Tea & Food Pairing

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!

Iranian lunch and an Iranian green tea. The tea is a little astringent and that really helps to balance this dish!

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!

A great Nepalli meal needs a great tea. A Nepal Jun Chiyabari Himalaya Imperial Black of @junchiyabari did a great job! 19 grams of tea on one litre 80 centigrade soft water and a steeping time of 2 minutes

Vondel speculaas (spiced biscuit) I picked up at Simon Lèvelt and their Assam Goudblad zomerpluk (very tippy Assam second flush) is one of the first tea and food pairings I discovered. The spices and sweetness of the biscuit are balanced so beautiful by the Assam tea. It’s almost as if it becomes a masala chai! 7 grams of tea on 500 ml 95 degrees Celsius water and a infusion time of three minutes. It really needs hot water and a relatively long steep in order to do it’s job 😁.

A great local goat cheese of @dekastanjeboom, whole wheat bun paired with a China Shui Xian Oolong. Cheese aroma’s become more powerful, even more mineral aroma’s in the tea.