Whilst I do love a good old choccy advent calendar, I often find that I don’t really fancy chocolate early in the morning. So, this year I wanted to try something a little different. And what is the one thing I want every morning no matter how early I wake up? COFFEE!

I got to try out The Brew Company’s coffee lover advent calendar. The calendar gives you 25 different coffees, one for every day leading up to and indeed, even one for Christmas day too. Yum!

This is most definitely one of the coolest novelty advent calendars I have ever tried. 25 of the world’s best specialty coffees, carefully sourced from coffee farms around the world, and all hand roasted by the team at The Brew Company too.

Not only are the flavours amazing, but the whole concept it just really innovative and different too. Each sachet is actually the brew mechanism, i.e. you don’t need a cafetière or coffee machine, you just brew the coffee in the bag. The concept of brew in the bag isn’t really one I have seen before and especially not something I have seen for coffee of this quality. Usually, they are pretty budget let’s be honest and taste a little wishy washy. Not these ones though.

The process is really quite simple, twist the cap off (this is the pouring spout), open the bag, add your hot water, let it brew in the bag and then pour it into your cup. It’s as simple as that. The longer you brew the stronger it tastes and of course the more water you add the weaker the coffee will be. All of this results in the user being able to make the perfect coffee in the matter of minutes (well four or five anyway).

Now, I’m obviously not commuting or working anywhere aside from at home right now due to the pandemic, but boy would I want these if I was. It would be the simplest way to drink a delicious coffee at work if they only had instant – my nemesis.. I mean, is it really even coffee?!

The other thing I like about these coffees is The Brew Company’s efforts towards sustainability and being part of the climate crisis solution. Not only can you wash out and reuse the brew bags as many times as you like, but they are CO2 neutral, fair trade, use renewable energy and plastic neutral too. To be quite honest, it does feels very throw away culture to brew in the bag, but this brand solves that and makes you feel happier about a hassle-free solution.

In terms of the flavours, well there is something here for everyone, from strong coffees to those that have a hint of something really quite different. For instance, a few times I have been surprised to see the really interesting coffee ingredients such as, courgette, kiwi, baked walnut and even dry white wine.

Now I personally prefer stronger coffees and so my favourites (at least so far) include Brazil (chocolate, hazelnut and mulberry) and also Papua New Guinea (Pink pepper, cherry and red currant). However, I was also really surprised on December 8^th to taste their decaf Ethiopia – this is the kiwi one and really delicious.

Today is 13^th December so I have plenty more flavours to try and I also want to give their whole beans a go in the machine, but I have to say I am sold on this novelty advent calendar and indeed the brand.

I definitely think coffee will be the way to go next year too – I mean, “coffee really is life” after all.