GREAT JUICE Just when you thought the contents of a Tetra Pak couldn't get more inventive, along comes Pomegreat.
This is pomegranate juice - we are in the midst of pomegranate season - which is fruity but not too sweet. It comes in three varieties: Pomegreat Original, Pomegreat & Blueberry and Pomegreat & Raspberry. From €2.19 per litre or from €1.79 per 300ml bottle. Hugo Arnold
COFFEE WITH A CONSCIENCE Did you know that Starbucks, the global coffee company, is named after the first mate in Herman Melville's Moby Dick? Neither did we, but we did know that the Seattle company is the champion of customised coffee - and even publishes a leaflet, Learning the Lingo, to help you get your order right. And now Dublin has its first city-centre Starbucks, on College Green, with a reading area, art on the walls and, we are promised, a laid-back vibe. It joins the Starbucks at Dundrum Town Centre, so if you fancy a venti skinny decaff frappuccino to go, get in line. The feel-good factor is cranked up a notch by Starbucks' involvement with the National Adult Literacy Agency, in a Christmas book drive that invites customers to donate books in good condition to either Starbucks shop, for distribution to schools and adult-literacy projects. Marie-Claire Digby
FOR CHEESE NUTS "Sweet, nutty, rounded and full" was how lunch guests described Mossfield Organic cheese recently. Made in the Gouda style by Ralph Haslam in the Organic Store, their shop in Birr, Co Offaly - Mossfield picked up a gold medal at the World Cheese Awards this year. Although I am not a fan of the enhanced versions of this cheese - another one has sun-dried tomatoes in it - the plain style is a delight. Call 0509-31002 for stockists. Hugo Arnold
CREME DE LA CREME Two new varieties of Baileys Irish Cream liqueur, one of the great success stories of the Irish drinks industry, are now available - to travellers. At the moment, Baileys creme caramel and chocolate mint are on sale only in airport duty-free shops, but with many of us on the move this month there could be an opportunity to pick one up and surprise your guests with something they probably won't have tried before. The new flavours are on special offer at £18 for two one-litre bottles in UK duty-free outlets. Marie-Claire Digby