diff --git a/cove-config/src/lib.rs b/cove-config/src/lib.rs
index 4b5e2fe..22fc332 100644
--- a/cove-config/src/lib.rs
+++ b/cove-config/src/lib.rs
@@ -96,9 +96,8 @@ pub struct Config {
     /// valid TZ strings:
     /// https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
     ///
-    /// If the option is not specified, cove uses the contents of the `TZ`
-    /// environment variable instead. If the `TZ` environment variable does not
-    /// exist, cove uses the system's local time zone.
+    /// If the `TZ` environment variable exists, it overrides this option. If
+    /// neither exist, cove uses the system's local time zone.
     ///
     /// **Warning:** On Windows, cove can't get the local time zone and uses UTC
     /// instead. However, you can still specify a path to a tz data file or a
diff --git a/cove/src/util.rs b/cove/src/util.rs
index 1bc9d6b..6bcbf3e 100644
--- a/cove/src/util.rs
+++ b/cove/src/util.rs
@@ -18,20 +18,21 @@ impl<T> InfallibleExt for Result<T, Infallible> {
     }
 }
 
-/// Load a [`TimeZone`] specified by a string, or by the `TZ` environment
-/// variable if no string is provided.
+/// Load a [`TimeZone`] specified by the `TZ` environment varible, or by the
+/// provided string if the environment variable does not exist.
 ///
 /// If a string is provided, it is interpreted in the same format that the `TZ`
 /// environment variable uses.
 ///
-/// If no string and no `TZ` environment variable could be found, the system
-/// local time is used.
+/// If no `TZ` environment variable could be found and no string is provided,
+/// the system local time (or UTC on Windows) is used.
 pub fn load_time_zone(tz_string: Option<&str>) -> Result<TimeZone, TzError> {
-    let env_tz = env::var("TZ").ok();
-    let tz_string = tz_string.or(env_tz.as_ref().map(|s| s as &str));
+    let env_string = env::var("TZ").ok();
+    let tz_string = env_string.as_ref().map(|s| s as &str).or(tz_string);
 
     match &tz_string {
-        // At the moment, TimeZone::from_posix_tz does not support "localtime" on windows, but other time zon
+        // At the moment, TimeZone::from_posix_tz does not support "localtime"
+        // on Windows, so we handle that case manually.
         Some("localtime") | None => TimeZone::local(),
         Some(tz_string) => TimeZone::from_posix_tz(tz_string),
     }