Innovative Tea Experiences in Restaurants: Tea Pairings

In part three of our series on the use of tea in restaurants, we take a look at tea pairings. Miss an installment? Catch up on part one, tea as wine, and part two, tea cocktails! 

Unlike high tea – a creation of the British to keep people satisfied between lunch and a late supper – which is essentially a selection of snacks served with English milk-tea, tea pairings are about creating an innovative experience by combining a range of teas with various foods and even other beverages.

It is worth noting though that high tea has been making a strong revival in recent years. Upscale establishments are turning its retro popularity into a profitable and experiential event, especially on weekends or holidays. Offering themed tiers of savory bites, delicate pastries, and globally sourced teas, the refined mid-day refreshment with bites attracts a sound audience—from tourists to families to social groups celebrating special occasions.

Moreover, high tea offers restaurants a means of maximizing revenue during off-peak hours—between lunch and dinner—without the overhead of a full menu. Done right, it can build brand prestige and create a highly shareable (and social media friendly) customer experience, helping drive public engagement.

Sudha Kukreja, culinary consultant to Mayfair Manor, a luxury resort located at the scenic Jungpana Tea estate in Darjeeling and known for its exquisite teas, arranges a high tea for guests who stay there. It features the signature multi-level tray of sandwiches, pastries (both savory and sweet), freshly baked butter cookies, cakes, and scones as well as fried Indian snacks to add some local ambiance. This is served typically with second flush, Jungpana Darjeeling tea, which tends to be the most popular of harvests, and goes well with most foods.

Pairing, however, is more of an art, according to Stijn Van Schoonlandt, owner of Kruze Coffee and Tea in Belgium and member of the International Tea Masters Association (ITMA): “As an art, I try to understand what the purpose is, what is the goal we want to achieve, and what flavors do I have in my teas, and then it is slicing down on the options and trying it out – first the tea, usually – and then the food in combination with the tea,” he says. “I do that last step usually with the restaurant sommelier or chef or if I work with chocolate makers. Doing it together and learning about what works and what doesn’t and how we both perceive the flavors helps to come to the best combinations.”

At the restaurant Eleven Madison Park, Beverage Director Sebastian Tollius applies a similar level of not only artistry, but also science. For Tollius, the structure of the tea is important in evaluating such elements as: body, tannin, acidity, and aromatics. The challenge lies in matching or contrasting key components in the dish. Lighter teas like white and green lend themselves to fresher preparations, while heavier black teas or fermented pu-erh can pair beautifully with roasted dishes.

Some examples Tollius mentions, include:

• Juniper and ginger tea with green apple and lemon thyme to pair with their potato dish.
• Green rooibos and nori (a type of Japanese seaweed) to bring earthiness to avocado and leek.
• Hibiscus and apricot tea paired with agedashi tofu for brightness and acidity.
• Pu-erh and lapsang souchong matched with mushroom and black garlic.
• A dessert pairing using sarsaparilla tea with citrus and coconut milk.

“At Eleven Madison Park, lightly oxidized oolong teas pair beautifully with root vegetables or earthy umami components, like mushrooms,” says Tollius. “Green teas—particularly sencha or gyokuro—go well with spring vegetables and fresh herbs. For dessert, jasmine tea or a lightly floral white tea is a favorite, especially with citrus or stone fruit preparations.”

Author, agronomist, tea expert, consultant, and owner of the eponymous brand, Lydia Gautier Natural Teas & Herbals (Thés &Tisanes Naturels), Lydia Gautier emphasizes that water quality is key to bringing out the flavor in tea, and this is something that the management of eateries must take into account when training staff. “You can source some of the most expensive tea in the world, but if you make it with heavily chlorinated tap water, the tea is essentially wasted,” she says.

She usually recommends using a water filter or brewing tea with spring water (something that impacts the price but is essential for those who are serious about tea). Proper preparation of tea is critical to training staff. Not realizing that tea steeps best in water that is just under boiling point, many restaurants make the mistake of overboiling the water, depleting its oxygen content, rendering it less capable of absorbing the tea’s full flavor.

Most literature on pairing will state that pairing tea and dishes should occur according to certain rules or conventions in the same way that people don’t generally drink red wine with fish. In concert with this notion, the venerable tea company Twinings has listed a set of “rules” for pairing on their website page: Food Pairing with... Tea!

However, according to Gautier, who has worked with some of the best French chefs during her career to create pairings, combining tea with food is more sophisticated than applying a few simple rules. “It is more about the intentionality of the chef – that is key,” she says. “If the chef wants the dish and tea to complement one another, then she or he will choose a tea that brings out the flavor of the food. For example, a white tea’s light floral bouquet will bring out the natural flavor in a grilled white fish preparation without a fatty sauce. But the chef may choose to create a contrast in which the same dish would be paired with a darker and more full-bodied tea to compose a combination in which a bite of the dish will be act in counterpoint to the sipping of the tea.”