Siply

Photo by Karla Reina

Coffee has long dominated the morning ritual of Americans. In the daily hustle, the drive-through latte rules. Attempting to stay relevant, coffee has received numerous “upgrades” to make it more paleo, more nutritious, less acidic. What if there was a better way? An entirely different way? Siply is reinventing the morning routine to include clean organic loose leaf tea. The innovation doesn’t stop there, Siply aims to take tea drinking to a whole new level with exciting flavor combinations that will make it easy to quit coffee. If you are coffee drinker looking for a change, butter tea is the way of the future.

For Siply, tea isn’t just hot beverage. Tea is serene. It is both calming and invigorating. It is beneficial in ways that far surpass coffee. It is linked with decreased depression, diabetes and other diseases. Siply makes extra effort to source ethically. Teas are tested for heavy metals and pesticides. Beyond those benefits, Siply encourages a conscious connection to tea drinking. Drinking tea is about taking your foot off the pedal. It’s about the present moment. It’s about stimulating and focusing the mind. For Siply, tea drinking is meditation — as it has been for a thousand years.

Why it matters: Biodiversity

Tea is better for the planet than coffee. Period. It is easier to grow, and requires less water. It can grow in more diverse climates. Tea can also be mixed with other herbs or spices that further extend it’s sustainability. Transitioning the world from coffee is a huge undertaking, for sure. Siply is doing it one steamy cup at a time. We may throw our money at fatigue by ordering a double mocha latte. Siply teaches a better way to drink a better beverage that is ultimately better for the planet. It is a more conscientious way to spend your dollars, and a more mindful way to spend your morning.

Hemp 360

For years I struggled with my complexion. I tried everything from Amoxicillin to Proactive to Accutane. Nothing helped. My skin remained stubbornly and unpredictably blemished. Then, as I began to reevaluate my overall health, I started also to understand more about my own skin.

Skin is the largest organ. Among other purposes it serves, it acts as a conduit. It will absorb toxins from clothing, the air, and from anything applied to it. Those toxins damage the skin’s ability to function. There are also long term implications because toxins may enter the blood stream through the skin affecting other internal systems. Part of the natural process of skin is regeneration. However, external impurities halt its ability to heal, hence unbalanced visibly distressed skin.

I discovered Hemp 360 at the farmers market in Austin. Using raw, organic, cold-pressed ingredients, including, but no limited to, the super nutritious hemp oil, Hemp 360 offers skin care with zero toxins. No preservatives, no nonessential stabilizers, just pure oils and butters. Within a month of using their skin repair raw lotion, I no longer had the deep cystic spots that afflicted me most of my life. My skin healed and brightened. Hemp 360 is an impressive skin care line born of simple, nourishing ingredients.

Why it matters: Hemp.

Hemp is the non-drug version of the cannabis genus. Though it shares a family with marijuana, it is not psychoactive. It does, however, grow like a weed. That means it does not require pesticides or fertilizers and can thrive in diverse climates. It is a hardy plant that can be utilized in many different ways; from textiles, to nutritional supplements to skin care to building materials. It is a high return resource with a low environmental impact. Hemp 360 Skin Care takes advantage of one aspect of this versatile plant; it’s beneficial oils. But in doing so, they continue to support the market for a plant that has the potential to move many industries toward a more sustainable model of production. They may have chosen hemp for it’s miraculous skin healing properties, but ultimately that choice can also help to heal the planet.