Girls night out in Scotland!
One of Della Terra’s that came in a pretty red Christmas box!
I enjoy a good Maté, I like the malty characteristics of the roasted ones. After I opened it, I deeply inhaled as I always do, and went WOH-HO!!! This is bold! Strong smell of fermentation, malt and barley, very «boozy»!
I was drawn to it cause I like the unusual, but to be honest, I was scared of how it would taste like! I brewed according to instructions, about 4 min. Expecting a slap on the face, I only got a very mild caress… I put the tea basket back in my cup, and I let it rest for another 2min. Still not enough. It ended up being steeped for a good 8 minutes. So next time, I take note to put a little more than1 1/2 tsp. in my 8oz cup.
The taste was really good, like malty liquid black treacle, with notes of clove and a very smooth finish. I don’t get much of them but the chocolate and coconut are probable what gives that sweet finish. As for the Rooibos, I wouldn’t have known it was there at all and I don’t mind since I don’t care much for it, aside from a few exceptions.
As it cooled, I picked up whisky notes. I think this blend would be very interesting to experiment with during holiday season, I’m thinking cocktails for sure!
It didn’t hold up for a second steep, I got pretty much all the flavor out of steep one. Maybe multiple infusions will be possible next time when I measure more tea to the cup.
But all in all, this is something I will have again for sure!
Now please skip this part if you have no interest for the story
Friday was girls night out… we went to this nice pub we heard of. We were told it was a nice lounge bar, good chill ambiance and good company.
So we got there with that in mind. We went inside, and…we stopped: what we saw was somewhat distracting. You know when the DJ makes that scratchy noise with the vinyl records? That’s the sound my brain created in my head while trying to process what I was looking at…
There were LOTS of men in that pub, and they all seemed to have the same dress code: KILTS! Yes, ladies, brace yourselves, men in kilts! Turns out, Friday was a special night, some kind of Scottish men gathering. I must say that a kilt on a good looking dude has its charms :-)
We were offered beer immediately, some dark Scottish Ale of course. Now, beer and I are not best friends, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one, it was spicy, malty and woodsy, but very smooth and sweet tasting… which reminded me a lot of this maté!
Well it seems that Scotsmen live by one rule: «Cha deoch-slàint, i gun a tràghadh!» meaning «It’s no health if the glass is not emptied» (one guy actually tried to make me pronounce it Gaelic style, and I told him please just put it in writing, so I really didn’t know if it was accurate, but I checked and it seems to be!!!)
If they mean it for beer, well I mean it for tea!
Our night out wasn’t what we had expected, but we had lots of fun, we even danced on traditional Scottish music!
When I got home, I wanted to spend some time with The Twilight Sad, a fairly unknown but amazing Band from Scotland. (I’ve been on a tunes and tea mood lately) Yes, at 3 in morning, I put on their record full blast (living in the woods has its perks). Mr Right got up: What the …???? Oops sorry! Forgot it wasn’t boys night out! Yes, I am quite fun to live with apparently.
James, the signer has a haunting voice, here’s a good example of that. Hope they get the recognition they deserve one day, in the mean time, they make great tea companions!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&v=oRhkFDhLLMw
(P.S. I know the album cover is dark and disturbing but so is their work, call it artistic approach!)
