I used to need one cup of coffee to wake up in the morning and at least another two to get through the day. The smell of fresh roasted coffee beans made me salivate. And I’ll admit, although I love the variety and health benefits of loose leaf tea now much more than coffee, I still miss that fresh roasted aroma, thick, milky latte texture and spooning off the foamy bit from the top!
But on my recent trip to New Zealand to visit the country’s only tea plantation, Zealong, I made two new tea discoveries that woke up the coffee addict inside. The first was the fresh, roasted aroma and taste of Zealong’s Dark Oolong tea. Opening up a foil sealed bag of this tea will instantly put your coffee cravings at ease – it has that same fresh, roasted aroma that somehow soothes the soul. And the taste doesn’t disappoint either. It has a rich, nutty taste that leaves a slightly buttery texture in the back of the mouth. And if that description doesn’t satisfy your craving, then check out my recent review for Teaviews.
But on my recent trip to New Zealand to visit the country’s only tea plantation, Zealong, I made two new tea discoveries that woke up the coffee addict inside. The first was the fresh, roasted aroma and taste of Zealong’s Dark Oolong tea. Opening up a foil sealed bag of this tea will instantly put your coffee cravings at ease – it has that same fresh, roasted aroma that somehow soothes the soul. And the taste doesn’t disappoint either. It has a rich, nutty taste that leaves a slightly buttery texture in the back of the mouth. And if that description doesn’t satisfy your craving, then check out my recent review for Teaviews.
The second discovery was a Maylasian style tea house called Apego in Auckland. Loose leaf tea replaces coffee beans in the expresso machines here and gets brewed up into a tea latte (pictured above - how good does it look?) – complete with that frothy, foamy milk I used to love spooning off the top! I tried the oolong latte just because I was so curious to see how this variety of tea would work with milk (oolong ranges in flavour from sweet and floral to nutty and caramel). Wow! The sweet, floral flavor of the oolong tea leaves actually combined with the warm milk to create a decadent, dessert-style tea. So despite the super-sized tea cup that it came in, I could’ve easily had another. The flavour was a ‘sweet surprise’ and I got that creamy texture I’d been missing. My inner coffee addict loves nothing better than waking up to a nice cup of tea now.
