Tea & Food Pairing

Couldn’t resist picking up some beautiful chocolates at my local Simon Lèvelt store. The shop owner suggested their Yunnan Gold to drink with these beauties. She was right! Brewed it real strong in order to taste both tea and chocolates. 9 grams of tea on 500 ml of 90 degrees Celsius water and a steeping time of 3 minutes. Normally I would use 80 degrees Celsius water and a 1-2 minute steep but the tea really needs more extraction in order not to taste like hot water. The slight astringency balances the sweetness of the chocolates and brings out the chocolaty flavour much more.

Fried cod, a fresh salad and a China Mi Lan Xiang. Brings out the pine nuts in the salad, fish notes in the cod and the flowery notes in the tea. The typical “fried” aroma’s seems to disappear.

@dorsetteauk and fresh crumpets. Why Dorset tea? The way they put it: there is only one T in Dorset 😁 2 bags in a huge mug, 4 minutes and a dash of milk. Simply perfect!

Shrimps and a Ceylon Nuwara Eliya Lovers Leap Estate. Balances the fatty mouthfeel and brings out the sweetness of the shrimp. 8 grams of tea on 500 ml of 95 degrees Celsius water. Steeping time 3 minutes.

Beautiful cooked Nepali corn and a very sweet, fruity and flowery Nepali rolled black tea. Marriage made in heaven!

Crisps and a China Fujian Golden Monkey. 7 grams of tea, 500 ml 75 centigrade water and 1.5-2.0 minute steeps. Nice afternoon snack.

Iranian fruits, nuts, sweets, etc and a really great strong brewed Iranian @nobartea.ir black tea to balance all the sweetness. The tea becomes even more fruity and complex!

Turkish pide and @turkiyenincayi strong black tea. The tea can handle the fats in the pide and acidity in the salad beautifully.

Brie de Meaux, Blue d’Auvergne, Port Salut and a Gyokuro, Jin Jun Mei and Tie Guan Yin. Interesting combinations.