COFFEE vs TEA
AFANCY wine isn’t just for pairing with a slowcooked duck ragù, say, or the subtle flavours of kingfish sashimi. Sometimes, it’s the simple things in life that bring the most pleasure.
Director of wine for Perth’s State Buildings, Emma Farrelly, explains that “food and wine pairing is all about balancing salt, fat, acid and sugar”. That makes way for your favourite guilty snacks to be prime pairings for a good drop.
“Junk food isn’t subtle. It’s all in your face with plenty of flavour, so they’re actually quite easy things to pair wine with,” says Farrelly.
While theory would have you drink your best bottles with your finest fare, Farrelly argues that any time is a good time to open a cracking wine. Don’t let your collection gather dust waiting for the perfect dinner to pair it with. Get creative and savour a glass or two with a generous serving of your favourite comfort snacks.
CHEEZELS
According to Farrelly, a nostalgic rendezvous with the finger-topping treat of your childhood is best accompanied by orange wine.
An increasingly popular alternative to white or rosé, orange wine differs in that it begins fermentation with the grape skins and stems still intact, just like red wine. With a slightly savoury flavour profile, skin-contact wines are a surprisingly welcome pairing for any salty, artificial cheese-flavoured snack.
“Skin-contact wines have that chalky, phenolic grip,” she says.
“They’re a little bit rustic, but they’re still quite juicy. The juicy, chalky characters just complement that artificial cheese flavour so well.”
Not all orange wines are made with equal exposure to skins, and Farrelly suggests pairing cheeseflavoured snacks — be it Cheezels, corn chips, or Twisties — with more approachable, lighter-contact wines like Amato Vino’s Skinnydip or Dormilona’s Skinnie.
POTATO GEMS
When it comes to potato-based comfort foods from the freezer aisle, the texturally pleasing, crunchy-yetsoft potato gems reign supreme.
Taking inspiration from the tried, tested and much-loved combination of Champagne and French fries, Farrelly recommends sipping on a glass of Franciacorta while tucking into a bowl of the more-ish potato nuggets.
Hailing from the Italian province of Brescia, Franciacorta is a bubbly made in the style of Champagne. The second ferment happens in the bottle, making the drop drier, yeastier and less fruity than its more commonly known carbonated counterpart prosecco.
Crisp, fresh bubblies help to cleanse the mouth of the fat and salt in any delicious deep-fried potato
snack.
“Anything that’s carbonated and that’s got really high acid acts as a really beautiful shower for the palate,” says Farrelly.
Though Franciacorta’s dry, yeasty flavour profile is preferred with potato gems or hash browns, substitutes of prosecco, Champagne or Australian sparkling will work equally well.
CHICKEN NUGGETS
Finding a wine to pair with a comforting bowl of tender chicken nuggets is simple. Just about anything goes. Where things start to become more complex is when condiments become involved.
“The sauce that you use with a chicken nugget will change everything,” says Farrelly. “I eat mine with sriracha mayo. It’s chilli but also creamy, and has that nice vinegary tang of the sriracha.”
Full-flavoured condiments, like hot sauce or sweet-and-sour sauce, command the palate and require a resilient wine to stand up to them. When nuggets are dunked in a milder sauce, Farrelly instead recommends a rosé, or a chilled red such as “the sangiovese by South by South West from Margaret River:”.
“It’s a sangiovese made specifically to be chilled. So many winemakers are going down that alley these days with these light, nouveau, fresh, crunchy, no-oak red wines that are perfect for our climate and pair well with a lot of different things.”
BHUJA
Of all the snack food and wine pairings, this is the one Farrelly is most excited about, giving the combination a solid 10 out of 10.
Originating from India, bhuja
(also known as chivda) is a crunchy concoction of spiced noodles, peanuts, dried peas, dried fruit and nuts. Seasoned with cumin, fennel and a touch of chilli, there’s a fair range of flavour to have fun pairing with. Though it’s not as common a pantry snack as potato crisps, it’s worth a shot for any spice or riesling lover.
“I paired bhuja with a trocken-style German riesling, an off-dry style with just a little bit of sweetness. Because bhuja is a little bit spicy, with the German riesling’s little bit of sweetness, it just gives that really nice contrast.”
CHOCOLATE
That bottle of tawny you’ve had sitting in the wine rack is about to have its day — Farrelly is a firm believer in pairing your chocolate treats with fortified or dessert wines. “Crack out that bottle of port you’ve held onto and pair it with your homemade saltedcaramel brownies, or have a glass with a good block of chocolate.”
Fans of nutty, slightly more savoury chocolate should reach for some Australian apera fortified wine, formerly known as sherry. “It happens to work really well with peanut M&MS. Because of the peanut character, they’re not as sweet as traditional M&MS. They have a slight savoury edge and a little bit more complexity, which works so well with apera.”
WHAT’S better for your health? The answer, in all its subjective glory, depends on who you ask.
Both hot beverages have their own sets of health benefits. Sit down to enjoy a freshly brewed cup of tea and you might feel more calm or hydrated. A coffee before a big meeting, likewise, could leave you feeling more centred and clear of mind.
While there have been numerous studies into the positive and negative effects of both beverages, most of the work is observational, and scientific research still remains unsure as to whether one hot drink is “better for you” than the other.
If judging purely on caffeine, coffee contains almost double the amount as black tea — and too much caffeine can be detrimental to your health.
So tea wins there. Counting calories? Then coffee and various types of tea, provided you don’t add milk or sugar, could help kickstart your metabolism or suppress your appetite. And if you look at the antioxidant content alone, then tea is likely the frontrunner for its many antiinflammatory polyphenols, said to help fight disease.
For most people, the caffeine kick or wake-up effect is likely to be the main reason you’d choose either beverage. The New York Times recently reported that “a moderate amount of caffeine can wake you up, boost your mood, energy, alertness, concentration and even athletic performance.” Too much of it, however, can put pressure on the heart.
As for what’s more popular? “In the age-old battle between tea and coffee in Australia, coffee is maintaining, and even growing, its lead,” says Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan Research.
A recent report states “the majority of Australians (56.1 per cent) drink at least one cup of coffee in an average week … and just under half of us (47.6 per cent) drink tea”.
Culturally, we can’t minimise how steeped both beverages are in daily life. The ritual of boiling the kettle for a morning cuppa or meeting a friend for a quick coffee can be a mood-lifting exercise and therefore beneficial for our health. Just remember that too much of any good thing is rarely a good idea, and whatever fills your cup should be enjoyed in moderation.
Watch him make one this afternoon at 5pm on the delicious. Instagram page (@deliciousaus)
THE BIG ONE
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Periodic
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Flight boarding exit Attainable Squalidness Slowcoach Cheapened Patrons
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