The Dirt:
The latest in beverage trends isn’t another malt variety but the merging of low-calorie juices with homeopathic-type supplements. One of our favorite companies in this sector is a United Kingdom outlet called Firefly, which is widely distributed all across the U.K. and Ireland, and gaining wider distribution in the United States. While the line has a handful of products, we favor the new variations on flavored water and two of its juice tonics.

The health kick variety with blood orange and manuka honey is sweet at first, but with each sip, it draws you in. Packed with 500mg of Siberian ginseng, 330mg of ginger, 130mg galangal, and one ingredient to watch, 850mg of elderberry, it offers a pick-me-up sure to help ward off colds. Despite 1320mg of manuka honey it has just 112 calories; however, while the line has no added sugar, it should be avoided by diabetics. The peach and green tea wake up is a yummy berry-flavored 110 calorie-drink with 1000mg green tea, 560mg Siberian ginseng, 500mg damiana, 250mg each of licorice and yerba mate and 150mg of kola nut. The ingredients make for a natural-inspired jolt with caffeine sources that energize without spiking the system. If you want something lighter, a cross between bottled green tea and the flavored waters on the market, but with natural sweeteners, opt for the new waters Firefly recently released.

Firefly waters comes in two flavors: white tea/pomegranate and green tea/mint, both of which are sweetened with the low-glycemic plant-derived agave nectar. The 90 calorie white tea/pomegranate water has touches of lemon, Canadian chokeberry, and European elderflower to make for a healthy drink with a red tint, a slightly sweet berry base and no aftertaste. The green tea/mint water has 74 calories and tastes more like a tonic thanks to the mix of Argentinean lemon, Indian mint and Chinese green tea flavors. This one gets extra accolades for meeting the Soil Association standards. It is a great way to hydrate when stricken with a cold and tired of tea and orange juice.

Where: Drinks are available on the company website, or if you’re in the Chicago area, check out Fox & Obel, Foodlife , Shaanta or Big Apple Finer Foods. For information or to find out where buy products, visit the Firefly site.