Food Pairing... with Tea

For centuries, sommeliers and chefs have paired certain wines with certain foods. Most of us are familiar with the basic rules: Red wines to accompany rich, red meat dishes. White wines to accompany white meats, fish and vegetarian dishes. Dessert wines for… well, dessert!

But over the course of the last decades and centuries, as our cultivation of different grape varieties and farming methods has become ever more sophisticated, so have our palettes and knowledge that these traditional lines can be crossed.

For instance lighter Spanish reds go wonderfully with fish, and heavier Italian and French whites pair marvellously with richer courses and curries.

Many of us are still just beginning to learn of the concept of pairing tea with our food – proper, substantial meals that is. And yet, in the East they have drunk tea with their main dishes for millennia.

The art of tea pairing is still very much evolving in the West… but just as good food augments a good wine, and wine brings out the flavours of your dish, so too with teas.

The right tea can truly enhance the taste of the food on your plate… equally, get the pairing wrong, and the tea can be overwhelmed by the food (or the food drowned by too fulsome a tea).

Rules for Tea Pairing

The general and orthodox rules for tea pairing are fairly straightforward:

• Black teas with their robust flavours pair well with hearty, rich foods such as roast meats like beef, lamb and venison or heavy pasta dishes like lasagna.

• Green teas with their earthy, vegetative palettes combine well with vegetarian dishes, salads, mild green curries and light chicken dishes.

• White teas tend to be very gentle, and if served with too rich a food will seem totally tasteless. Yet it would be a shame to miss their oh-so-subtle aromas. So these are best paired with very light foods such as white fish like sea bass or mild cheeses and desserts.

• Oolong teas tend to vary but are in general quite smoky and complex and therefore pair perfectly with herby dishes, fruity desserts and smoked cheeses and meats.

• Fruit and scented teas are perfect for complex desserts, cakes and dark chocolate! Some even blend wonderfully with spicy meats – like Earl Grey for instance.

• While full bodied Chai teas match exotic Turkish sweet meats and Indian pastries.

Latest Trends

Food pairing with tea is evolving rapidly – so much so that there are now tea-sommeliers in the West! To become one, rather like a wine sommelier, involves intense training and a vast amount of knowledge of the different blends and flavours. The ITMA Association has developed aroma wheel for tea, modelled on a wine aroma wheel. It lists aromatics such as spicy, earthy and floral as starting points for evaluating tea.

Not only pairing tea with food, but including it as an ingredient in curries, desserts and even cocktails is becoming increasingly popular.

Leading restaurants all over France, the UK and the USA have started employing tea sommeliers in the way they do wine experts. Just as you discuss your preferred tastes with a wine expert, so too with a tea sommelier. Because it is so new, people often approach tea and food pairing with some scepticism. But if done well, the right tea with the right food can really unlock not only their own flavours to their full potential – but even release a third flavour. For instance a second flush Darjeeling combined with a rich pate such as foie gras creates a heavenly melt in the mouth dream!

Who knew tea could be so multi dimensional? Forget about turning lead into gold, tea food pairing is becoming the new alchemy!

Tea Pairing Guide

By Tea

Assam Continental breakfast, carrot cake, chocolate, eggs, mushrooms, gingerbread, Mexican food, salmon, strong cheese, red meat

Ceylon Black Continental and English breakfast, spicy food, beef, lamb, ham and chicken, lightly salted food, honey sweets, fruits

Chai custard, ice cream, baked goods, rice, oat meal, chocolate, bread

Earl Grey Baked goods, chocolate, dairy, eggs, spices

First Flush Darjeeling Fresh fruits, strawberries, apples, apricots grapes, lemon, soft cheese, custards, eggs, curries, grilled fish and salmon

Gunpowder Green Fish, lemon, mint, basil, vinegar, smoked or barbecued meat

Jasmine Pearls Spicy food, spiced white meat, shellfish, vegetables, potato, tarte tartin and carrot cake

Keemun Red meat, soft cheese, eggs, vanilla, chocolate, spicy food, continental and English breakfast

Kenyan Chocolate desserts, eggs, hamburgers

Lapsang Souchong Perfect for brunch, large fish (tuna, cod ) , game, cheese, red meat, pork and lamb, eggs or used as a spice

Nilgiri Vanilla, mushrooms, beef, chocolate, raw vegetables

Pu'erh After meal, eggs, red meat, wild mushrooms, chocolate, soy sauce, poultry

Second flush Darjeeling Fruit, soft cheese, nutmeg, wild mushrooms

Sencha Sushi, shellfish and seafood, rice, vegetables, fresh delicate cheese, egg dishes

Tie Guan Yin Perfect to be drank between courses, spicy food, lightly salted vegetable dishes, rice, white meat, pork

Yunnan Continental breakfast, grilled meat, lamb, turkey, beef, almond dessert, milk and white chocolate, fruit compotes, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper

Tea Pairing Guide

By Food

Blue cheeses Jasmine green, white tea, Chinese blacks

Dark ChocolateI ndian black, Pu'erh

Eggs Pu'erh, Lapsang Souchong

Fish Chinese greens, white tea, Lapsang Souchong

Fresh cheeses Chinese greens, jasmine pearls, flower scented teas

Fresh fruits Chinese greens, oolong, Indian blacks

Lightly salted food Chinese greens, oolongs, Indian blacks

Mature cheeses Smoked tea

Milk chocolate Oolong

Mushrooms Pu'erh, Indian blacks, Sri Lanka blacks

Red meat Smoked tea (Lapsang Souchong, Russian Caravan), Chinese blacks, Indian blacks

Shellfish Chinese greens

Smoked flavours Indian blacks, oolong

Spicy food Chinese greens, jasmine greens, oolong

Vegetables Oolong, Chinese greens

White chocolate Oolong

White meat Chinese greens, white tea, yellow tea, Indian blacks

Nuts Yellow tea

Pasta and bread Indian blacks, Sri Lanka blacks, oolong, green

Pastries Indian blacks, yellow tea