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Yawn Coffee Advent Calendar - Week 1

This year thanks to Izzy over at Caffeine Galore I was introduced to the Yawn Coffee Co Advent Calendar by Tea Revv, and boy was I excited. 
Knowing it came in whole bean (was put off Pact Coffee Advent Calendar because it is pre-ground) gave me so much joy, and I literally couldn't wait until December 1st to start.





So we're just going to crack on into it, here is the first week of the Advent, what I thought, what I liked and what I disliked.

Each packet contains 9g, and the recommend brew is through cafetiere, I don't really have one of these handy at home, so I opted for the aeropress (who's shocked?)

With the 9g of coffee, I used 250ml of water, bloomed for 30 seconds.
A total brew time of 2 minutes (not including push) and push for 30 seconds.








Day 1 - Indian Tiger



Flavour: Strong, sweet and rich
Roast: Full-medium roast
Origin: Karnataka, India but monsooned in Managalore

Like the flavour suggests, this coffee was indeed strong and sweet, and because of it being monsooned it had some really delicious earthy undertones (I don't know if I've mentioned that in 2017 I fell in LOVE with monsooned coffees) - my boyfriend would also like to input that it tasted like "it was brewed in the woods, by bears!!!)
I really enjoyed day number 1 thoroughly, and really wanted more!! 





Day 2 - Kenya Blue 
This was actually a coffee reveal packet, where you had to head over to either Yawn's Instagram or their website to find out what it was (oooh mystery!!!)


Flavour: Full bodied, rich with a striking winey aftertaste
Roast: Medium Roast
Origin: Mount Kenya, near Nairobi and Mount Elgon

This one was super mellow and had next to no bitterness. It's a really delicious brew and I really loved the mystery behind it all! 


Day 3 - Daterra Bourbon


(day 3 and I've already forgotten a photo - why am I like this)

Flavour: Chocolate, Fruits, Spice and Caramel
Roast: Dark (Italian Roast)
Origin: Daterra Coffee Estate, Cerrado, Brazil 

This one was super dark and chocolatey and although I don't typically like dark roasts, this was actually really enjoyable with spicy after tones and slight acidity



Day 4 - The Colombian


(day 4 and still no improvement, I promise this gets better)


Flavour: Rich, Sharp and Strong
Roast: A very dark roast
Origin: 100,000s of smallholders throughout Colombia 


Now, as soon as I opened this packet, I knew right off the back I was not going to like this coffee. Which obviously 24 coffees, you're not going to like all of them, but the idea of really dark roasted coffee (and we are talking DARK here) really puts me off, and we all know that the darker the roast the more oily the coffee beans become, another factor for off put from me. 
I'm sure so many people enjoyed this coffee, but it was definitely not for me - and we'll leave it at that


Day 5 - Ethiopian Yirgacheffe 


Flavour: Lemony, Zesty and Floral
Roast: Light to medium
Origin: Yirgacheffe in south west Ethiopia

Now this one actually made up for the fact I didn't like day number 4, I LOVE me some Ethiopian Yirg and this one definitely did not disappoint. 
It was super citrus-y and floral, and the more it cooled down the more citrus-y it became, with some underlaying bitterness (always welcome with citrus flavours) it was definitely my favourite from the calendar so far



Day 6 - Winter Delight



Flavour: Silky Smooth
Roast: A mix of medium and dark 
Origin: Top Secret Blend


Oooh another mystery, and I'd love to see if they actually reveal what the top secret blend is, because it was actually really tasty
It was super smooth with some really sweet earthy undertones, and an all around damn nice cup.



Day 7 - Brazilian Santos



Flavour: Cinnamon, Dark Chocolate Undertones
Roast: Medium dark (French)
Origin: Guaxupe in Minas Gerais, Brazil

This one is perfect for the morning, its pretty dark, with a slight woody undertone, and a very big hit of very dark chocolate comes with it, its super smooth with not a lot of acidity, a really nice cup to drink.





I hope you enjoyed week 1 of the Yawn Coffee Co Advent Calendar
lookout for week 2 next week! 







If you want to help me keep doing what I do, you can donate me a "coffee" here




The Coffee Life







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Self Care During December

Self care, isn't selfish



Something a lot of people (me included) struggle with during the festive season is self care. 
The thought of even putting yourself first during the festive season just doesn't happen, and it should.

All December we're rushed around, thinking about what to buy for other people, working our hardest so we can put food on the table and give gifts to family and friends. But why can we not find the time to take care of ourselves?

It's no lie that mental health issues spike around Christmas time, with rising figures every year, so why don't we ever learn to take a step back from the stress, from trying to find the perfect gift, just to take some time for ourselves.


Give yourself a day, a specifically taken self care day. 
If you cant take a day, an evening, even an hour.

Spend that time on YOU, do what YOU love.

Read a book, take a bubble bath, clean, go for a walk do whatever, don't do it for anyone else but yourself.

This isn't a typical "you need to do this in order to take care of your mental health this Christmas" because every individual person is different, everybody has something different that sparks joy. 
So take this post as a reminder: breathe, step away from the stress, and do something YOU love.




If you want to help me keep doing what I do, you can donate me a "coffee" here
The Coffee Life



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December Bucket List

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!!! 
I have quite a few blog posts planned for December, that I don't really think you readers are ready for, so get excited! 

I did one of these last year, you can read that here if you want, although I was definitely not at my blogging peak back then (am I now? still no) 
But it's nice to have to look back on and see where my writing has (hopefully) improved, and I always love reading these types of blog posts myself.


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First up on the list, you might recognise it from last year, is get a family photo

Apparently we just don't ever take really nice family photos, it's not a thing in our house. So maybe 2018 is the year?


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Go to Byron Road lights, twice
Once for the switch on and once for the traditional Christmas eve viewing 

If you're not local to Dorset, Byron Road is basically a whole road which puts on AMAZING Christmas lights every year, and every year raising more and more money for certain charities.

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Visit Winchester market, with my sister
Shockingly my sister has never been to Winchester, even after me working there for nearly 2 years, she has never been, so this year she IS going to Winchester

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We've been making it a tradition that we take my niece ice-skating every year,  and we use a family day out as an excuse for this one. 
Will this finally be the year me and Kat really hurt ourselves trying to do moves from Dancing On Ice, stay tuned to find out.

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Now you're going to have to bear with me on this one, because it might sound a little sad.
I don't have that many friends, so with that in mind, I dont have many people to give Christmas cards too. So I thought it'd be a really cute idea for the few that I do give out, I make them myself.

I'm a bit of a Pinterest bitch at the moment and seeing everyone make their own little cute designs makes me want to do my own, and it'll be super cute and personalised for the people it's for. 


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Make coffee hampers with DIY's 

something I love to do is taking old coffee grounds, typically from my shop, and using them in some coffee DIY's, coffee scrubs, coffee oil etc
So as some gifts this year I think a coffee hamper would be super cute, and it'll make a really cool (hopefully) blogmas post. 





Whats on your December Bucketlist this year?






If you want to help me keep doing what I do, you can donate me a "coffee" here



The Coffee Life
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Ice Skating + Seeing Santa - Christmas Bucket List

On my December Bucket List post, one of the things I wanted to do was go ice-skating, so on the 5th that's exactly what we did! 

Bournemouth have introduced an amazing thing called "toddler time" at the Skate ice rink in Bournemouth Gardens, and taking a 3 year old with us, we decided it was probably a lot safer to do the said toddler time. 



Every year, my sister and I have a little competition to see who has improved on our spins, (the only possible thing we can do without breaking bones) and I'd definitely say I'd won, even though I fell over a lot more, and did a basic head butt on the ice, but you know that's surely part of the fun? 

Myah even had her own little go at doing a twirl (which if that doesn't melt an aunties heart, I don't know what will) and considering she hated the ice last year, we couldn't get her off it this year, she even managed to do a lap on her own with us behind her (very impressed, future dancing on ice star maybe?)





After our ice skating hour was up and lunch was had, we headed off to a nearby garden centre on the way home, as we heard Santa was there, and of course, Christmas Traditions



Plowmans Garden Centre had the most amazing accommodating set up I'd ever seen, and we even had an elf to come and greet us to take us to Santa, there were animals such as piglets, turkeys and real reindeer's (including a baby one, who was only born 6 months ago) 
Being a vegetarian, I didn't find it quite as humorous as the others that the piglets were called "rasher" "apple sauce" etc, and that the turkeys if they're really good get to go to a really hot place called "ov-en" but I could definitely see the comedy behind it (albeit a bit sad) but none the less, we continued into Santa's Grotto





What was really great is that Myah (fussiest child ever) got to pick her own present from what seemed like a mountain of gifts, and very generous ones, (I also mentally picked out a remote controlled t-rex for myself) she also received a massive bag of sweets and a colouring book, which for £13.95 is more than you get at other places (and for a lot cheaper, since when did seeing Santa become so expensive?!) 


We also managed to get some family photo's around the area, which was actually really cute.


Although this bear terrified me more than I can say.



So not just the ice-skating was ticked off my December Bucket List, seeing Santa with Myah was as well, (2 birds with one stone right?!) 

We're also returning to the same Garden Centre in a weeks time to go to the Christmas circus there and have tea with Santa, which could be very interesting. 
I'm sure there will be another blog post about that.







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December Bucket List - 2017

December is one of those months that you have to strategically plan, everyday, whether it be work, activities, adventures, or just plain lazy days, December is just always one of those months. You have to plan when the best time would be to "nip" and "pop" into town without getting mobbed by a shit ton of people. 

Now I love a good list, especially a bucket list, and I have an entire notebook dedicated to things I want to do generally in life, little goals and what not, but every November 31st, I like to sit down and write everything I want to do and achieve in December, so what better than to share the list, maybe add a few things here and there, and see how many ticks I can give myself by the end of December. 


So here is my list that I want to achieve by the end of December



- Go Ice Skating 

December 1st 2016, I managed to tick this off last year. Although I did go ice skating in November, it's always nice to go during December, even if it makes me want to shoot myself in the foot at how busy it is 


- Make Homemade Gingerbread

Now I love baking, I also love making up my own recipes, but one thing I have never done from scratch is make gingerbread, I don't particularly enjoy eating a lot of gingerbread, but making it, I feel like would make me enjoy it a whole lot more

- Visit Christmas Lights

I have a tradition that every Christmas Eve I go and visit some Christmas lights, it used to be a family tradition but as we've grown up we all get our separate traditions, but this is one that has stuck with me, every year like clock work I will go down to our local road with all the lights (I feel like every town has that one road that always goes a bit OTT on the lights) but every year it gets a whole load more special

- Watch Christmas Films

I'm not talking about Elf, or the Grinch or the classic The Holiday, I'm talking about one that I've never seen before, one that is particularly on my list is "it's a wonderful life" 


- Make Christmas Themed Pancakes 

A classic Pinterest idea, but on Christmas morning, I'm making pancakes in the shape of Santa and Reindeer and no one is ready for that. If there is a blog post on that you know that it's gone well, and if there's not, well....

- Have A Complete Pyjama Day

Christmas pyjamas, Christmas films, hot drinks and junk food? Yes please.

- Visit Winchester Christmas Market

Where I work in Winchester and live elsewhere, one thing I didn't get to do last year was visit the Christmas Market, I'd always walk past it hastily saying there were too many people, but this year, is the year that I conquer it.

- Make Something Festive

Now this is actually in the making, and it's gunna be pretty freaking cool. 

- Do Lots of Christmas Baking

I have tons and tons of recipes I want to bake this December, and I am very excited to bake (and probably put on some holiday weight)

- Get A Family Photo

In my recollection, there has only ever been 1, (yes 1) family photo where were all smiling, where we're not hitting each other, where we actually look like we love each other, so this year, I'm making it my mission to get a nice family photo.


I'm sure there are at least 5 things I have missed off this list that I want to do, but that was just an insight of my little hopes for December.

How are you spending your December?




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Welcome December

Now you may be noticing, that although I set up a new blog to write about my obsessions with food and coffee, there seems to be a lot of lifestyle posts, yes that is correct. 
It seems to be that way.
But throughout December, I have a lot of recipe posts and some coffee post planned for the month, so get excited. 


On that note: 

ITS DECEMBER 1ST, and I for one, am very excited. This month is going to be filled with lots of exciting things, lots of coffee, lots of food, lots of activities and adventures. 

 I also have a lot of scheduled posts, so December will be the month that I start blogging "properly" whatever that means. 

The tree is up, and it is now the official countdown until Christmas - and lets ignore how messy my tree looks as I tried to cram every decoration I have onto it.


So lets make December amazing, because lets be honest the rest of 2017, has been a bloody roller coaster.



25 days to go.



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