AND I’M BACK!!!!
We had an awfully hot summer here in NZ, so now that it’s very much winter, true to my Canadian heritage, I’m ready to GET LOGGING! Haha, that was terrible…. I think we’re off to a good start.
First tea is Bossa Nova by Zen. Holy moley guys, the dry leaf smells amazing! Like ferreo roche, but without the chocolate.
Smells so good when brewing with the addition of what seems like roasted? oolong. (Obviously, to the oolong portion)
Alrighty, plain I can really taste the nut and the vanilla is faint, but still present.
w/ sugar –Alright, didn’t love it with sugar.
w/ milk – prefer than with sugar. Helps to bring out the vanilla and creamy hazelnut note
w/ milk and sugar – better than just plain sugar, but definitely preferring this one without the sugar.
Plain or with milk was my pick for this one. I steeped it to 3 minutes at one point to try and that was definitely too long, so 2:30 is the magic number for me. This is definitely something I would keep (in a small quantity) in the cupboard.
Sadly I have run out of my sample (Many thanks to the generous Zen Tea – Kenneth is such a sweetheart), but when I make my next order I’m looking forward to mixing it with a chocolate black tea and seeing what comes of that… because it sounds really really good in my head.
Edit: I read notes from 2 years back and a common thread was that this tea tasted artificial. I didn’t find it artificial at all. I wonder if they’ve tweaked it in the elapsed time, because I have eaten fresh hazelnuts today and this seems pretty on point.
Flavors: Hazelnut, Vanilla
Preparation
Comments
Starting with a pun is always appropriate :) Geographical curiosity: what’s considered “very much winter” in your part of the world?
Thanks Sil! :)
and gmanthis- always happy to indulge curiosities! It depends where you are in the country. I’m from Queenstown (South island, inland & mountainous), but living in Wellington (North island, coastal) at the moment. So if I were in Qt, it would mean lots of snow, ice, and easily below 0’C temps. Wellington probably averages around 7’C? If it snows, it doesn’t stay very long. Lots of hail though. The main hurdle is the wind. It’s an extremely windy city. Today we had 140km/h. When southerlies come directly up from Antarctica (which happens often sadly), that’s when you put three duvets on the bed.
Welcome back!
Thanks hun! It was nice to see that you’re still around :)
woohoo! welcome back! :)
Starting with a pun is always appropriate :) Geographical curiosity: what’s considered “very much winter” in your part of the world?
Thanks Sil! :)
and gmanthis- always happy to indulge curiosities! It depends where you are in the country. I’m from Queenstown (South island, inland & mountainous), but living in Wellington (North island, coastal) at the moment. So if I were in Qt, it would mean lots of snow, ice, and easily below 0’C temps. Wellington probably averages around 7’C? If it snows, it doesn’t stay very long. Lots of hail though. The main hurdle is the wind. It’s an extremely windy city. Today we had 140km/h. When southerlies come directly up from Antarctica (which happens often sadly), that’s when you put three duvets on the bed.
Nice to know it’s good tea weather somewhere ;)
Can’t complain—we’ve had a very mild summer so far and September isn’t that far off!