Here we highlight some of the stories behind the brands we stock.

Learn more about the founders and what these brands have envisioned for the future.

UGLY 

We are Ugly. And we're not going to sugarcoat it for you. We're not a dream. We're a drink. No unobtainable lifestyles. No ridiculous promises. Just sparkling water, with real fruit flavour.

No Sugar. No Sweetener. No Calories. Nothing Artificial. We stand for #theuglytruth within the world of food and drink, and beyond.

For every can of Ugly you buy, we donate 1 pence to United Nation's initiative, Girl Up, to help tackle The Ugly Truth of gender inequality. So can the other cans. It's Time to Get Real. It's Time to Get Ugly.

You can keep up with everything UGLY is up to by following their Instagram - @uglydrinks_uk

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UNION 

Union was founded in 2001 on the principle of marrying the production of high-quality speciality coffee with improving livelihoods by paying sustainable prices. Union does things differently, bypassing the brokers and working directly with the coffee farmers. More than paying a fair price, Union Direct Trade means working in partnership with farmers to improve the quality of coffee and livelihoods, long-term. All coffees are roasted in small batches by experienced artisan roasters in the East London roastery, developing the best possible flavour for each individual coffee.

Union was founded by Steven Macatonia and Jeremy Torz, in former lives a scientist and an optician who fell in love with coffee but not with the coffee industry as it was then. Their story begins in San Francisco in the 90s, where they were working on sabbatical broadening their horizons and enjoying a California lifestyle, when one day they ducked into a tiny café. Inside, they were roasting fresh coffee. They watched the beans come tumbling out of the roaster: hot, fresh, aromatic.

Right then, they decided to bring that inspiration back to London, quitting their day jobs. They sold everything they had to rent a workshop and buy a roaster. It was a whole new approach to coffee. Buying great coffee, roasting it in small batches, creating a more flavourful cup. Even talking about a more flavourful cup – and introducing flavour profiles – was new.

Today, they work together with farmers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, sourcing and roasting coffee and selling to cafés and restaurants throughout the UK as well as to enthusiastic coffee lovers at home.

Union has been awarded The Best European Roaster and The Queens Award for Sustainable Enterprise for their unique approach to sourcing and roasting speciality coffee.

Check out the natural spirit blend on the Afflux Deli store now! 

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SQUIRREL SISTERS 

Squirrel Sisters is a health and wellness company with a range of award-winning, healthy snack bars. Founded by Sisters Gracie & Sophie Tyrrell who are on a mission to help people make better & healthier choices more often…

Their award winning bars are innovative in format, beautifully packaged and first and foremost delicious... as well as being made with 100% natural ingredients of the highest quality. There are 4 flavours available in the range; Cacao Brownie (82 calories per bar), Cacao Orange (82 calories per bar), Raspberry Ripple (87 calories per bar) and Coconut Cashew (91 calories per bar). The 40g bar is split into two 20g sticks (2x 20g per pack) because the girls know how important portion control is to their consumers and they also want to encourage sharing!

If you look at the ingredients of a lot of healthy products you will notice that they include syrups, pastes, concentrated fruit juices and sugar alternatives, which they never do! They only use whole ingredients and whole dates to bind and sweeten our products absolutely no nasties or sugar alternatives. 

Life’s too short for second guessing what’s in your food. So they use only the best quality, honest (easy to say), real kitchen cupboard ingredients, which is why they’ve been certified by Sugarwise, an international authority for sugar claims.

Squirrel Sisters bars fit in with a number of lifestyles such as vegan, paleo, gluten and refined sugar free, and they are 100% raw. They can be eaten any time of the day; pre/post workout, for breakfast, the snack between meals, after dinner as a healthy pudding- they are the perfect guilt-free treat!

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 OVERHANG

Overhang's founder William Wilkinson came up with the idea of this alternative refreshing and revitalising drink in order to "restore him back to former glory" after several long months of touring the country with his band back in 2013. Although the recipe has over 100 years of history throughout William's family, it has been renewed and reborn as 'overhang'. It is the only drink that focuses on the idea of 'restoration' and uses unusual ingredients such as milk thistle, burdock and raspberry leaf. And guess what? It's also below the sugar tax and low in calories! (58 per bottle).