Tea & Food Pairing

One of my favourite dishes. Pasta Puttanesca. (Don’t translate). Pasta and seafood. Nice and spicy. Not easy to find the perfect partner. A shockbrew Gyokuro did a great job! 8 grams of tea, 250 ml of 60 centigrade water, shock over 250 grams of ice. Just perfect. Umami all over!

Lunch time. A @wensleydale_creamery cheese and lattice sandwich. Nice combination with a China Raw Pu Er Ancient Tree Dragon Ball. 1 ball, 110 ml of 95 centigrade water. At least 10 infusions. Washing, then, 80sec, 70sec, 60sec, 20sec, 30sec, 40sec, 50sec, 60sec, 70sec, 110sec. Earthy, fruity aroma’s of the tea and this beautiful cheese are a wonderful marriage!

Sometimes you accidentally come across a very special product. We visited a farmers shop called the Kastanjeboom, located just outside the small town of Bunschoten-Spakenburg. They sell a lot of beautiful local products but they also make their own clotted cream. The best I ever tasted. Read their story. Scones, Blueberry Jam and their great cream. Paired with a China Fujian Golden Monkey. 7 grams of tea on 500 ml, 75 degrees Celsius water. A true delight!

I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of bubble tea. Too sweet and there is often no tea in it at all. This is different. A black tea from the south of Yunnan province gives a natural sweetness. Cold tea and cold food can be a very good combination!

Farmer’s yogurt, apricots and a pumpkin honey to balance the acidity of the yogurt. Tea with an other fluid can be challenging (like soup and tea). We thought of pairing this cold desert with a cold tea. It was the hot China Huo Shan Huang Ya that did the job in a great way! 5 grams of tea on 110 ml of 85 centigrade water. First infusion 1.5 minute, following infusions 30 seconds longer. First infusion brought out the fruity, sweet aroma’s of the apricot, the second and third infusions the fresh, slightly acidic taste of the apricots. Beautiful to see how the tea “played” with this desert!

In my Simon Lévelt shopping basket Il cuore di Mandorla. I tried many different combinations. Most black teas pair good but I was looking for a more exciting result. Their Otsuka Fukamushi Sencha gave me the result I was looking for. The umami of the tea did great things to the orange and almond flavours of the Mandorla. 5 grams in my hohin, 5 infusions of 1 second combined, water temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. A real tread!