Rainforest Alliance is an international environment NGO which ensures that most of its tea comes from certified farms, which have ecosystem conservation programmes, protection of the workforce and surrounding environments, and better working conditions and pay for the farmers.

PG Tips’ ethical and sustainable approach in ensuring that the tea in every single PG Tips tea bag is grown using sustainable farming methods has earned the producer the status of being the first tea business to be fully Rainforest Allowance Certified.

This is great news for us at Strong Vend as we embrace the age of ethical consumerism. It means that we can feel proud that we are supporting sustainable farming and the beautiful country of Kenya, where PG Tips grows its delicious tea.

Research commissioned this month by Mars Drinks has revealed that it’s important for ‘basic needs’ to be met before beginning work. The numbers back this up with 43% of employees saying that a hot beverage has a positive impact on their work and 39% saying that it helps with their concentration.

The survey also uncovered that more employees are choosing to take their coffee at work rather than go out to a cafe because of the expense, most believing that provision of tea and coffee in the workplace is a necessity rather than a ‘perk’.

The study concluded that a comfortable working environment with high quality services including beverage provision will see an improvement in productivity. So why stem the creativity and concentration of your workforce? Make sure your employees always have good coffee, and you are bound to see improvements.

You can give the quiz a try for yourself here. The results might surprise you!

In the study, 130,054 people had their coffee drinking habits tracked. The result was that those who drank four or more cups per day had an 18 percent reduced risk of requiring hospital care. People drinking 1 – 3 cups per day had a 7 percent lower risk of later problems.

Despite these findings however, researchers are keen to point out that the delicious bitter bean does not have any proven positive effects on the heart, and more studies are required to provide concrete proof. Still, it won’t stop me cranking up my daily intake – just in case!

Karen has recreated works such as the Last Supper and Mona Lisa using this technique, and has plans to continue to make use of coffee as an artistic material for many other future projects.

Each work is personalised with a coffee cup to pay homage to the artist’s favourite beverage, and looking at the outcome, it’s easy to see why the works have been fetching anything up to £12,000.

See her in action here:

We have compiled a list of 5 of the most ‘interesting’ alternatives to your daily cup of Lavazza.

Oskri – This coffee substitute is in fact made entirely from barley – so it can be made in the U.K! If you want to try something different, then this is the way forward.

Kopi Luwak coffee – this coffee is made from the droppings of the Asian Palm Civet! The mammal eats coffee berries which are passed through its digestive tract. These droppings are then ‘harvested’ and made into coffee through an age-old traditional process. Literally translated from Vietnamese the resulting drink is known as ‘Weasel Coffee’. Yum.

Teeccino herbal coffee – it might not be for everyone, but herbal coffee is becoming more popular over the world as people try to wean themselves off the hard stuff! We aren’t the biggest fans but it seems appealing to some people at least.

Roasted Corn Coffee – apparently the ‘tastiest alternative to coffee’ (but still nothing close to the real thing!) It’s made of 100% corn…mmm!

Golden fields Dandelion and Burdock Coffee – We are slightly suspicious about drinking something that also claims to be the healer of skin diseases but it’s yet another alternative to your daily cup (or 9) of coffee.