Tea-ing up a new way to dine
I’m going to ask you to take a leap of faith with me.
I’m about to challenge you with a new way to look at food and beverage pairing. Consider going to a restaurant, ordering a five course tasting menu, and pairing each course not with wine, not with beer, not even with cocktails, but with tea. It may seem like a stretch, but I assure you, it’s fabulous.
One of the classes I teach at Niagara College focuses on food matching synergies, mostly focusing on using wine and beer. Both have been married with food for centuries, with more intentional and justified pairings in the past century. What we are not as familiar with here in the West is pairing tea and food. I don’t simply mean lavender scones and Earl Grey, I’m talking about dishes like smoked salmon, mushroom risotto and that oh-so heavenly cheese platter.
Like all proper pairings, it must be done methodically. Even wine and cheese aren’t always natural partners; it’s the right wine with the right cheese that succeeds. Likewise, there are certain teas that will pair well with dishes and others that will fail. Darjeeling with brie? Perfection. Keemun with cheddar? Glorious. Lapsang Souchon is the one to try with blue. Gwen’s Teas in St. Catharines is the definitive tea shop in Niagara, and has all the teas you’ll need.
Why tea is such a contender is largely due to its properties on the palate. It has an astringent, tannin-like effect that mimics the remnants of a dry red wine.
Black teas specifically are robust, full bodied and mouth drying. This makes an ideal pairing opportunity with protein-rich dishes. As I’ve written before, tannin strips your mouth of the protein on your palate (your saliva), so your mouth feels dry after sipping. However if you eat a protein like grilled steak or aged cheddar, the tannin will bind to the food instead, and you won’t have that drying effect. Why do you think so many black tea drinkers add milk to their tea? Yes, the fat and protein of the milk act the same way, and make the tea taste smoother.
Certain teas also have acidity, varying body weights, natural sweetness levels and have a history with food that predates its cousins in the beverage world. We just see it more commonly as a cooking or baking ingredient, rather than a pairing option.
You may be thinking, this all sounds fine, but why would I drink tea with my dinner instead of a nice glass of wine or beer? Beyond the rationale of “viva la vida,” tea has a wider range of temperatures that can be explored. Certain foods like foie gras (pâté) or cheese are better at temperatures that allow them to release their flavour characteristics and textures. Having a sip of hot tea with foie gras is truly divine; the tea slightly melts the foie which allows its flavours to sing. Have you ever been told to hold a piece of chocolate in your mouth to allow it to melt and enhance the tasting experience? Tea provides this, with an amplified effect.
Another reason to consider tea is its correlation to health. It’s packed with polyphenols, has significantly lower levels of caffeine than coffee and contains only one ingredient (much to the delight of grocery store label readers everywhere). The other obvious benefit is that it doesn’t contain alcohol. A refreshing option, and rules out any domestic dispute on who is going to be the designated driver on a night out.
What I would love to see is more chefs and restaurants in Niagara explore tea in this way. How fantastic would it be to compare flights of tea on your next night out, or try a structured tea tasting at a tea bar with your friends.
And spoiler alert, it’s already happening around the world, largely in places that already have a conscious pairing culture. Atera restaurant in New York City pairs its tasting menu with six types of tea, for example. Jeff Ruiz, head of the tea program there, mentions that pairing a specific tea with a specific dish “can unlock a third flavour.” With options of additives like dairy, sweetening agents and even glassware, it can be quite fun to explore this dining experience.
Currently tea bars are popping up on the West Coast from Portland to Pasadena, and there’s a wider demographic that is taking part. Millennials are having a huge impact on how the tea industry is changing, as their preference for specialty tea (ie. not black or green tea bags) is shifting tea culture. Not only that, but tea can allow any diner to partake in a paired dining experience.
Finally, tea offers an element of surprise. Who would expect to try tea with dinner? Tea can be dry, sweet, bubbly, hot, iced and carry thousands of different flavours. This gives sommeliers and restauranteurs a chance to explore food pairing in a whole new light.
Now let’s take it to the next level, Niagara.
Kristina Inman is a professor of food and beverage in the school of hospitality, tourism and sport at Niagara College and is a certified CAPS sommelier and TAC tea sommelier