Grannyism #12: Always Wear Clean Underpants

By Charla on Jan 31 Filed In Austin, Texas, Grannyisms, Sweet Consumers, arts & crafts 5 Comments

Guest Blogger: Alissa Magrum (Ella’s mom)

Ella Mia Magrum-Stanley is Sweet Leaf Tea’s biggest 5 and a half year old fan! So much so that she made Sweet Leaf Tea Grannyism magnets to sell at the Serene Hills Elementary School Kindergarten Mall. She sold 45 magnets for 25 cents each! Ella came up with the idea as her mommy was making magnets to give to friends as Christmas gifts. Most of her kindergarten classmates were selling silly bands or Pokemon cards but Ella thought the magnets would be a hit. Her favorite Grannyism is “Always wear clean underpants”. She made 15 of those and sold ALL of them to teachers, students and parents. The second best seller seemed to be “Mind your own beeswax”. Ella made $11.25 from her sales and plans to donate half to the animal shelter to “save puppies”. She is saving the other half to buy a pug puppy.

You can find Ella guzzling a bottle of Sweet Leaf Tea lemonade or sneaking her Mommy’s Sweet Leaf Peach Tea. She plans to use Sweet Leaf Tea lemonade in her secret recipe at her stand on Lemonade Day!

Excited to be back!

By Marketing Intern on Jan 26 Filed In Austin, Texas, Blog Love, Intern, SXSW Add a Comment

Well, I sit here at the intern desk, back for my second semester of being a @SweetLeafIntern here at Sweet Leaf Tea Co. And needless to say, I’m very excited. I had such a long break from school that I practically forgot it was ever coming back. But now that it is, I’m psyched about it, especially because my schedule is AWESOME despite having 8 ‘o clock classes every day. That part is not good. But other than that, I remain very excited. Thumbs up.

We’ve got lots of good stuff in the works for all of our Sweet Leaf Fans out there, and I’m pumped to be a part of bringing it to you. One thing I REALLY can’t wait for is SXSW this year. It’s going to be the best week ever… it includes my birthday, some awesome music and films, and of course, copious amounts of Sweet Leaf Tea consumption. Be on the look out for the Sweet Leaf Tea-m doing some blitzing during the festival as well as some awesome follow up videos.

Also, this semester I’m undertaking a very exciting project: Flavor Videos. I’m going to be making a video for each flavor of our Homemade Goodness, and sharing them here for you to see! Lots of great ideas in the works.

That’s all for now, -Ty

For the Love of Bacon

By April on Jan 24 Filed In Austin, Texas, Food & Beverage 2 Comments

Ok, the real reason that I decided to go try Black Star Coop Tuesday night was to help my roommate celebrate his 36th year on this planet, but once I saw a tweet from my gal, @MajorPepper about whether or not I should try the place out, I knew it was meant to be.

@SweetLeafApril yep! good charcuterie too—if you’re lucky they might have house made HEAD CHEESE. oooh and you have to get the BACON TOFFEE.

Did she just say what I think she said?

Black Star Coop is the first of it’s kind in the United States: A brewpub cooperative. This means that the people who belong to the coop own and operate the establishment. These folks love craft beer and purposefully designed the menu around the flavor profiles of the beer that they make. To be fair to these guys, I don’t drink beer and think that before our company Memorial Day Boat Party in ’09 where I had a beer, it had been since about 1995. I just don’t dig it, but not only is my roommate a fan of good brew, I also have a very healthy respect for any food or beverage that was crafted with thought and love behind it. So it seemed like the perfect place to grab a birthday meal and adult bev.

Joel tried the Vulcan and the Double Dee, paired with a well-made and home-grilled-tasting burger and fries, while I went with the fish and chips. The french fries at this place are cut like steak fries but thinner, with a generous helping of sea salt, pepper and GARLIC. (View the link but just a warning, you’ll be over there for dinner TONIGHT once you check them out.) They turned out to be the best fries I’ve ever eaten. Hands. Down. Joel and I also shared a snack plate that contained escabeche, sweet pickled turnips (sounds weird, but was AWESOME!), St. Andre brie, some Gouda, house made chorizo and mustard. What a great way to start a meal and apparently it paired fabulously with both brews that Joel had too.

But April, how did you guys end the meal? What do YOU think!??! BACON TOFFEE! I dare you to tell me something better than seeing butter, sugar, and sexy, salty, thick, crumbles of bacon come together for a toffee party gone wild. DARE. YOU.

Well, it’s not going to happen because you can’t beat that combo. I’ve enjoyed Vosges’ bacon chocolate bar and this kicked it in the hopps.

Try it out for yourself and be sure to let us know what you thought about Black Star Coop. Got the skinny on a brewpub/gastropub in your area? Let us know, we travel for good food. OK, I travel for good food.

3lbs of Handcrafted Goodness

By Charla on Jan 20 Filed In Food & Beverage, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and almost immediately your mouth begins to water so you have to check the side of your lips to make sure you’re not drooling? If you have, I want to know the name of that place. In turn, I’ll share one with you.

It’s hard to put into words what I experienced last Saturday morning when I walked into Lulu’s Bakery in San Antonio. The drooling thing is definitely close, but only a picture can tell the true story. Even the San Antonio roundup of hot spots on Man vs. Food couldn’t have prepared me for this gargantuan surprise. Because until that warm 3lb. cinnamony-sugary-icing-y breaded spiral of goodness complete with a steak knife is sitting in front of you, you’ll never truly understand it.

Yes, that’s right, a 3lb. cinnamon roll, some reports claim 3.5lbs. Only in Texas, right? Well, if you’re ever in San Antonio, be sure to go. You won’t be disappointed. And if you’re not, you can pick up a tele and order you up one.

Just so you know, I took home a doggie bag with a 2.8lb. roll. It was a work-out carrying it around which made me feel good. My advice, take some friends—lots of them. But call dibs on the middle. It’s definitely the best part.

Oh, yeah! Heaven.

I haven’t tried the other spots from the episode yet, but next time I’m up for a challenge, I’m totally going for the pizza slice.

Chicago Revisited – Revisited – @SweetLeafDanny

By Danny on Jan 14 Filed In Chicago 1 Comment

Back from the blistering cold. It was an average of 17 degrees while I was up in the windy city, then I get back to Austin and it’s 30. Chicago was good cold weather practice…

Chicago once again treated me right. Below are the highlights of my trip in a photog style. Enjoy!