(Actually, this one we do always get asked.  So good place to start...)

We wanted a name that was natural and inspiring.  Like our drinks...

At the verge of despair after weeks seeking inspiration in smoky cafés, we suddenly thought of the Fireflies you see in Africa on a warm evening (aah).  And we thought, you know, Firefly, that works.

The pressure of a name...

De-tox is 100% Caffeine free.

Wake up, Sharpen up, Recharge and Britannia all have a little caffeine, because a few of those teas and herbs (green tea, white tea, kola nuts, yerba maté, guarana) contain natural caffeine.

The levels are low compared to caffeinated soft drinks.  So you won't be bouncing around.  Unless that's your thing, of course.

There's no "refined sugar" (sucrose, "high-fructose corn syrup", "beet sugar" etc.) in Firefly.  All the sweetness comes from fruit juices, which contain natural sugars. But they're quite a bit lighter than most soft drinks:- each drink has about 8 grams of fruit sugar per 100ml of drink (compared to 10 to 15 grams in a typical fruit juice or soft drink)

 

All fruit juices contain calories. The good news is that we blend our fruit juices with spring water and herbs. With just over 100 calories in a bottle, Firefly contains a lot less than pure fruit juice, smoothies and the sugary soft drinks out there...

The thing we don't do is put artificial sweeteners in our drinks.  We hate them - they taste awful, and they don't do you any good.  Here's a bit about why...

Well, the price is up to the shopkeeper, but it should be between £1.39 and £1.95 in the UK, between €2.49 & €3.99 in Europe, and between $2.49 and $3.49 in the US. 

Of course you'll pay more at the Ritz or the smartest bar in town - but if you're there, price probably isn't your primary concern...

No way.  Never, ever.

It's gently pasteurised and sealed in a glass bottle to protect it from bugs and oxygen.

And the sleeve keeps out the light.  Cunning.

More on why we don't like preservatives

Our drinks are bottled in Yorkshire.

Because we probably wouldn't be much good at running a bottling plant, we get other companies to do that for us.

The key thing is that we choose all our ingredients suppliers ourselves - and we never compromise on quality. 
There, don't you love a good soundbite?

The main "point" of Firefly is that it's a healthy alternative to the sugar-laden, artificial energy drinks. We're not a smoothie. But some people have been giving "concentrated fruit juices" a bad rap.
Well, it's not as simple as you might think...

There are four types of fruit juices: "Squeezed yourself at home", "Freshly squeezed", "Not from concentrate" and "From concentrate".

Clearly, the best option is to squeeze juices yourself and drink immediately - much of the goodness is lost in those first few minutes. Or better still, just eat the fresh fruit.

If you haven't got time to that, the next best option is probably "freshly squeezed". These are squeezed straight from the fruit into the bottle. Not pasteurised. Not frozen. And fresh - the shelf-life can't be more than a couple of weeks. But freshly squeezed is pretty hard to do - it means shipping fruit right across the world, hoping it doesn't get too bruised and battered on the way, and of course means you can only have juices that are in season right now.

So that's why practically all the juices and smoothies you see use "not from concentrate juice" or "concentrated juice". What's the difference between a "not from concentrate" that you might find in, say, an innocent smoothie, and a "from concentrate" juice, like ours?

"Not from concentrate" juices and purées are usually squeezed at the country of origin, then pasteurised (heated up to 80 or 90 degrees C); then frozen or "aseptically packed", and stored for up to two years; they're then shipped to this country to be thawed, mixed with other juices, and then pasteurised again before going into the final smoothie. All those nice stories from smoothie makers about squeezing the fruit directly into the smoothie - I'm afraid it's a bit of "artistic licence" - if you look carefully, the only "freshly squeezed" juices are usually the orange, lemon and lime - the others have all arrived in the UK in a big frozen vat or a giant tanker.

"From concentrate" juices are also usually squeezed at the country of origin; they're then heated up under pressure so that the water can evaporate off at a relatively low temperature (about 80 degrees C). This concentrated juice is more stable than "not from concentrate", because it's too sweet for bacteria to grow (remember the honey in Tutankhamen's tomb?), so it can be stored refrigerated, frozen or aseptically packed for up to two years. It's then shipped to this country (in a smaller vat or tanker), where the water is added back in, before bottling.

When we started Firefly, we had to pick between "not from concentrate" and "from concentrate".
Let's face it: both are quite "process intensive". There's absolutely no evidence that "not from concentrate" juices retain more of their goodness than concentrated juices.
Cost-wise, "not from concentrate" are slightly more expensive - about 10% more - but frankly, a rounding error in the general scheme of things. If we wanted to save money, we'd do what most soft drinks companies do and put sugar in our drinks (sugar costs about 1/3 as much as fruit juice) - but no, we don't like sugar.
The big difference, then, is that the "not from concentrate" juices take up 5 times as much space and weight - so they're expensive to ship, expensive to store, and you end up producing way more CO2 moving them about and storing them. Our juice suppliers can hold plenty of "concentrated" juices in the UK for when they're needed - but keeping "not from concentrate" juices is five times the effort, the energy and the complexity - and for, frankly, little clear benefit.

So that's why we use "concentrated" juices. 
What would you do?

Firefly lasts twelve months if stored in cool conditions, because no bugs can get in to spoil them (the glass bottle and sleeve make sure of that).

 

Once open, keep them in the fridge and drink them within one or two days.

It would be very, very hard to overdose on Firefly ...

Whilst there are a lot of herbs in the bottle, the safe limits of these herbs are high.

That said, don't put us to the test by drinking caseloads for a bet.  And as with all drinks, drink plenty of water too.

Have babies, change the world, write a number one, the usual...

Our herbalists have 50 years' experience between them of seeing which herbs work best.  They've selected the perfect combination of those herbs to make sure Firefly works.

We've also tried a lot of drinks (we have a constant supply in the office), and we regularly try them out with our friends and families - and so far we haven't had any complaints.

There's a bit of an issue about scientific research - our drinks are "foods", not "medicines" - so even if we proved that they were super-effective, we wouldn't be able to say so, because if we did, they'd be cleared off the shelves by the powers that be and put behind the pharmacy counter with lots of medicine warnings on. 

And that wouldn't be any fun. 

No.  Much as we like cheese.

In fact, our drinks are all vegetarian and dairy-free.

They're all vegan too
(We used to have Manuka Honey in Health Kick - but now that's gone we're all vegantastic)

As for the writing on the bottles and the website, we can't guarantee that's cheese-free.  Sorry.

Well, if we tell kids not to drink it, it'll just make them want it more, isn't that how it works?

We didn't exactly design Firefly for children, and generally it's best to be on the safe side with herbs and teas and not give them to small children. 

But they're unlikely to do any harm.

Thank goodness, I didn't dare ask.

Like all herbal products, you should ask your doctor before drinking Firefly if you're pregnant or breast-feeding.

We had one organic drink - Green Tea and Mint Firefly Water.

We were thrilled to get Soil Association approval at last.

 

The rest of our drinks aren't organic.  This is because, in order to be certified organic, all the agricultural ingredients must be organically sourced.  And because our drinks have lots of ingredients - all those different herbs and juices - getting hold of all of them organically is really tricky and prohibitively expensive.

It's getting easier, though, as more farms switch to sustainable farming.  So perhaps we'll be able to rejoin the Soil Association fold before too long...

Oh where to start...

We feel there are lots of "healthy" drinks out there.  And there are lots of "effective" drinks out there.  But we want both.

So our tonics are packed with herbal extracts in every bottle - and they're healthy, natural and surprisingly delicious.

Here endeth the lesson.

 

If those questions are rubbish and you have a burning question of your own, do contact us - and if it's really "frequently asked" we might even add it here...