Yawn

ADVENT DAY 24, tea 2/3

I know, I know… I was just late with last two tea bags. Mostly because they just don’t seem to be appealing to me somehow. Sad for the very last day, indeed.

This is just fine… fruity, herbal tea. Nothing that says distinctly winter berries… afterall, what are winter berries in fact? And it was just red fruit tea with weak herbaceous backbone; it was easy to drink but also easy to forget.

ADVENT DAY 23, tea 1/3

Absolutely fine black tea. Darjeeling with no flaws or off notes, darker than I am used to. Easy drinking cup.

Sadly, I don’t remember much from yesterday morning session, but it was just a crazy day… as usual.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

ADVENT DAY 22, tea 3/3

The last and the tea I was looking forward the least. But you know… it’s not that bad. Yes, lots of boozy chocolate in aroma; but in taste… it is more than fine! It is like a basic rooibos — which it seems I quite like, with Hershey’s chocolate topping added to the mug. Not too much, the rooibos is still noticeable; but covered in choco goodness. Fine enough!

ADVENT DAY 21, tea 1/3

Surprise, surprise! This tea is actually tasty and tastes like more star anise / ginger gingerbread. As I have mentioend several times in the comments under several gingerbread blends you have tried; there are different recipes for this dessert, so it doesn’t hurt my feelings in any way.

I actually like this enough to purchase a pouch; and definitely tasty and festive for the season. Good base tea too, quite strong and robust… as spices deserve. I believe some may call it chai…

ADVENT DAY 20, tea 1/3

Slowly catching up.
Also I have noticed that the ingredients list has been worryingly shrunk. Compare this: Rooibos, Cornflower, Calendula, Safflower petals, Natural flavours (that’s current version); and Rooibos, Cranberry, Orange, Almond pieces, Cardamom, Calendula, Red cornflower petals, anise, clove pieces, Natural flavours containing Nut oil (Almond and Hazelnut). (a version when they have been named Tea Revv)

As of this tea… from Yawn. It’s actually tasty rooibos, with bitter almond notes, but tasting a bit thin. That doesn’t surprise me as it doesn’t contain any ingredients but flavouring that could be close to amaretto ingredients. And if I am not wrong, amaretto should be also a bit bitter… as it is a liquor. This one rather leans into marzipan. Not a bad thing… but I have expected maybe something better.

And that ingredients list thing… maybe that’s why I found their chocolate cake the best so far. Because it contains real cocoa ingredients… while many contain natural aromas and not much else to contribute to flavours.

ADVENT DAY 19, tea 1/3

In short: too little orange, okay level of chocolate. But very easy to forget tea. I have expected much stronger flavours; and it didn’t hit the mark. Quite sad if you ask me…

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.)