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A Little Luxury For Me

Drink

Making Kombucha With Freshly Fermented #Ad

November 19, 2020 by Erica Hughes 22 Comments

kombucha kit

My first experience of kombucha was at a vegan restaurant event for food bloggers in Birmingham.  I quite liked the taste, although my plus one on that occasion was less keen on it. I’d taken the odd glass since then, but I’ve never drunk kombucha on a regular basis until very recently.

Freshly Fermented got in touch and asked me to try out making my own kombucha with one of their kits.  Whilst I was waiting for my own to brew, I could drink some of their ready made kombucha.  Freshly Fermented offer the largest selection of organic & vegan fermented food cultures in the UK.  I was sent one of their organic kombucha starter kits to try.

The kit

In the organic kombucha starter kits there is  everything you need to start fermenting.  To be honest you don’t need anything else at all really: the ingredients are all there, as are all the utensils.  There’s no danger of you not having the right tools for the job. The kit comes with a high quality Kilner jar for fermenting in, plus some glass bottles for your produce.  The remainder of the utensils are plastic (a stirrer, funnel, measuring jug and strainer), but of good quality and they were the right size for the job too.  As well as your ‘hardware’ you’ll get sugar, tea and the magic ingredient: your scoby with starter tea.  The instructions are on the website and you can either read them online or print them off (they print off nicely: no odd words on a separate sheet or any margin problems).

kilner jar

Making kombucha

Getting your kombucha started takes a couple of hours in total.  Just to be clear this isn’t because there’s a lot of work, but you do have to wait for the mixture to cool down and I found that was the most time consuming part of it.  The actual work is only a few minutes in total.  First you heat up your sugar and water mixture – this only took a few minutes on the hob in a saucepan.  I did use a meat thermometer to check the temperatures, but it’s not essential.   Next you add tea leaves and let your tea brew.  I did this for 15 minutes, but you can go for a stronger brew if you prefer.  It’s a good idea to set a reminder on your phone or use a kitchen timer, so as not to overdo it.

Then strain off the tea leaves and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature – this is where the waiting comes in, but obviously there’s no need to sit there watching it, you can just get on with whatever you want. I was surprised how long it took to get the temperature back down. Then you transfer your mixture to the kilner jar and add the scoby with starter tea.  You close the lid and leave for five days (or a bit longer if you prefer).

fermenting kombuchaObviously, I knew I would have to wait to try my kombucha, but you can buy kombucha drinks to tide you over till your brew is ready.  Alternatively, some will prefer just to buy the drink and not bother with making their own.  I was sent some bottles of the Organic Black Orange Kombucha to try out whilst I was waiting.  As it’s a real, unpasteurised kombucha, it continues to ferment when bottled meaning it has a short shelf life and murky appearance (the stuff you can buy in the supermarket really isn’t the same thing at all).  You’ll also need to take some care when opening the bottles as the kombucha is quite fizzy.  Kombucha may also contain low levels of alcohol (less than 1%).

Drinking kombucha

So whilst my kombucha was brewing, I started drinking the organic black orange kombucha every day.  I liked the taste: quite sweet and fruity.  I liked the fizz.  Drinking it became part of my daily ritual.  The first two days I tried it, my stomach made some very loud gurgling noises (apparently this is quite common) for half an hour to an hour.  I have never heard my stomach make so much noise for that length of time before.  So probably best to start drinking when you are at home for a couple of days or drink it after work, just in case it happens to you.

After two days my system seemed to get used to it and my stomach was silent from then on.  I did notice a difference though.  It felt like my whole digestive tract had eased and I felt lighter.  I wasn’t suffering from any particular problems before started drinking kombucha, but there was a definite feeling of ease.  Everything seemed to slip along much more smoothly.  I was surprised at the difference it made.  It made me want to continue drinking kombucha.

Organic Black Orange Kombucha

The results

How was my kombucha getting on? It sat there for 5 days without much obvious difference occurring.  Maybe the scoby had grown a little and the mixture was slightly murkier.  After five days I took out the scoby and the top 10% of the mixture to use for setting up my next batch.  The remainder I transferred into my glass bottles ( I filled about one and a half bottles).  The mixture is ready to drink. I liked my home brewed kombucha.  If anything it was a little sweeter than the organic black orange kombucha and it was less fizzy, probably because it hadn’t been bottled for as long.  I’ve already set up my next batch to ferment and I think kombucha will be a regular habit for me.  I like the idea of experimenting with different types of tea and a variety of flavourings too.

Filed Under: Drink, Health

Gin Tasting Kit From The Little Gin Company Giveaway #Ad

October 26, 2020 by Erica Hughes 59 Comments

home gin tasting kit
The Little Gin Company was launched at the start of 2015 by old school friends, Emma and Nicola…
They’re gin loving ladies who have spent many a time sampling the gin delights on offer in their local town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Now a little older (and wiser?), in 2015 they decided to turn their love of gin into an exciting business venture, to share the passion for gin with others through The Little Gin Company.

Building on our unique and creative style they lovingly converted a retro-style horse trailer into their mobile gin bar, to serve the gin-loving community with a selection of locally distilled and speciality gins. Launching their own range of gin in 2017 with the Trailer Made Gin Range now including a classic London Dry Gin, a fresh Elderflower Gin, a warming Old Tom Gin and a Rhubarb Gin with a Twist of Lime.
Their gin experience now extends beyond the horsebox bar as there’s also have a pop up gin bar and gin tasting experiences suitable for any occasion; be that a corporate function, hen do or just an excuse to get together and drink gin. Since March 2020 they have also been offering virtual gin tasting experiences, taking the popular face to face tasting experience and tailoring it to a virtual setting when it isn’t possible to get together in person.

The Trailer Made Gin Tasting Kit lets you host your own gin tasting experience from the comfort of your own home. Perfect to enjoy solo or with a partner of choice!

Your Trailer Made home tasting kit includes the following:

5cl bottle (double measure) of our London Dry Gin, Old Tom Gin, Elderflower Gin and Rhubarb with a Twist of Lime Gin.

A selection of complementary mixers to enjoy with the gins.

I’ve been enjoying gin at home during lockdown and more recent partial lockdowns.  I love the idea of gin tasting at home, so I’m pleased to team up with The Little Gin Company to offer one of their Trailer Made home tasting kit to one lucky reader.  Enter via the Gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 15th November 2020.

Trailer Made Gin Tasting Kit

Filed Under: Drink

Lola’s Coffee Bags From The Specialty Coffee Company Giveaway #Ad

August 7, 2020 by Erica Hughes 72 Comments

thespecialtycoffeecompany.com coffee bags

Coffee bags seem like such a simple idea, so it seems surprising that they haven’t been around for that long.  One bag makes one cup of coffee: no mess, no faff. It’s a great idea for a coffee lover with limited time or even limited kitchen space – a coffee maker takes up quite a lot of work surface.

In terms of convenience coffee bags really deliver as they are as easy to use as tea bags with the delicious taste of fresh coffee. Simply add boiling water to your favourite coffee cup, add the coffee bag and wait a couple of minutes. Add sugar, milk or cream if you like and enjoy. Lola’s coffee bags are the perfect combination of coffee blends carefully combined to create a delicious cup of coffee.  The rich dark blend in Lola’s coffee bags exhibit notes of smoke and black pepper and a high caffeine content to deliver that boost you need in the morning.Each coffee bag is individually wrapped to ensure freshness as well as convenience. Every single Lola’s coffee bag makes a great cup of coffee every time.

coffee bagsLola’s coffee bags are made by The Specialty Coffee Company.  Their coffee experts travel the world sourcing, tasting and grading to select only the finest speciality coffee directly from the grower. This way, they control all the variables every step of the way to make sure the coffee they deliver is perfect.

If you’d like to try some of this tasty coffee I have 5 packs with 10 coffee bags in each to give away to 5 lucky readers.  Enter via the Gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 30th August 2020.

Lola’s Coffee Bags

Filed Under: Drink

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I'm Erica Hughes: a keen foodie and amateur cook. I write here about my passions in life including good food, fine wine, plus the little luxuries that make life worthwhile. Read More…

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