Dining with tea
Recommendations for pairing the varied flavors of tea with your menu selections.

by Paige Poulos

Tea, like fine wine, boasts a rich history among culinary cultures of the world. But the two ancient beverages share an even more important similarity: Both possess subtleties in flavor and aroma that make one variety or another a better choice to complement a particular food or combination of foods. This is a new notion for Americans, most of whom are used to thinking of iced teas as a thirst-quencher that adds little or nothing to the dining experience. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Selecting the perfect tea involves something more than casually considering the food. Rather, the style of the dish and the ingredients used should influence the choice.

Highly seasoned foods need assertive, powerful teas —high-grown Ceylons, fine Keemuns or even a smokey Lapsang Souchong work well. You can enhance spicy dishes by adding an herbal element to the tea, especially when served over ice. Morrocan-style mint-flavored tea or iced chai tea are good foils for hotter foods.

Tea's growth in foodservice

by Joseph P. Simrany, President, Tea Association of the USA, Inc. Foodservice sales of tea have been growing at about 10% a year for the last several years, and this growth is expected to continue over the next five years, spurred by an increase in customer demand, increased promotion on the part of operators, the expansion of tea offerings to include specialty and herbal selections, and improved delivery of hot tea. Tea has always been one of the most profitable food or beverage items available to foodservice operators. The number of restaurants serving gourmet or specialty tea has been increasing for a number of years and will increase further as consumer awareness of specialty tea increases. More operators are also moving to develop signature teas as a means to increase profitability and gain competitive advantage. It is likely that this trend will increase, driven by aggressive vendors and consumer appeal.

The perfect match for a salad varies with the ingredients. You might choose a fruit- or berry-flavored tea to enhance a fruit- or yogurt-based salad. These two flavors also complement pork and poultry that are often served with chutneys or applesauce.

Darjeeling teas exhibit a distinctive edge that perfectly complements the rich flavors of many kinds of shellfish. The same tea is wonderful with sauced veal. Heavier-bodied Assam tea is a great complement to grilled or roasted lamb.

Green tea, with its enticing grassiness, is wonderful with cream soups, goat and cream cheeses, and, of course, a wide variety of Asian dishes, from pad Thai to Szechuan. Herb and green tea combinations, such as Jade Mint, bring a clean, fresh note that cools the palate when the cuisine contains hot chile oils.

On the other hand, the sweeter Asian dishes —including those with plum or sweet and sour sauces —are enhanced by pure black teas; Yunnan is among the best.

Iced teas —whether sweetened, flavored, green, black or oolong — can be paired with a wide variety of foods. Use their flavors as a base for experimenting with different foods. Vary infusion times to get even more subtleties in food and tea pairings.

A blended tea like Blackberry Sage combines elements that make it ideal for a broad range of foods, from pizza to sorbet.

Desserts offer an opportunity to experience the perfect marriage of tea and sweets. Creamy desserts, such as cheesecake, are perfectly enhanced by teas flavored with fruit mango or peach. Fruit pies or cakes are best with black teas.

Green teas bring a palate-cleansing note to the end of a meal. And for people who might otherwise choose espresso, a hefty Russian Caravan or Lapsang Souchong might be a wonderful closer.

 

The most important aspect of pairing teas and foods is enjoyment. Experiment. Vary your tea selections. Like wine, tea comes in may guises; it can be a quick and healthy quaff on a hot day, or it can be a beverage of contemplation with great subtlety that reveals itself over the course of several cups.

Chai offers unique menu opportunities

With its unique mixture of milk, tea and spices, authentic chai tea is really in a category of its own in the beverage world. Chai is more of a tea lattŽ than a tea, and since it's commonly prepared this way, it's even closer to the coffee category. And chai's distinctive sweet and spicy flavor further sets it apart. Chai's annual growth is about 30% a year, making it one of the fastest growing beverages in the retail segment, but it's growing quickly in foodservice as well. Operators are experimenting with chai in a variety of ways. It basically offers all the hot and cold applications of coffee —the most popular method is steamed hot like a lattŽ, but it's also served cold over ice, or chilled through a granita machine, or even as a milkshake. Chai is also an alternative to coffee in alcoholic beverages like brandies, and makes an excellent ingredient in a signature beverage unique to a menu. A simple way to include a chai beverage on a menu is as an add-on item to the tea and coffee category. "Operators who are getting into a coffee program can easily incorporate chai because it's prepared like a lattŽ. In fact, it's easier to make than a lattŽ," says Lori Woolfrey, vice president of marketing for Portland, Ore.-based Oregon Chai, a pioneer in the U.S. chai segment. Woolfrey says chai has taken off in coffeehouses, and is a big hit in colleges and universities. The company is working on expanding its presence in non-commercial applications, as well as positioning the product to chains. "We're presenting chai as a great add-on item to a coffee program, or as a dessert item —it's excellent poured over ice cream," says Woolfrey. Since the product has only been readily available in the U.S. since the early '90s, sampling is important to the category's continued growth. Oregon Chai offers a foodservice sampling program which allows operators to offer more free tastings. "The key to our success is getting people who have never tasted chai to try it, so we do a lot of sampling. We find that once customers sample chai, they're sold by the flavor alone." -C.H.