Buy From: Green Tea Pros
Product Description:
Pink Sparkle is a pixie powdered GreenTeaHP beverage that is designed to enhance your lifestyle by providing key nutrients to promote physical activity.
Pink Sparkle is a proprietary blend of highly concentrated green tea antioxidants, acai, L-arginine, glutamine, CLA, L-carnatine and a full compilation of berries and pomegranates. Pink Sparkle delivers 90 mg of EGCG, the antioxidant only found in green tea, which is equivalent to 20 cups of green tea and 15 mg of caffeine.
Taster’s Review:
Today I’ve been very yawn-ish. That is to say, I haven’t been able to shake the yawns since I woke up this morning. I’ve been very sluggish – what I need is an energy boost.
And, while I was skeptical, I decided that I would give one of these pixies from Green Tea Pros a try. You know what? This stuff works! I haven’t yawned since I started sipping on this glass of prepared Pink Sparkle. And I feel more energetic.
It’s tasty too. I’ve said before when reviewing the Green Tea HP/Green Tea Pros products that I think they are designed more for the people who don’t like (or don’t think they like) green tea, but still want the health benefits of green tea. And I think that is true of the Pink Sparkle too.
That’s because this tastes more like a berry and pomegranate flavored soft drink than it does green tea. It has a pleasant sweet-tart taste from the berries and pomegranate that lingers in the finish. There is a slight “artificial sweetener” aftertaste to this that worried me just a little, as I am allergic to aspartame. But I checked the ingredients and there is no aspartame in this.
I would definitely drink this again – especially on days like this when I feel myself dragging but I can’t go back to bed because I’ve a busy day ahead. I love the burst of energy that I’m getting from it, it’s loaded with health benefits and most importantly it tastes pretty darned good.
PRODUCT REVIEW: Coffee Blend Bhakti Chai Concentrate from Bhakti Chai
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: For more information about this product including how to purchase, visit: Bhakti Chai
Product Description:
Original Blend with a splash of cold-pressed organic coffee.
Taster’s Review:
I realize that I run the risk of sounding redundant here… but I love Bhakti Chai! So far, I have tried their original concentrate and their unsweetened concentrate and I enjoyed both of them… and now I am tasting their “Coffee Blend” – which is essentially their original blend with a little bit of coffee in it.
This is vibrant and full of flavor. The ginger is not quite as peppery tasting as it is in the other blends, perhaps the coffee mutes some of the strong spice. That is not to say that the spices are gone, they’re just a little bit softer than I remember them from the previous tastings. It is still very gingery, and very delicious.
Now, I am not a big fan of coffee. As I’ve said before, I used to drink it regularly, but, I realized that it was upsetting my stomach so I stopped drinking coffee and switched to tea. I’m happier now that I’ve switched… but, this chai offers me a little opportunity to enjoy that coffee flavor that I miss sometimes… only time will tell if this particular blend will upset my stomach the way that drinking coffee did… I’ll have to report back in a few hours with the verdict!
Revisiting one day later: I sit here with another cup of this chai in hand, and I must say that yesterday I did not notice any ill-effects from my first cup. I suspect that this might have something to do with the ginger in the tea (which has a soothing effect on the tummy), and perhaps it might also have something to do with the polyphenols in the tea and it also regulated the caffeine in the coffee. I will also say that I didn’t notice a jolt or spike in energy levels after I drink this, so perhaps it is the polyphenols at work here.
Either way, this is an excellent variation on chai. I am quite enjoying the addition of coffee in this blend, it adds a very pleasant flavor! I do believe I’m developing an addiction to Bhakti Chai!
PRODUCT REVIEW: Matcha Lemonade (Lemonatcha) from Matcha Mountains
Tea Information:
Tea Type: Green Tea/Matcha Mix
Where to Buy: Where Matcha Mountains Products are sold
Product Description:
Lemonatcha is our version of homestyle lemonade offering the refreshing tanginess of lemon combined with the gentle taste of green tea. Enjoy this one cold or hot – and for a special treat mix it with carbonated mineral water.
Taster’s Review:
This is fabulous!
Is there really anything more refreshing on a hot day than a glass of ice cold lemonade? Well, now there is – it’s Lemonatcha!
This tastes just like fresh-squeezed lemonade (my gramma made it best because she had a huge, very prolific lemon tree in her backyard. Those lemons were huge! Sometimes they’d get so big that she could make a pitcher of lemonade from just one lemon! But… I digress!) but with just a hint of sweet Matcha.
The lemonade part of this beverage really is the strongest flavor, but as I continue to drink this Lemonatcha, I notice the flavor of the Matcha develop. However, even by the end of the glass, the Matcha is not a strong, overbearing presence – but I don’t think I want it to be. This is just perfect – just the way it is.
And even though the Matcha is not strong here, you still get the great health benefits of Matcha. It is sweet – pleasantly so, but not too sweet … err… remember that old commercial “not too tart and not too sweet”? That fits with this beverage as well.
This is so yummy! I suggest stocking up on this for the summer! This will be your new favorite lemonade – and the kids will love this too!
PRODUCT REVIEW: Floppy Latte Designs Tea Time Digital Stamps
Products:
Tea Time Digital Stamps
Designer:
Jessica Leigh Gill
The stamps I used are available for purchase here and here
Artist’s Review:
I am creating an altered book for a friend, and for the first spread in the book, I used these two digital stamps from Floppy Latte Designs at Stitchy Bear Stamps. 
To create my spread (you can get a sneak peek of it below), I first created my collage/mixed media background using patterned paper, vintage text, gesso, Golden Acrylic Paints and Lumiere paints … and a whole lot of layers! Then I let it dry overnight.
I printed the two images onto vellum paper, and then I colored in the images using colored pencils. Then I tore around the edges of the images, and adhered them to my dried background. I then chose a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and embellished with ribbon, fabric flowers, sequins and brads.
It was a pretty simple collage, really, but I’m really happy with the way it turned out. The photo doesn’t reveal how sparkly the collage really is (from the Lumiere paints). I just hope that my friend that I’m sending this book to will enjoy the book as much as I am enjoying creating it… and how much I am enjoying using these digital stamps. They add the perfect touch to my project, don’t you think?
PRODUCT REVIEW: Unsweetened Bhakti Chai Concentrate from Bhakti Chai
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: For more information about this product including how to purchase, visit: Bhakti Chai
Product Description:
Absolutely zero sugar added. Try with honey, agave nectar or stevia.
Taster’s Review:
OK… so basically, this is the same formula as the Original Bhakti Chai that I previously reviewed, except that this does not contain the “touch of evaporated cane juice” that the Original has.
This is every bit as good as the Original too, even without the cane juice! Sure, it tastes different without the sweetener, but, it is still very tasty. I find that the spices come through a little differently without the cane juice, as sweeteners tend to help accent the spices. The ginger still comes through loud and clear though. It’s the other spices that need a little encouragement from the sweetener. But that’s not to say I don’t enjoy this latte without sweetening it!
The first time I tried it, I tried it without the sweetener. The second time I tried it (within a half an hour of the first tasting!) I decided to make myself a chai latte float! I didn’t add sweetener to that either, because I figured the vanilla ice cream was plenty sweet enough without additional sweetening. And I was right.
To make my float, I simply measured out 1 cup of the chai concentrate and heated it, and then I added a scoop of ice cream to the measuring cup, along with enough milk to make 1 cup. When the chai concentrate was good and hot, I added the milk and ice cream. The ice cream melted pretty rapidly, but it still made for a deliciously creamy, vanilla-y, chai treat.
Today, I am sipping this for the first time with a little bit of sweetener added. I used a teaspoon of Turbinado sugar, and this is a delicious chai latte. I love the amount of sweetness with this, not too sweet or cloying. It would also be nice with some raw honey, but I wanted to see how the molasses-y note would work with the chai ingredients. YUM!
Having now tried both the original and unsweetened chai concentrates from Bhakti Chai, I must say that I think I prefer this unsweetened version because it gives me the freedom to determine just how sweet I’d like it to be. Both are absolutely delicious, though. Certainly one of the very best chai concentrates I’ve EVER come across!