Highland Spring is one of those brands who like to highlight the benefits of healthy hydration, especially for kids.  When back-to-school comes, it’s always a worry for us parents, to know if our kids have had enough to drink or not.  It’s not as if we can tag along after then during the school day, and mark up what they’ve had to drink.

As a parent, I tend to think that under hydrated children get grumpy.  I doubt there is much in the way of evidence, but I know how I feel if I’m thirsty.

Highland Spring says:

When you’re 100% hydrated, you’re much more likely to be on top of your game – mentally, physically and emotionally.

I’d have to say, that I very much agree with that.

With back-to-school season just past, it’s the perfect time to encourage kids to give every day their all, with the help of great hydration.

Highland Spring ran a #BravebyNature project, which was all about that natural drive in children to let nothing get in their way and for us parents to help our kids stay naturally hydrated enough to wield it.

That’s why Highland Spring is one of your most important #TermTimeEssentials right now.

For me, I have a special needs boy, whose idea of fluid has to come in flavoured varieties.

To get him to be #BravebyNature, I tend to mix it with other things.  it could be diluting juice, or fresh orange or strawberry, or anything I can get him to drink, that isn’t just sugar in a glass.

Water is actually great for lunch bags though, so at school, it’s a bit of a no brainer.

Our schools do pretty well and will remove fizzy drinks from the kids, and ask for parents to send in healthy options.  At our local secondary, the kids are allowed to take in water for their desks, but aren’t allowed any other drinks.  It’s a positive step for hydration.

From Highland Spring, I learned that staying well hydrated  can boost attention by almost 25%. Its even nicer when you know the plain natural source water you’re giving drawn from organic land in Scotland’s beautiful Ochil Hills!

Where do you get your hydration from?

Thanks to Highland Spring for our water.

My last coffee machine was on it’s last legs, and being ever thrifty, I’ve just let it limp along, sometimes working and sometimes not.  I’ve meant to look for one for a while, so the offer to try Nespresso coffee pods came at the right time.  We didn’t have a compatible machine to try the pods in, so they sent us a wee one to use with the pods.

To be honest I was just expecting the wee Nespresso Essenza Mini and some iced coffee pods.  What arrived was a bit different.  Along with the little machine, came a whole box of iced coffee pods, two coffee glasses, a travel mug, and an ice cube tray.

The machine is very neat, and takes up little room on a worktop.  It’s not very wide at all and seems to make enough for two larger coffees, and several expresso sized beverages.  It took me a while to figure out the different coffee names, but I got there in the end.

The two new flavours of iced coffee, are:

• Intenso on Ice
• Leggero on Ice

Intenso on ice, is a rich, roasted coffee, with cereal notes, whereas the Legeero on ice is subtle, with lemony notes.   I did have to look up their website to figure out how to make iced coffee with a coffee maker.  Call me an iced coffee numptie, ahem, newbie.

I’d like to have made the iced vanilla coffee from their recipe, but my wee machine doesn’t have a milk frother, and I don’t own a milk frother.  Yes, I know, I have almost every type of gadget under the sun, but a milk frother isn’t one of them.  I did half wonder if putting some milk into my blender on a high setting might do the trick, but I didn’t take the chance.   I am making a mental note to get a milk frother however.  Having milk frothed latte needs to be in my future.

I did have a few cheeky cups of coffee to test out the machine, and to be honest, it’s fairly simple and doesn’t have excess bits on it to take up space.  I might even give this one to my mum so that her carers can make coffee up in her room, and don’t have to come downstairs a dozen times a day.  I might earn some brownie points there…and I can get myself a gadget with a built-in milk frother.  See, there is some method to this chain of thought….

Ok, now the coffee part has been well figured out, it had to go to the iced coffee version.

This is what I did.

• Fill glass with ice.
• Pop Leggero on ice pod into machine and choose expresso setting.
• When expresso shot has finished, I poured cold milk over the back of a spoon, and into the glass, then stirred at the end.  I did manage to achieve a little froth on top of the coffee, which went down pretty well on a warm Aberdeen day…

What did I think?

To be fair, iced coffee isn’t ever going to be my thing, apart from the odd glass as a change.  I’m pretty much a traditional girl, and a hot latte is my bevvy of choice with caffeine.

Can I see this being popular?

I can.  I’ve always thought of iced coffee as being an American thing, but my kids tend to buy themselves iced coffee shots in a coffee shop, so now I just have to figure out how to use these pods for the same effect at home.  I suspect lots of crushed ice will do the trick, along whipped cream and some chocolate powder, but the possibilities are wide, as is the variation in the type and strength of coffee for the little machine.

Future

Our machine is going to be well used, whether by us, or my mum and her carers, so for that, I am grateful.  I doubt I’d buy iced coffee pods personally, but that’s just me, although my youngest is planning how to use the Caramelito and Vanilio pods instead of the Intenso on ice and Leggero on ice for whipped cream iced coffee.  He’s a teen, and I guess for teens, iced coffee really is a thing…..  Ok, this old woman is off to settle for an old fashioned cup of hot caffeine…

Thanks to Nespresso for our samples.