Actually, we've no idea if these are frequently asked. We just picked some things we wanted to tell you. It's a fix, frankly.
But you never know - they might be helpful...
(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...
Chill Out, Health Kick and De-tox are 100% Caffeine free, as is our Redbush Firefly Water.
The other Firefly Waters, and Wake up and Sharpen up, all have small traces of caffeine, because a few of those herbs (green tea, kola nuts, yerba maté, guarana) contain traces of natural caffeine. The levels are low compared to caffeinated soft drinks.
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)
As for Firefly Waters, these are even lighter - about 3.6 grams of sugars per 100ml - and again no refined sugars - the sweetness here is mainly from Agave Nectar.
Click here for more about organic Agave Nectar.
Anything with fruit juice has calories, and we all know that if you take in more calories than you use up, it's got to go somewhere. The good news is, Firefly, with 100-120 calories in a bottle, has a lot less calories than the sugary soft drinks out there... And as it's just made with fruit juices and herbal extracts, it's doing you some good too. Firefly's to help you feel your best so you can do more - and burn heaps of calories in the process..
But if 100 calories is too much, we've now brought out Firefly Waters. These are very light - less than 15 calories per 100ml - less than a third of most soft drinks, smoothies and energy drinks.
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.
Our drinks are bottled in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
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 - quality, quality, quality.
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).
Firefly Waters are at their best for six months - the plastic bottle isn't quite so good at keeping things fresh.
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, except for health Kick, because manuka honey is made by bees.
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.
Well you can mix anything you like with alcohol.
We're actually working on our first organic drink at the moment - it was due to launch in March 2008, but we've been having a few issues with our bottler, so it may be a while longer - sorry.
In the meantime, 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 our forthcoming organic drink will be the first of many...
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 Firefly tonics have 2½ grams of herbal extracts in every bottle - and they're healthy, natural and surprisingly delicious.
As for our Firefly waters, they've got lots of antioxidant teas and juices - and they're nice and natural and low calorie.
(And obviously our drinks are unique-tasting, unique-looking and made by a unique team of unique people who wear uniqlo and dream of unicorns.)
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...
