BzzCampaign: Green Mountain Coffee – Fair Trade

<!–[if !mso]>st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]–>

I was invited to take part in a new BzzAgent BzzCampaign – this one centered around Green Mountain Coffee and Fair Trade.  The moment I saw the invite flash onto my phone (I have my e-mail synced to my smartphone) I went onto the website and officially opted into it.  I admit I was pretty excited to be part of this campaign because I am a HUGE coffee lover.  Coffee and caffeine run through my veins all day, every day, so needless to say I was looking forward to receiving my campaign introduction.  I received it the other day, took my photos of it, and went straight ahead to testing it out the next morning.

Fair Trade has started to get a big buzz as of late (and not just in this campaign) especially considering October is Fair Trade Month.  It’s being suggested coffee consumers purchase from Fair Trade suppliers because that ensures you can enjoy your own coffee, while also making sure to take care of the farmer who cultivated those beans you’re drinking.  By doing this Fair Trade ensures farmers get a fair price for their beans (meaning coffee manufactures aren’t nickel and diming the farmers), by doing this farmers working conditions can improve, there’s assistance in protecting the environment, while it also aids in supporting the community aiding in creating new schools, roads, drinking water, etc.  Green Mountain is largely known for promoting this and pushing for it.

There have been two musicians – Grace Potterand Michael Franti who have taken part of the Fair Trade act and traveled over to Colombia and Sumatra to visit the farming communities and get a better understanding of how Fair Trade significantly impacts not only the farmers of coffee beans, but the world and the individual farms communities.  The Green Mountain facebook page details the two performers trip, journey and the impact Fair Trade has on farming.  Make sure you check out Green Mountains facebook page to see Grace Potter and Michael Franti Fair Trade source trip which also includes a live stream of their concert: https://www.facebook.com/GreenMountainCoffee.&nbsp; One other thing you can get over at the Green Mountain facebook page is coupons off Green Mountain Coffee k-cups and bagged coffee.

In my campaign box, I received a stack of $1 off manufacturer coupons, a BzzGuide which details Fair Trade centering around coffee and 3 boxes of K-Cups. The K-Cup boxes house 4 K-Cups in each box and the 3 boxes have the same four flavors in it.  The four flavors provided were: Sumatran Reserve (Extra Bold), Colombian Fair Trade Select, Wild Mountain Blueberry, and Vermont Country Blend.

In closing, I can say drink responsibly. 

<img src=”http://img.bzzagent.com/image/GMCfairTrade.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=9081228831&Campaign=6979708601&Uid=1278590&token=e684856b50387fba967a7ffc16d33515&#8243; alt=””/>

BzzReview: Unreal Candy Bar

 

 

 

Being a BzzAgent I received a coupon for a free Unreal candy bar, but I decided to get a few of them to share with my boyfriend and to try out.  I picked up the following bars: Unreal 77 – Reese Peanut Butter cup dupe, a Unreal 8 Snickers dupe and an Unreal 5 Milky Ways dupe and Unreal 41 a M&M’s dupe.

Unreal candy bars are supposed to be a “healthier” alternative to sweets by eliminating some of the processed ingredients that typically go into candy bars. For instance there’s less sugar, there’s no corn syrup in the candy, no partially hydrogenated oil, no artificial ingredients, no GMOs, no preservatives and it has a low glycemic index.

I will say out of the four I (and my boyfriend) tried we both agreed the Unreal 77 (peanut butter cup) was the grossest.  It just was weird and had a funky aftertaste.  Maybe it’s the fact that Reese Cups are one of my all time favorite chocolates, but this just wasn’t comparable.  I realize it’s not made to be an exact “duplicate” but it was just … not yummy.  I wouldn’t buy this again, heck, I wouldn’t even pick it up for free if I had to again because I just plain did not like it.

The Unreal 5 was hands down my favorite.  It was nice and mildly sweet and I liked that the caramel wasn’t sickeningly sweet as most caramels in chocolates tend to be.  It had a nice flavor, it was smooth all around and just a yummy candy bar.  This was definitely my favorite out of the batch.

The Unreal 8 was my boyfriend’s favorite.  I found it was alright, but it wasn’t as good as a Snickers (at least in my opinion).  My boyfriend thought it was a nice, healthier alternative.  It was nothing spectacular to shake a stick at, but it wasn’t horrendous either.  I just wasn’t a huge fan but my boyfriend enjoyed it, more-so than the Unreal 5.

Now the Unreal 41 (think M&Ms) was the most surprising.  The color is very bland but that’s because there’s no artificial colorings in it.  But I felt these tasted like Cadbury eggs (you know the ones with the crunchy shell).  They had more “meat” to them in comparison to say an M&M but I think I like these more than M&M’s.  They were just yummy and I liked how they reminded me of Cadbury (one of my favorite chocolate companies!)

Disclaimer: I received a free coupon from BzzAgent to test out the new Unreal candy bars which market was “unjunking the junk”.  I purchased one bar for free, used a buy 1 get 1 coupon to buy the other two and while at CVS was given a coupon (from CVS) for a free Unreal candy bar – so I ended up with four to try out.  Please do note that even though I received these items for free, it in no way alters my opinion of the product as my opinions are nothing but my own.

<img src=”https://img.bzzagent.com/image/unrealCandy.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=6106959830&Campaign=1567983861&Uid=1278590&token=0a9ddf7014a25592810ed1c3934201e2&#8243; alt=””/>