Autumn, 2020; var. Camelia sinensis; Menglian, Yunnan; bud and one leaf, EU Organic, Dianhong black tea process; 1400-1800m; #TodaysTea, #今天的茶, #JīnTiāndeChá.
Infusion: 3g in 150ml for 20-30sec.@90-95deg. C
Dry Leaf Aroma: carob, malt, and honey
Wet Leaf Aroma: strong, aromatic, sharp, orchid?
Liquor: reddish amber colour with a faint fruity & malty aroma;
Mouthfeel: tingling, a slight bitter bite, moderately viscous, moderately sweet finish, and late onset of mild, lingering astringency;
Taste: malty, with retronasal honey and floral hints;
Opinion: This is a mature style of tea, insofar as its flavour, whilst notably malty, is complex and nuanced mostly in its aftertaste and finish. This tea demands your attention, and refuses to be ignored, in a good way. Worth drinking.
Our search is to define a 21st-century high tea. It’s no longer about cucumber sandwiches, and tea with cold or hot milk, but it is something different. We are not trying to replicate a traditional English afternoon tea but we are challenging them to find the 21st-century high tea .
Dilhan C. Fernando
Dilhan C. Fernando, of Dilmah Tea in Sri Lanka, is a prominent global ambassador of Tea and it broader use, beyond that of a simple daily consumption beverage. Through the Dilmah School of Tea, Tea, Scented Teas, and Tisanes are prominently promoted for use in Bar Mixology, and high end Hospitality.
As a final challenge in the Dilmah’s Tea Master program one has to pair tea with a food or drink. The general idea is to come up with something original aand expressive. for the life of me, I wanted to make a Gem Scone & Clotted Cream Tea using a smokey Mongolian Milk Tea with popped millet garnish. Then I heard the above quote.
Back to the drawing board…
Lying awake at night, cogitating on this thought, I settled finally on thoughts of a Flummery. What is that? You may well ask. It is an awesome dish from my childhoold. It can be made in two ways. Most commonly with jelly and cream; less common just with jelly. Jelly, or Jell-o is a gelatine based desert, and a flummery is basically made by whipping semmi set jelly into a culinary foam.
This concept, believe it or not is as old as the history of tea in Britain. Literally equally as old. Everything old is new again, the circle turns, and new expressions are brought forth. Today, culinary foams are considered the province of Modernist Cooking, and multi-star/hat/etc., Haute Cuisine.
Unfortunately, the initial idea fell short of the vision. Suffice to say There was too little colour contrast between the base and the flummery. After a long chat with my Mum, bless her, I rejigged the presentation. This is what I came up with.
It is important to note, that ideas need time to grow and develop. This dish was purposefully created but from conception to final expression on the plate, there is little in common other than the ingredients itself. Further, the choice of flummery base was equally important. Full details at Villa Tempest, My food blog.
I chose a non-dairy Flummery BECAUSE I wanted the tea to fully express itself without being masked by the inclusion of dairy. This results in a light, fluffy, ephemeral, and delicate dish, that is really delightful and refreshing to eat.
Finally, this is not the only way this concept can be used. The Flummery has a long history, and its non-dairy form is an excellent “modernist” base for all sorts of dishes. In keeping with its use in Tea and Food Pairing…
Imaging if you will:
a Flummery of Tomato Consommé served on a base, or garnished with, slices of tea smoked duck confit; or,
a vol-au-vent filled with black tea and lemon infused flummery mousse topped with strawberry liquid spheres or caviar; or,
a smoked tea infused potato and leak (and bacon) soup with hot, piped konjac or agar agar flummery islands, infused with black cardamom chai.
Let your imagination run wild. Flummeries are easy to make, and with many modern gelling agents, both vegan and non-vegan options abound. From a simply British perspective, Tea and Flummery have both traveled different paths for the same amount of time. It should be a paired and shared history. So, to quote a famous tea drinking, sci-fi Space Captain…
Recently, I completed the final practical exam for the Dilmah Certified Tea Master Certificate program via Dilmah’s School of Tea. It was a self-paced, diverse and interesting program which provides great value for money. The final practical exam involved presenting a tea inspired food or drink.
To watch my presentation please visit my VillaTempest Youtube Channel. If you’d like more details about the recipe and my thoughts behind it, you can read it on my VillaTempest Blog. All in all, I am happy to have done the program and to have successfully completed it. Recommended.
Betty Koster is a Cheese Connoisseur who has some opinions about how to taste and pair Tea with Food. Here are some of her thoughts on this topic…
It is acknowledged that we have the ability to discern and identify the four tastes of sweet, sour, salt and bitter. We can also taste umami, called the fifth taste. This is the pleasant savoury taste (of glutamate) that is detected because we have receptors for glutamate. In 2015, the sixth taste was announced – oleogustus – described as the taste of fatty acids.
For purposes of tea and food pairings, we note that tea is a versatile beverage, and you can pair it with a wide variety of food. The pairing of tea with particular types of food often adds pleasant dimensions to a dining experience.
WHITE TEA – pure, light, clean GREEN TEA – vegetal, grassy, hinting of seaweed, smoky, light or heavy, fruity green OOLONG TEA – light, floral and sweet, dark rich and forward BLACK TEA – fruity, earthy, malty, smoky, sweet, light, medium, rich etc.
(Here is a) A structured method to pair tea with food:
COMPONENTS – You might pair a sweet dish with a sweetened tea or seek to contrast the sweetness with a tea that has bitter elements. FLAVOUR – Imagine a fruity tea – that works to contrast and highlight the herbal flavours in a dish. TEXTURES – What would you pair with a creamy cheese? A tea that has some astringency that will ‘cut through’ and reduce the richness of the cheese, so that you want to take another morsel of the cheese – somewhat like how wine interacts with cheese. SENSATIONS – If your dish features chilli, perhaps you might opt for a tea that is rich because the tea can handle the piquant sensation and will not be overcome. TEMPERATURE – You can get playful with temperature contrasts – for example, serve a hot tea with a cold dessert, or serve an ice cold tea with a warm salad and so on. BODY – Increase or add body to your tea with milk or honey and perhaps it might just stand up to heavy foods such as stews.
Some of the best pairings occur when you have a complement or contrast of 2-3 constituents.
GENERAL RULE: 1-3 Pairing (complement or contrast) for 1 constituent = acceptable match Pairing (complement or contrast) for 2 constituents = good match Pairing (complement or contrast) for 3 constituents = excellent match Pairing for more than 3 constituents usually = synergistic match… new flavours formed even ….. it’s a marriage made in heaven!
COOKING TECHNIQUE CAN INFLUENCE PAIRING Depending on how food is prepared, you can influence its taste, texture, body and flavour so that you can find a suitable pairing with the tea you have chosen.
STEAMING Delicate and helps food retain freshness, flavour and texture. POACHING Gentle simmer, for a delicate dish regardless of flavourings. BOILING Does not add flavour but develops food textures. STIR-FRYING The delicate and light flavour of food is preserved. DEEP-FRYING Well executed, the dish will not be oily or soggy but quite light. BRAISING / STEWING The flavours of the food are intensified. GRILLING Intense smoky flavours from grilling. ROASTING Flavours are intensified, concentrated and slightly caramalised, especially when there is a crusty surface.
(Now, consider) Tea & Cheese Complex, rich tasting, stronger character tea stands up well to blue veined cheese that has an assertive taste.
Strong dark black tea with malty flavours marries well with creamy cheese since the weight of the tea and the richness of the cheese are matched.
Malty / low grown teas pair well with strong flavoured cheeses – such as smoked cheeses, aged cheeses and the like.
Pepper in cheese renders a spicy note; so the cheese finds a good foil in a fruity tea, sweetened or not.
White and green teas contain less aggressive and less astringent tasting polyphenols, hence they are thought to be more difficult to pair with cheeses. Try green tea. Its vegetal notes mirror some of the grassy nuances in certain cream cheeses.
Green teas & oolong teas take well to herbed cheese and flavoured cream cheeses.
Tea with lemon or herbal teas can be a good match to tangy goat or aged cheeses.
“Bettr Closter, Cheese Connoisseur“
Some Additional Thoughts
Tea is an incredibly diverse beverage. It has been, “historically” used as a medicine, a food, and more recently as a satiating and stimulating beverage. Today we are starting to explore some of these lost uses via Food and Tea Pairings, Mixology, and TCM concepts such as the Five Elements Theory.
One of the biggest issues I struggle with when pairing tea with food, or using it as an ingredient, or spice, etc., is finding pairings that allow the tea to be the hero. There is no point in pairing Earl Grey Tea, for example, with a rich Beouf Bourguignon if the character of the tea is lost. Nor is there any point in brewing such a tea so strong that only its astringency is expressed, as a means to cut through the fattiness of the dish and say, “Oh! that’s the tea!”
This becomes even more of a whorey old chestnut, for me when it comes to the use of Tea in the brewing of Beer. Suffice to say, there is no point in using a post-production scented tea as a brewing ingredient unless the tea is prominently expressed – the tea! Not the added flavouring or scent. As such there are similar considerations when using tea as a spice or ingredient in making new dishes. If it is only the scent that is being expressed? Then use the scent, don’t waste the tea.
With this in mind and Betty’s advice above, one should consider carefully the advice about the 1-3 General Rule. Considering that many people also consider tea to be a Medicine and should be used, in combination, with the Five Elements precepts, then there is a vast history and plane of expression that can be explored, with out repeating the trial and error mistakes of the past.
When it comes to Water, my views on the, “Evil Empire” are well and truly known. This leaves the questions: Are there any local options, and what are they? Further when it comes to tea, the quality of the water can significantly impact the flavour of the brewed tea, and its appearance, especially with black teas.
The three main local options, here in Shanghai, are Nongfu Spring, Ganten, and C’estbon. As of this year, Yili Danone has also entered the market. Then of course, if youcan afford the installation or very expensive (price/Litre processed) of countertop alternatives, there is RO and other Filtered Water.
Of the top three, Nongfu is Surface Water, Ganten is underground water, and C’estbon is Treated water. Of the 4 brands mentioned, it appears that Ganten is the only organisation that doesn’t market 19L water barrels. The phen you drink your tea, take a moment to consider the quality (and ethics) behind the water you use.
The dry leaves are a vibrant green, rolled into small pearls and have a subtle, herbaceous aroma with hints of apricot, and sweet melon. The wet leaves unfurl quickly and have large plump stems attached. The wet leaves have a butter and mildly floral scent.
3-4g of dry leaf was infused in 200ml of water for 2-3min.@90-100deg. C. the brewed tea liquor is pale yellow in colour and has a faint almond, nutty aroma aroma. in the mouth it is smooth, viscous, creamy, mildly stimulating, and peppery, with a sweet and mildly bitter finish, whilst its taste is floral, mildly herby, with hints of orchid, a refreshing aftertaste, and touch of minerality on the tip of the tongue.
C. sinensis “yashi xiang”. Fenhuang Dancong; Phoenix Mountain; Wudongding, Fenghuang Town, Chao’an District, Chaozhou City, Guangdong, above 1000 m; Autumn 2021, whole leaf, single cluster, oolong process. #TodaysTea, #今天的茶, #JīnTiāndeChá, #Tea, #茶, #Chá.
The dry leaf is almost black in color with red tinged edges with some occasional, lighter, greenish brown leaves interspersed. The leaves are around 2-3 cm long, and lightly spiral rolled, or slightly twisted; While the dry leaf aroma, hints immediately of chocolate or cacao, followed by a fruity, floral spiciness.
The wet leaves are a vibrant green, with brownish-red edging & stems; and, the wet leaf aroma is spicy, has cinnamon and peppery hints, and floral overtones.
4g of whole lead was infused in 150ml Nongfu Spring water for 30sec. @90 deg. C.
The tea liquor is straw yellow in color, and has a bright, & shimmering oily appearance, with a mild buttery scent.
In the mouth it is tingling, stimulating, mouthwatering, and mildly astringent underlined by a moderately creamy viscosity.
The taste is fresh, floral, mildly spicy with light fruity hints of peach and apricot, followed by a retronasal florist shop green finish.
Opinion: Phoenix Mountain Oolongs are some of my favorite Chinese teas. What I like, particularly about this tea, is it’s vibrance and liveliness when drunk. It smells great, it taste good, and it’s really a pleasant drinking experience all around.
C. sinensis “Fuding” Niuyasahan Green Tea Production Base, Daping Formation, Dakaitian Village, Damang Township, Majiang County, Guizhou Province, >1200m; Spring 2021, bud and 1-2 immature leaves, predominantly golden buds, black tea process. #TodaysTea, #今天的茶, #JīnTiāndeChá, #Tea, #茶, #Chá.
The dry leaves are a mix of black leaves and golden buds with an aromatically fruity aroma, suggestive of apricot and peach. The wet leaves are uniformly burnt umber in colour, with a fruit salad and spicy scent, with latent hints of cinnamon.
4g of dry leaf was infused in 120ml of water for 20-30sec. @95deg. C., producing an orange coloured brew tea liquor with a faint grainy aroma. The mouthfeel is viscous, thick, stimulating, mildly mineralish, with a sweet finish, whilst the taste demonstrates fragrant hints of apricot, with a retronasal peach aftertaste.
Well, it’s more than I can “bear.” 🤪 Meet, “Charlie,” the Harrod’s Bear. At first look I thought he was made from watermelon, but no: strawberry compote and sponge.
Cute little bugger all the same. You can see him at the newly opened Harrod’s Tea Rooms, in Shanghai’s prestigious and historic, “Cha House.”
C. sinensis “unknown”; Niuya Shan, Majiang, Guizhou, >1200m; Spring 2021, bud and 1-2 immature leaves; cultivated tea trees planted in former market garden beds, small fine oxidized buds and some broken tips, black tea process similar to Qimen-style. #TodaysTea, #今天的茶, #JīnTiāndeChá, #Tea, #茶, #Chá.
Wet leaf aroma: charcoal, & rose;
Infusion: 3g in 150ml for 20sec. @80-85deg. C Liquor colour & aroma: orange to ochre colour, very malty aroma;
Mouthfeel: stimulating, moderate viscosity with a water taper, mildly astringent, mineral, fresh
