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MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea

October 14, 2016 · Leave a Comment

How would you like to drink organic liquid dark chocolate all day, not gain an ounce, get your vitamins and a massive amount of antioxidants?

Yes? Me too.

So I was thrilled to learn about MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea. When we think of chocolate or cocoa, we tend to think of what comes from the inner nib of the bean. MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea is made of the Cacao Shells, which are organic. This is an herbal Chocolate loose tea that is nothing but the organic, gluten-free, vegan Cacao shells. There are no preservatives, artificial flavoring, or starches. It is caffeine free as well.

The shells have a ton of health ingredients, including a massive amount of anti-oxidants and minerals including Iron, Zinc, and Magnesium.

You might be wondering why the health benefits are so much better than from the actual cacao nib. Think about it: in fruits, the nutrients tend to be more concentrated in the rind. For instance, orange rind has much more Vitamin C than the part we typically eat. The oils that flavor many dishes come from the rind. The same applies to the Cacao Shell: it contains a concentrated amount of all the good things we hear about eating dark chocolate. For instance, they provide 40 times the number of antioxidants as Blueberries.

The shell “leaves” themselves are absolutely beautiful, a rich golden variegated brown. When hot water is added, the leaves dance in the water, giving a kaleidoscope-like show until they settle to the bottom of the pot to brew.

To brew the tea, add one to two tablespoons into boiling water and let it steep for about five minutes. I found that it doesn’t get bitter if you let it brew for longer, but the flavor does get more intense. So you can adjust it to taste.

The tea has a dark chocolate top note that is very reminiscent of intense organic chocolate and a buttery chocolate aftertaste. It has a bit of a wine note, but not overly sweet. It is a complex and smooth taste that could easily be enjoyed at any time, from a treat in the morning to a special treat for your guests at a wedding.

MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea

I’m a purist when it comes to tea: I like it straight, no milk or sugar. But both can make it a richer taste. I tried it with just a hint of vanilla, and that brought out the chocolate flavor a bit more. If you want to make it an after dinner “dessert tea,” try adding a bit of dark chocolate liqueur for a truly sublime cup.

I found that the tea did provide me with a decent amount of sustained energy without the dreaded caffeine slump. This is likely because Cacao contains theobromine, which is a mild stimulant found in chocolate and in regular tea. Theobromine (which translated, means “food of the gods”) has some impressive health effects as well: studies have shown that it can increase the hardness of tooth enamel, and there is promising research that shows that it might help prevent certain cancers. Of course, if you are sensitive to the stimulant effect of chocolate or black tea, you may want to ask your doctor if theobromine is safe for you.

The energy boost that the tea provides is part of the story of how it came to us through MiCacao: the makers of the tea were hiking through Peru when the guide offered the tea to keep their bodies strong during the hike. They fell in love with the tea and now search through Central and South America for the finest Cacao beans from Sustainable Farms. It’s a tea that makes you feel good, and that you can feel good about supporting!

MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea

And much like dark chocolate, this tea can help curb your appetite. I found that it cut down on my cravings for sweets, which is nice.

I truly love this tea for both its’ health properties and its’ amazing taste! The Style Chicks consider themselves “Tea Elitists,” and MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea makes the cut as one of our favorites!

Find MiCacao Loose Cacao Tea at MiCacao.com

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdv5KdP6EGo[/embedyt]

I received compensation for my time and effort on this review. However, my experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine.

Travel: Giovanni Navarre 17″ Italian Stone Design Leather Tote Bag

September 14, 2016 · Leave a Comment

This Giovanni Navarre travel bag is 17″, not as large as a briefcase, and slightly longer than a laptop case or hobo style handbag, yet it holds lots of stuff. Not as cumbersome or heavy as a backpack or a full duffel bag, this can carry all of your gym workout wear with room to spare, especially in the summer months when workout wear is generally lighter. I am also able to carry multiple textbooks in the bag.

Giovanni Navarre 17″ Italian Stone Design Genuine Leather Tote Bag

FEATURES
It comes with a sturdy detachable shoulder strap and handles to carry the bag. The leather has a textured pattern; there is a zipper pull top to provide a full covered closure. There are full around zipper pockets on either end of the bag and a long deep pocket along the length of the bag. The side pockets are suitable for holding shoes, liquid containers, or dirty laundry. The pocket along the front length of the bag is long enough to hold a book, tablet, or water bottle.

QUALITY:
No loose threads scratched leather or subpar workmanship, it looks more expensive than I expected. Handles and strap are sturdy enough to hold the contents of the bag without tearing or pulling on the leather. Zippers are solid. The stone design pattern on the leather emulates the look of a more expensive bag.

FOR TRAVEL OR BEAUTY EMERGENCIES
There is enough room in this bag for a low-maintenance last-minute overnight getaway. It is also roomy enough to hold all of my beauty essentials (makeup, hair styling tools, beauty products) for a trip, or for packing all the makeup and tools needed to prepare for a special occasion, makeover session, wedding, prom or photo shoot. But the reason I use it most often is beauty emergencies due to weather-related mishaps.

New England weather can be tricky: it rains frequently and often unexpectedly, so hair or makeup disasters due to humidity, fog, snow, sleet or rain are almost inevitable. And on special occasion events such as weddings, or important presentation meetings with clients, looking like a drowned rat is unacceptable.

On bad weather days, I bring along this bag with my trusty hair appliances and duck into an out-of-the-way ladies room (or the office building fitness center when necessary) and quickly dry or restyle my hair as needed. The inside of the bag can easily hold my CHI ionic HairDryer with the full diffuser attachment, a set of the T3 Hot Rollers, and a round brush. The long outside pocket can hold an InStyler to quickly straight iron and style damp or even wet hair. The two side pockets can easily hold four full-size styling products such as mousses, sprays, dry shampoos, serums, or other styling aids. I like to keep a hair towel in the other pocket just in case I get drenched, or my makeup bag if a full beauty overhaul is required. If I am leaving directly from work or the gym to go out for the night, this bag is an easy way to keep all my beauty tools in a discrete bag that looks like a large handbag.

Giovanni Navarre 17″ Italian Stone Design Genuine Leather Tote Bag

Find this great bag at Amazon.com

I received this product for testing and review purposes. If you have any questions about my experience with it, leave it in the comments section below, and Iâ€™ll do my best to answer it!

The Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club

August 18, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Here at StyleChicks, we consume lots of tea. And like clockwork, every six weeks we make a large loose leaf tea order. This order consists of our favorite greens; some whites and oolong, a matcha and a vanilla black. It would be easier to be on an auto-order to keep our favorites coming and try some new flavors, but to date, we haven’t found a tea of the month club that meets our needs. An issue we have experienced with monthly clubs is not having the option to select the kind of tea you want.

There is some potentially appealing Tea of The Month offers out there, but when it comes down to it, there are three factors we particularly value that are make or break for us choosing a tea club:

The quality of the tea itself
Being able to choose the type tea you like
Terms of service that are acceptable to live with and not a hassle to change, pause or even cancel.

With these three criteria in mind, we examined the Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club. You may know them from their quaint Cafe in Troy, New York, or the Ballston Spa that serves their teas. Or Whistling Kettle may be new to you. When we had a chance to taste many of The Whistling Kettle teas, we were so excited to try them all, because all the teas smell truly knock your socks off fantastic! It was hard to decide which tea to brew first!

The Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club Endurance Flavor

THE QUALITY OF THE TEA

Whistling Kettle Teas are loose teas. The inclusions such as nuts, berries, dried fruit, or other petals are large or at times, even whole pieces. The tea leaves fresh are the full leaf or larger leaf pieces, not dust or remnants. The close up photos show the teas as they came out of the package: colorful, full and fresh quality. And as soon as you open the tea container, the first thing you notice it smells absolutely delicious. As we tried each flavor, one was better than the next. Even the black teas smelled delicious. For example, one black tea, the flavor “SnowFlake” had wonderful scents of cinnamon, vanilla, and almond. And the almonds pieces in the black tea were full almond slivers or larger chunks of almond, not ground up almond powder or just an almond flavoring. The color of the brewed tea as a lovely dark golden amber hue and the tea tasted delicious, even on a second brew. That is another nice feature of these teas, most of them can do a second brew as tasty as the first.

The Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club Snowflake Flavor

THE WHISTLING KETTLE TEA FLAVOR OVERVIEWS

The Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club

In addition to the Snowflake black tea described above, we tried several varieties of The Whistling Kettle teas to assess the quality of their products. Some of these teas included:

BANANA DULCE: I am not a fan of the scent of banana, but the aroma of the Banana Dulce in the container reminded me of these tasty candied banana chips I ate as a child and the brewed tea both smells and tastes like fresh baked banana bread, with flavors of coconut and graham cracker. It is a testament to a tea product that even a not well-liked flavor can be tasty if done right. Whistling Kettle Banana Dulce is an organic decaf blend and brews to a lovely pale shade of gold.

VANILLA SILK OOLONG: I am particularly fond of Oolongs, sort of a bitter but sweet champagne kind of taste. This Oolong has a delicate orange cream scent and has a mild sweetness to it that is not too sticky or overpowering.

SCOTTISH CARAMEL TOFFEE PU-REB: This is unlike other teas I have had, it has a pleasant toffee aroma and good sized toffee chunks that balance out the earthy tones of the pu-erh. It is sweet, but not overpoweringly so. Pu-erh is an aged, fermented red tea that is sometimes mistaken for a black tea. This one smells like a bakery or candy store; the aroma is fantastic. It is an energizing tea and a good alternative to coffee or colas for an afternoon energy boost.

EAST FRISIAN BROKEN TEA: This is a breakfast tea, it is malty, not sweet or flavored. It brews to a wonderful, dark color.

ENDURANCE: As the name implies, this organic tea is energizing and is intended to increase stamina. It is also a Pu-Erh tea and has fruity inclusions such as Organic Cinnamon, Organic Goji Berries, Organic Schizandra Berries, and Organic Nettle Leaf. The berries are whole, and the tea blend makes for a lovely looking brewing process, especially if you brew them in a glass teapot. Medium caffeine content and it smells absolutely delicious.

GOLDEN STARFRUIT: This green tea was one of my favorite of the bunch, with a notable aroma that is worthy of serving guests when you want to spoil them a bit with a delightful treat. There are big chunks of starfruit, and it has a wonderful tropical taste without being sugary sweet. If you want the benefits of green tea but you dislike the taste of green tea, this is a delicious way to enjoy the benefits of green tea. Lovely light golden hue upon brewing smells delicious to the last drop.

The Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club Golden Starfruit Flavor

LEMON SOUFFLE HONEYBUSH: A caffeine-free creamy Rooibos blend suitable for drinking at night and winding down and relaxing. A beautiful yellow-gold with a mildly tart lemon flavor that has lovely bright blue and yellow inclusions in the tea. If you are avoiding caffeine at night but want to drink tea, this is also tasty as a cold iced tea beverage.

I liked every tea I tried, and some of them such as Snowflake, Golden Starfruit, and Endurance I loved! These teas were amongst the best we have tasted, and after years of loyalty drinking the same brand, we were convinced to drinking The Whistling Tea Kettle teas.

The Whistling Kettle Tea of the Month Club

THE WHISTLING KETTLE TEA CLUB TERMS
While these teas and other flavors are sold individually on their website, there are 15 types of Tea of the Month Clubs available.

Something that sets this tea club apart from the others:

You select the types of tea you want, not a variety or mystery pack selections – unless you ask for a variety selection.
Amongst the 15 types of Tea Clubs, choose all green, all black, all chocolate, Endurance teas, Herbal teas, Discovery packs, amongst others. The Tea Tasting Club is a club for tea lovers who want to try as many types of tea as possible.
Get 2-4 oz of each of the Loose teas with big pieces of inclusions of nuts berries, and petals, not pre-bagged tea dust or remnants with artificial flavoring instead of the real thing.
FLEXIBLE TERMS:
Choose 3 or 6 months and your shipment dates.
You can cancel at any point
You can change the type of club whenever you wish. Drink Green Tea in the summer and switch to the endurance and stamina teas during the cold, dark winter months.
Free shipping
You won’t be billed on signup, rather just before shipment.
Reasonable prices without hidden fees

SUMMARY:
I enjoyed all The Whistling Kettle teas I tried, and The Whistling Kettle offers several rare, hard-to-find, and exotic teas within their subscriptions. It ‘s hard to locate an organic, fresh, tasty tea brand with lots of variety amongst their loose leaf teas. I also love seeing when a tea has a generous inclusion of berries, nuts, petals, and other flavorings. The teas look so attractive, smell divine and brew to beautiful golden hues. There was no “dust” or remaindered teas, everything was fresh, not an overstock. They have tea flavors I have never tried before, and the Endurance teas are surprisingly energizing. We would recommend giving them a try; the Tea Clubs offer a great way to drink your favorites or try some new teas!

Find the Tea of the Month Club at The Whistling Kettle.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-V43l8MJkc[/embedyt]

I received this product in exchange for my unbiased review and received compensation for my time and effort. However, my experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine.

Support LuLuWrap On Kickstarter!

April 11, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Our friends LuluWrap have a mere 57 hours left on their Kickstarter campaign – give them the extra push they need to meet their goal!

The LuLuWrap is a highly versatile chiffon wrap is a variety of gorgeous prints. If you follow our Instagram, you have seen a variety of ways to wear these gorgeous wraps.

Back LuLuWraps now here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theluluwrap/the-luluwrap-the-bare-necessity

And learn more about how to wear the LuLuWrap and see the pattern options at http://theluluwrap.com.

Here are some of the ways we wore them with the samples we were provided:

LuLuWrap on a foggy night

At a gallery opening

The LuluWrap draped like a dream as a neck scarf

LuluWrap in the Boardroom

And switched the style for after work that night!