Yawn

ADVENT DAY 18, tea 1/3

Whoa, those days were intensive! Two days ago I met my best friend and we had a few beers. I took that day all 3 teas to the office, but I was glad I could drink at least this one. There was no time for other two. And yesterday? Again, a very busy day… and as I returned late the day before yesterday; I didn’t took any tea with me. And I had another gathering with co-workers (different group I work with); so… I didn’t drank any advent tea that day.

And now I am sitting here, writing about a tea I had two days ago and I remember it. Was it because it was good? Or it has been that bad? Read and make your own opinion.

Well, I have to start with disclaimer that I have no experience with candy canes. But I am afraid they shouldn’t be like this tea.

The base tea was mediocre, probably just Ceylon; as it was quite “normal and flat” tasting. There were some cocoa notes, though I don’t recall seeing any nibs in the sachet. And it was quite sweet, but that’s fine, candy cane probably is sweet. But I assume it doesn’t have artificial menthol taste and mostly aftertaste; which was… like a toothpaste. Sadly that aftertaste ruined it to me by quite a lot. I don’t like this in my tea.

ADVENT DAY 17, tea 1/3
Tasting note #2000

More or less similar to Scottish breakfast blend, but milder and more malty. Also very strong in caffeine, robust and strong tea. Less of the woody flavours. Tasty overall, but somehow I prefer the Scottish. Maybe because it tastes just stronger, maybe it actually is… maybe I didn’t liked Ceylon here enough?

ADVENT DAY 16, tea 3/3
I intended to try this tea after the second one, as they seemed to have a similar flavor profile.

While they are indeed similar, this one is more hibiscus-forward, perhaps due to the longer steeping time. Instead of the prominent cinnamon notes in the previous tea, I detected more cloves here. Unfortunately, I missed the apple notes that were present in the first tea, and there were no noticeable crumble notes in either. It seems this blend hasn’t changed much since Kelmishka tried it two years ago.

ADVENT DAY 15, tea 1/3

Welcome to another meh tea from Yawn.
Well, I guess that the FF Darjeeling from other calendar would make my morning better than this. It just tastes like earl grey, but cream, vanilla or what should say ice cream is almost non-existent. And the level of bergamot is so damn low!

It tasted like a very, very faded earl grey. That rather surprises me when I had a good experienced with some of their teas earlier in the advent calendar.

ADVENT DAY 14, tea 1/3

Yay, a flavoured green! Oh, jasmine… yes the buds are present. But fruits? Why to ruin it with fruits?

After steeping I noticed the jasmine for sure and base tea was okay; but that whiff of fruits, made from flavourings only (!) was just making whole tea muddled in flavours and it wasn’t working well with the flowers.

When something is called a fruit salad, I would expect an explosion of fruits… but that would cover the jasmine. Well, as I said, I don’t think that those two go together.

ADVENT DAY 13, tea 2/3
Logging a day late as I had a Christmas work team gathering.

Well, this one was fine. Not really sure if cookie enough; but I noticed cocoa and coconut. With very strong malty black tea base.

But none of following promise: “sweet honey and maple cookie taste”

ADVENT DAY 12, tea 1/3

Germans would say: “Na endlich!, most of you would say “Finally” and I am happy to see a plain tea too and I am saying “Konečně!”

Language window over. A strong, black tea in my pouch appeared today and I was really glad to see this one. I am unsure if I ever had Scottish Breakfast blend before, but it is sooo strong, but not tannic or bitter; at least in this case. Definitely strong in caffeine! Very malty with woody notes (oak) and long mouthfeel of good black tea.

Welcomed as early morning tea in the office. I slept rather worse today… waking up a hour before alarm clock means 4 am and I didn’t liked that too much.

ADVENT DAY 11, tea 1/3

After opening the sachet today morning in the office I was struck with boozy chocolate notes, followed with very sweet notes of carob and cocoa nibs.
After steeping for approx. 5 minutes I took the bag off my mug and smelled it. It wasn’t that bad and the booziness was gone in aroma.

Sadly, after first sip I found out that it stayed in the drink and luckily I don’t sweeten my tea… because that would be too much. It’s very sweet, but I don’t think it’s from caramel. That one I didn’t noticed at all in taste nor in aroma. It was just a boozy Hershey’s chocolate topping in the cup.

Another weird choice as there was a chocolate cake tea in the Advent already; and that one was much, much better.

ADVENT DAY 10, tea 3/3

Absolutely agree with Kelmishka who wrote 3 years ago that this is 100% buttery red rooibos. Probably the rooibos base is better than hers, as it was quite smooth and woody a bit, not syrupy at all. Sadly there was nothing that I would expect in popcorn named blend.
Fine, but nothing I need to try again.

ADVENT DAY 9, tea 2/3

This one was kind of meh. Moreover the list of teas says cheery Cheesecake, with same ingredients as this Cheesecake; and I doubt there is any difference.

Honestly everything was meh with this tea. Base was boring, simple Ceylon (I assume), with nothing but tannic notes. And then there were cranberries. Noticeable in flavour — slight tartness was there. But no cherry, no cream cheese, no pastry… nothing that reminds me cheesecake at all.

Just meh.

ADVENT DAY 8, tea 2/3

Somehow basic fruit blend; very deep red colour, a little tart of cranberry and a little sweet of red apples. While it is basic, it was a welcome change of pace in all those flavoured teas, while this is just fruit, caffeine-free tea.

ADVENT DAY 7, tea 2/3

Caramel? Check. Popped rice (instead of corn)? Check.

I actually quite like this one, though, as you know, I am not a fan of caramel. It was creamy caramel, but not overly sweet; combined with popped rice that brought some nuttiness to the flavour, was quite working well. I wouldn’t recognize intended flavour if not written, but maybe I am just too tired today for that!

ADVENT DAY 6, tea 3/3

Best for the last? I thought so. Well, it seems they have tweaked the blend since they were Tea Revv; but still I can’t see why this one should be personal favoruite.

It’s quite meh. The base was cheap green tea, though they claim it is sencha, probably Chinese because of lack of flavours and apple / cinnamon? Both were artificial, especially the latter; and apple was green and sour.

Not a favourite.

ADVENT DAY 5, tea 1/3

Very, very traditional tea. Not a flaw of the calendar, though. Because this EG is one of the better I had. Very round black tea base, with refreshing citrus — bergamot notes. There was no astringency, bitterness or other notes to ruin the session. I assume that the Keemun base was the key for that.

And if you think that the sachet isn’t aromatic too much, well, just put it in the water and let it steep. The level of bergamot is just right.

ADVENT DAY 4, tea 1/3

On the box there was clearly stated that today tea is Choc Orange. While I wasn’t impressed to have two chocolate teas in a row, I thought it is actually intended as two caramel teas were in a row too.

But then I steeped this, in boiling water for 4 minutes and I saw it is not definitely a black tea. It was green liquor. Did they omit the black tea base? That would be hilarious error. But then I smelled it, tasted it, and I got a familiar flavour, but it wasn’t definitely orange! I was so puzzled.

Finished the cup, which was flavourful and bright, and I was actually able to pick up the flavor. It’s like watermelon chewing gum. Ah well, watermelon I thought. Did they put wrong sachet in? That could happen, especially when the wrappers are just numbered and there is no ID of the tea.

And I started to research. Opened their website and line-up and what I saw? Yes, today tea is Watermelon oolong. Hm, have I overlooked what’s on the box? Let’s check… and answer is nope. Clearly there is black tea written with name Choc Orange.

But this tea was tasty too. A bit too candy-like to me, but watermelons are like that; and boiling water definitely didn’t hurt the tea. It was creamy and drinkable. I just have been prepared for different flavour profile.

ADVENT DAY 3, tea 1/3

I have planned teas for today yesterday and… decided to bring two of three to the work, having in mind that the afternoon and evening will be busy and I don’t want to repeat yesterday “drink all the tea in 4 hours”.

It has worked well to me, this one was a breakfast tea and whoa what a tea!

It was not artificial, it was not boozy, it was not terrible and it was actually very, very good. And without toffee, caramel and those :)
It was fullbodied black tea with natural and genuine chocolate flavour. It has got pastry note, it was quite creamy too; like a chocolate cream (we call it Parisian, but not sure if it is in English too). Smooth, easy drinking mug, hearty and chocolatey!

Really like it. Of course, biting real chocolate cake would be a bit better… on the other hand, this has got (almost) no calories :)

Well, apple-day I guess? Two apple teas and now with toffee. As I wrote yesterday, not much a fan of sugar-based sweets. But again, it probably suits well the season.

Pinkish and bright color, strong apple aroma, almost artificial; followed with definitely artificial smelling toffee.
In taste very, but very sweet tasting toffee with slight acidity and sweetness of red apples, so definitely this blend is true to its name; but sadly I am not a fan of those flavours. That makes rating hard to me, so I am keeping it without it. Because I believe there are guys out there who would like it and my personal preference doesn’t allow me to enjoy it that much.

So it begins! Advent Season! Time to drink teas we wouldn’t try otherwise.

This is one of them. Generally speaking I am not fan of caramel flavoured teas and not even much of caramel itself but salted caramel.

My cup was sweet and buttery, I assume pretty true to intended flavour, with surprisingly long mouthfeel and finish. Plus point for no sugar in this tea, so not getting any calories in the very first day of the session.

While it is not my personal preferred tea flavour, it’s good start from this, for me unknown, company. (I just found out today that Kelmishka had their advent 2 years ago.)

Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 20

The cocoa/chocolate flavor here is not too bad, despite the dry leaf having that “stale mocha” smell I associate with chocolate tea. Once it’s steeped, it smells and tastes pretty decent — especially after adding a splash of oat milk. That gives it a little body and seems to round oat the cocoa flavor. The rooibos base is surprisingly absent — I say “surprisingly” because all the other rooibos blends in the Yawn calendar have had that medicinal, syrupy aftertaste.

Yeah, I’m not mad about this one!

Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 19

Not much to say about this one. It does indeed smell and taste like cardamom, although I was sad that there weren’t any actual cardamom pods/seeds in the blend. The black tea base is pretty weak and unobtrusive; I’d like a little bit more flavor there.

It’s fine but I wouldn’t seek it out again; I’d be more inclined to add cardamom to a favorite black tea of my own.

Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 18

I was not thrilled to find a fruity hibiscus tisane and put off drinking it for a few days. But it’s actually pretty good, all things considered! The tartness works with this flavor profile, and I actually am getting cranberry notes followed by a mellow honey-like sweetness from the apple. It doesn’t really excite me, but it’s fine for what it is.

Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 17

I’m wrapping up the first semester of a part-time grad program, and this morning I banged out a draft of my final paper. I was powered mostly by a pot of this chai.

Despite a robust ingredient list, most of the spices here fade to the background behind pepper, ginger, and an unexpected creaminess. Yeah. It’s like a peppery caramel on a weak black tea base. I wonder how it would work with chili pepper instead of peppercorn — I feel like that would make sense, given the name!

As it is, I… weirdly kinda like it?

Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 16

OK, this is ostensibly a coffee-flavored rooibos blend! Interesting! Most of the coffee flavorings in tea tend to remind me of old, stale coffee, not a fresh, aromatic cup. But the coffee in this one actually seems decent. Unfortunately, I’m barely getting any of it, either in small or taste. It’s more a suggestion of coffee.

That said, I can see what they were going for with the cappuccino inspiration. The sweetness of rooibos actually works alongside a gentle creamy, almost caramel flavor to suggest frothed milk. But every flavor is just SO dang light — it needs to be bolder!

Points for trying!

Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 15

This tea is woefully misnamed. I went in expecting something light and, um, fruity, with sweet, creamy notes of vanilla frosting. Instead I got a floral nightmare! Maybe it’s the amaranth petals at work, but some kind of alchemy is making this blend taste like rose with just a hint of cinnamon, which is not a particularly nice combination. A real disappointment.

Also, the website suggests that this one is meant to evoke “sweet pear and plum.” OK, so it’s like a plum pudding blend? Fine… but name it as such! And also fix it, because it tastes of neither pear nor plum.