brilliance from, am I right? Of course I’m right.

These fun, creative syrups make being your own barista insanely fun – PLUS it can save you trips (and money in the long run) to the coffeehouse.

I have my eye on the lavender (perfect with so many different teas, as well as great for flavoring whipped toppings), raspberry, coconut, toasted marshmallow (!!!), peach, blackberry, and strawberry.

After seeing the recipe for the Peppermint Shake, I’m also pretty interested in the Peppermint Syrup that began the whole obsession. At least that brings it to an even 8 that I have my heart set on. I do appreciate balance in life.

Click through any of the links to take a closer look at these wonderful syrups. These would make absolutely phenomenal gift ideas for the tea, coffee, smoothie (oh my gosh, this just opened up a whole new world to me), or milkshake lovers in your life.


Gorgeous Whistling Tea Kettles from SUSTEAS

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One of my favorite times of the day is my evening tea. There’s just something about the experience of having tea that goes beyond the warmth and deliciousness, isn’t there? The entire experience is simply… well… lovely.

The mug you use and the kettle that makes the magic happen are a part of the whole experience as far as I’m concerned. While looking at tea and coffee mugs on Amazon a few minutes ago, I saw a gorgeous new tea kettle (pictured here).

This beauty is the SUSTEAS Whistling Tea Kettle (Amazon link) and I had to come here to put it in the spotlight.

The gorgeous kettle is available in red, black, and white, and each color is spectacular.

When you click through the link, you can see each color available and take a much closer look at these beautiful kettles.

  • Ergonomically designed handle and push-button technology makes pouring a breeze.. and comfortably safe.
  • A nice, loud whistle guarantees that you can hear it from another room when the water is boiled.
  • SUSTEAS tea kettle is made of 3 layers encapsulated base, even heat boils water faster.
  • Comes in a handsome gift box, so it’s perfect to give to your favorite tea lover.
  • SUSTEAS tea kettles are 100% Teflon and BPA-free

Take a closer look at these knock-outs here: SUSTEAS Whistling Tea Kettle (Amazon link)

If you love tea, I hope you’ll check out Emily’s wonderful tea blog, Crazy Tea Chick. She’s a beautiful, fun, witty, and wonderful tea lover and her passion for her favorite drink is contagious. She also happens to be my oldest daughter!


Fun, Colorful Tumblers with Lids and Straws

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Okay, so I just found something on Amazon I have to order right away, if not sooner. Only problem is deciding how many to order. Not only am I OBSESSED with tumblers with lids & straws (especially in the summer), I have three daughters who are just as obsessed. The fun, colorful Color Changing Cups with Lids and Straws (Amazon link) comes in a set of 5, so I could conceivably buy one set and divide the cups between us with two leftovers for other members of the family.

BUT how much more fun would it be for each one of us to have our own fun set of 5? Pretty sure I’m officially leaning that way.

Things I Love About These Colorful Cups:

  • You can make the beauties change color by adding ice to your favorite beverage. Just watch the color changing cups transform before your eyes. These beauties would make great photos for Instagram or Twitter.. I mean, the rest of the world may as well see you while you’re living your best life, right?
  • The fun eye-catching phrases on these cups match whatever mood you’re working with that day: OK Boomer, Stay Woke, Spilling Tea, Adulting is Hard, and Sorry Not Sorry.
  • The reusable cups with lids are splash-proof. The snug snap-on lids fit each tumbler cup securely. One of the main reasons I love cups with lids during the summer is so I can take my glass of raspberry tea with me wherever I go, without worrying about it spilling on me OR allowing flies to use my tea for a personal pool party.
  • These cups are stackable, so storage is not a problem and they fit most cup holders.
  • They’re made of a high-quality durable plastic, so the reusable plastic cups with lids and straws lasts for many years.

If you use tumblers as straws as much as I do, you will absolutely want to find a straw-cleaning brush (Amazon link). I had been trying everything in the world to clean my reusable straws when my youngest daughter gave me one of these brilliant little brushes. I honestly had no idea they even existed but will never be caught without one now.

See Color Changing Cups with Lids and Straws (Amazon link) for more information, bigger photos, and even a video.

Alkaline88 Water: You Can Taste the Difference (and That’s a Really Good Thing)

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Alkaline88 Water

Alkaline88: Naturally created PH balanced water with no chemicals or additives.

I drink a lot – so much that I’ve often say it’s a good thing I don’t drink alcohol. I’m pretty sure I’d drink Otis under the table. Fortunately, I stick to tea, coffee, and coconut water. I’ve also started drinking more water lately – it’s hard to ignore all the health benefits that are associated with water. My biggest problem has always been that it didn’t do anything for me, taste-wise.

A recent bottled water I was sent to review, Alkaline88, has not only opened my mind about water, itself, it has also changed the way I look at the water I use to make tea and coffee.

Alkaline88 Bottled Water

Very Refreshing After an Afternoon of Yardwork!

About Alkaline88:

What do Miranda Kerr, Elton John, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Kelly Ripa, Janet Jackson and Ray Kurzweil all have in common? They’ve all gone on the record to say that they drink alkaline water! Many athletes and celebrities including are attracted to the benefits of an alkaline diet as balanced body pH results in greater energy, more restful sleep, improved digestion and fewer colds according to some medical authorities.

Alkaline88 achieves its 8.8 pH level through a state-of-the-art, completely chemical-free scientific process.  Some people turn to alkaline water after over-indulging in alcoholic drinks or food while others use it as a part of their healthy lifestyle.

Dr. Jamie Koufman, an internationally renowned expert on reflux, and researcher Dr. Nikki Johnston studied how alkaline water destroyed pepsin, a stomach enzyme that when activated by acid causes painful reflux symptoms that can lead to cancer. According to the findings published in the Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology, July 2012, natural artesian alkaline water with an 8.8 pH instantaneously inactivated human pepsin in laboratory studies. Ordinary tap and bottled waters had no such effect.

As someone who suffers from GERD and reflux, that last paragraph really got my attention.

Naturally, if the taste isn’t there, the health benefits don’t carry as much weight with us, do they? For better or worse, that’s how it is with us foodies….  it’s all about the taste!

Alkaline88 is outstanding. It’s uncommonly clean-tasting and refreshing – yes, more so than other bottled water.

Something else I love about Alkaline88 is the fact that it comes in a variety of sizes. If (like me) you make a lot – make that A LOT – of tea and coffee, you’ll want to buy larger containers as well as the individual bottles (what they refer to as “small bottles”).

Coffee and Agatha Christie

Alkaline88 Makes Perfect Coffee and Tea

Alkaline88 is, like I said, refreshingly delicious and “clean” right out of the bottle, but It’s especially wonderful when used for….

  • coffee
  • tea
  • lemonade
  • hot chocolate

It’s also a perfect summer drink when poured over ice with a few sprigs of mint and/or cucumber slices. Fantastic!

While Alkaline88 is growing rapidly and quickly popping up in stores around the country, one sure-fire, convenient place to find it is on Amazon.

 

THE Best Drinking Glass is a Drinking Jar

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There’s enjoying a glass of iced tea, and then there’s enjoying a glass of iced tea! My aunt has always had a great little collection of glass jars with handles. For as long as I can remember, when any of us have tea (or Diet Dr. Pepper or.. egads!… water) at her house, it’s in one of these great little jars with handles.  The one pictured here is one of a Libbey Country Fair 16-Ounce Drinking Jar with Handle, Set of 12 (available on Amazon).

My aunt’s tea was (and is) always so good, too. She never sweetens her tea, and even though I usually prefer sweet tea, her tea always tastes great to me.  I’m convinced she has some sort of a little secret that only aunts are privy to.  At any rate, she got me hooked on drinking jars with handles.

For one thing, I prefer drinking out of glass because plastic sometimes tastes like dish washing liquid.

Never a good thing.

I’m also convinced, in my strange little brain, that you’re able to get glass cleaner than plastic.  Does that make perfect sense? No. Do I have any proof of my assessment? Of course not.  But the fact that it “feels” cleaner to me is more than enough reason for me to choose glass over plastic.

The advantage these glass drinking jars have over a lot of other glasses is their thickness. They don’t break as easily, which is a huge advantage to someone as accident prone and clumsy as I am.  Even I can carry one of these babies around the house or yard without the scenario ending in 1, 3, or 26 band aids.

Click through the link above or the image to the right for more information.