Black Leaves Australia | Healthy, Handcrafted Teas.

I've always been a coffee person - you know, the kind of person who needs a cup of joe in the morning to function properly throughout the day, and depends on strong coffee blends to meet writing deadlines and pull occasional all-nighters. But every now and then, I fancy a good cup of tea - especially on days when I just want to detoxify my body, destress, and get a good night's sleep.

Just recently, I discovered Black Leaves, a popular tea brand from Australia. They offer a variety of teas and tea blends - from Butterfly Pea Flower Tea and Peppermint Teas, to carefully curated concoctions like ginger and calendula flowers, turmeric, fennel, and dandelion root. Their products are all-natural,  with each herb picked, blended, and packed by hand.

Care for a cuppa?

The story behind the birth of this much-loved tea brand is quite interesting, and a very heartwarming one at that. Its founder, Anthony Loggia, discovered the wonders of tea whilst on a trip to Thailand. Amazed by the health benefits of tea, Anthony researched and studied different herbs and blends, until he was able to create a concoction that could help his mother lose weight. In six months' time, Anthony's mother was able to go back to her original weight in a healthy and sustainable way, thanks to the filial son's labor of love. 

New Me 28 Day Teatox from Black Leaves.

This piqued my interest for Black Leaves' products even more, and as I navigated through their website, I came across the "New Me 28 Day Teatox" - a special blend of teas formulated to rid your body of toxins, flush out water weight, and help you achieve your weight loss goals. This 28-day program consists of the following tea blends: Goji Berries to increase fat burning and decrease fat absorption; Berry Bay to fight fluid retention and help reduce body weight; Cinnamon Garden to relieve bloating and help with constipation and indigestion; and Délices des Abeilles to suppress cravings and reduce appetite.

I've tried teatoxing before, and would love to try it again with Black Leaves' New Me 28 Day Teatox program with hopes of losing some (if not all) of the weight that I have gained since this pandemic started. Thankfully, I have a friend in Australia who can buy them for me and have them shipped to the Philippines. Black Leaves currently ships within Australia only, and I can't wait for them to do international shipping soon. They have so many wonderful blends that I would love to try!

Teatox Made Fun with Bayani Brew!

Whenever I visit the Human Heart Nature store in my area, I make it a point to buy a bottle or two (sometimes even more) of our all-time favorite Bayani Brew. My son loves this tea drink just as much, even saying that he prefers this over the usual powdered tea mixes. And that's a good thing because Bayani Brew is brewed from all-natural, proudly homegrown, pesticide-free crops.

However, Yue and I are limited to just one flavor - the classic Lemongrass Pandan, which is the only flavor available at Human Heart Nature Laguna. Thankfully, the Brew Crew granted Yue's wish to try the 'pink and yellow Bayani Brew' by sending us this gift pack which contained all three flavors of their teatox line.

Bayani Brew is love!

Priced 60% less than popular cleansing juices, Bayani Brew's detox teas - otherwise known as 'teatox' - helps flush out the toxins that accumulate in the body without the laxative effect. Brewed from organically grown greens, these teas don't just cleanse but also nourish the body with vitamins and minerals.

Staying true to its local farming roots, the new Bayani Brew variants draw inspiration from the healthy 'tsaa' (tea) recipes found all over the country. The brand uses primarily climate-resilient and perennially-grown crops such as lemongrass (tanglad), sweet potato tops (talbos ng kamote) and pandan. 

One serving of the classic Lemongrass Pandan Tea is enough to fulfill one's daily Vitamin C requirement. Lemongrass and pandan are traditionally used to cleanse the kidneys.

Lemongrass Pandan.

Shelf life, 2.5 months.

Meanwhile, the Sweet Potato Leaf tea isn't just delicious, it also helps lower blood sugar levels. Brewed with lemongrass and calamansi, each bottle contains more than 1/3 of one's daily iron requirement.

Sweet Potato Leaf.

Shelf life, 2 months.

Finally, there's the Moringa Dalandan Tea, currently my new favorite flavor in Bayani Brew's teatox line. It contains high doses of Vitamin C, calcium, and iron, and can help flush out toxins that accumulate in the liver over time.

Moringa Dalandan.

Shelf life, 1 month.

Bayani Brew's farm fresh tea drinks are organically farmed, low in calories, accessible, and now have longer shelf-life. The brand also promises to be 'sustainable from farm to bottle'. No pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used in farms, and crops are sourced at above-market prices. In addition, the bottles are made with eco-friendly materials. And by advocating the use of local ingredients, Bayani Brew hopes to help lift Filipino farmers and agricultural workers out of poverty.

Bayani Brew can be purchased at all Bo's Coffee and Human Nature branches nationwide. You can also get your Bayani Brew fix at major supermarkets and convenience stores such as Robinson's, Rustan's, Landers, and FamilyMart.

For more information about Bayani Brew, visit their official website.

Spotlight | Skinny Mint TeaTox.

And just like that, we're down to the last day of August! It's September tomorrow, and the next thing we know, it's almost Christmas! Now before this day officially ends, allow me to share with you my Skinny Mint TeaTox experience.

If you're following me on Instagram, then you've probably chanced upon my Skinny Mint photos and how this product has made me into a tea convert. (Insert expressions of shock here, haha!) It's no secret that I'm a coffeeholic, consuming no less than 2 cups of coffee a day. My mornings are never complete without my favorite cup of Joe, and I just have to have a cup of coffee beside me whenever I write or work on a blog post.

But after doing the Skinny Mint TeaTox program, I now look at tea in a different light. Would you believe that I now drink tea more often than coffee? Yep, and I owe it all to my Skinny Mint teatoxing. Their teas taste really good - so good that now I consider myself a 'tea person' as well. :)

The Skinny Mint 28 Day TeaTox Program.

What's teatox, you might ask. Simply put, it is tea + detox. It’s an effective and natural way to cleanse your body by drinking tea. Teatoxing helps you to boost your metabolism, flush out toxins, reduce bloating and burn fat. It's not a diet or a meal replacement, so yeah, you eat as you normally would and you need not deprive yourself of anything. Of course, it would be best if you eat clean and healthy, but I know the feeling of not being able to say no to pizza. Or doughnuts. Haha! :)

Now when you do the Skinny Mint TeaTox program, you get to drink two different blends of tea. There's the Morning Boost which you take before or during breakfast, while the other is the Night Cleanse, which you take every other night after dinner or before you hit the sack.

I love how these tea bags are not made of paper.
The bags don't stick to each other, and they don't rip apart.

The Morning Boost contains approximately 62 mg of caffeine, which is good since I don't think I can function properly without caffeine in my system.

Morning Boost to start your day. 

What the Morning Boost is made of.

Plus, it's made with all-natural ingredients, which are formulated to complement each other, with guaranteed effects. I know that for a fact because it was quite easy for me to fend off food cravings while I was teatoxing. :)

And what you get. :)

The Night Cleanse, on the other hand, helps to flush out toxins overnight. It has a laxative effect, which is the perfect way to wash away your guilt after indulging in heavy meals (goodbye, pizza, pasta, and potatoes, haha!).

Night Cleanse before bedtime.

The ingredients.

The promise.

I love how this tea made me sleep better at night, and how it made me feel less bloated. I also love the combination of ginger root and orange leaves in this blend - very soothing to the throat, and very aromatic, too!

It's been almost three weeks since my teatox program ended, and I'm quite happy with the results. 

I lost 3 kilograms with the program, which to me is pretty good considering that I did very little exercise during that period. Also, I got sick during the second week of my teatoxing - fever, cough, and colds and I blame the erratic Philippine weather for it - so I wasn't able to drink tea for about a week. (Thus extending my supposedly 28-day program.)

Say hello to my 17-year-old Elmo mug. 

The Night Cleanse is love. :)

I'm actually looking forward to doing another round with these Skinny Mint teas. There should be a 4-6 week break between each teatox, so I guess my system would be ready towards the end of September. Gotta shed a few more pounds before the holidays, you know! :)

Now if you would like to try the Skinny Mint TeaTox Program, simply visit the Skinny Mint website to order. You can pay via Paypal or with your Visa, Mastercard, or American Express credit card. The best part? It won't take an eternity to receive your order, and they ship worldwide for FREE!

Skinny Mint
US: 347-602-4551
Singapore: +65 6750 4478
United Kingdom: 020 7048 3339
Australia: (03) 9008 4282
hello@skinnymint.com