Tea and food – Page 7 – Discovering Tea

A very broken tea

9 October 2015

In some regions of Sri Lanka, they produce a tea that is so fine, so broken, so black, it is undrinkable. Or else you have to add milk and sugar, or dilute it with water.

It is no more difficult to taste thirty or forty teas than to taste two or three. On the contrary: you move quickly from one to the next, you spit each one out, you concentrate so you can compare them, and very quickly you know which one you prefer.

Tea auctions in Sri Lanka

11 September 2015

When I set off to visit Sri Lankan plantations, I stop off first in Colombo to taste the teas being sold at auction in the following days. It gives me a good idea of the quality being produced by the different gardens. Each of these boxes contains a few tea leaves and is marked with the lot number.

Tasting and contemplating

28 August 2015

The advantage of photographing a window is that you can layer two images: here, the tasting set being prepared, and the landscape reflected in the glass. It’s fun to combine and merge the two views. The meaning of the tasting becomes clearer: we drink the tea, which comes from nature, surrounded by the land from which it originated.

Unfired clay cups of Kolkata

24 July 2015

In Kolkata, where the heat is stupefying for a good part of the year, tea is drunk boiling hot. It is consumed in the street, by a stall, where it is often served in an unfired clay cup which is then thrown to the ground. The clay breaks on the pavement, and when the rain comes it turns to mud.

Looking is the first step in tasting

12 June 2015

The first step in tasting consists of looking at the leaves. You pour a small amount out onto a neutral surface, like a sheet of card, and you examine the quality of the plucking, the colour of the leaves, their size, evenness, etc. This already gives you a good idea of what you’re about to taste.

Infusion time for first-flush Darjeelings

27 March 2015

First-flush Darjeelings should be infused for between 3:30 and 4 minutes. The easiest way is to set your timer for 3:45. You have to be accurate when preparing this type of tea. If you want to retain a good balance between the aromatic bouquet, texture and flavour, you must stop the infusion in time. What you need is to give the aromas time to develop, while keeping the astringency and bitterness at a delicate level so they prolong the perception of aromas without overpowering them.

les prolongent la perception des parfums, sans leur faire ombrage.

Tasting the spring teas

20 March 2015

There are many teas to taste at this time of year. From now and for the next few months, I’ll be tasting dozens of teas every day, and up to 100 or 150 at times. I taste them “blind” because I don’t want to be influenced by my friendship with particular farmers. The name of the garden is hidden so that the initial selection is based solely on a sensory analysis. To express my preference, I make this gesture, shared by many planters: pushing the cup gently with the fingertips, palm facing upwards.

Tea and cheese pairing: Thé du Tigre and Roquefort

13 March 2015

If you love cheese it can be good to have a change. Rather than drinking wine with cheese, how about trying it with tea? Combinations of cheese and tea arouse curiosity, and this week I’m suggesting a new pairing: Thé du Tigre and Roquefort. I’m not a big drinker of smoked tea but it has to be said that with a blue cheese as strong as this, the combination works very well. The warmth of the tea quickly melts the cheese in the mouth, and the woody, animal, smoky and milky notes mingle and complement one another. Try this sensual, creamy pairing and see what you think.

A meeting with Daniel Rebert, pastry chef

23 January 2015

There is nothing I enjoy more than thinking about what tea I will drink next. For me, the pleasure of tea begins as soon as I lift the lids from my canisters, inhale the scent of the leaves and decide which one is best suited to the moment, mood and season.

From time to time, this exercise moves beyond the close confines of the teapot, when considering which tea will go best with a particular food. A few days ago, the journalist Laura Annaert arranged a meeting between the well-known pâtissier Daniel Rebert and myself at the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris. She wanted to listen to us both as we decided on suitable pairings between Daniel’s creations and my selection of fine teas. Together, we tasted a Butterfly of Taiwan, a Qimen Imperial and a Shiraore Kuki Hojicha at different temperatures. We compared the textures, the toasted and toothsome notes, and the aromas of leather, cocoa and wood, while enjoying delicious millefeuilles, biscuits and chocolates. It was a very fruitful discussion!

(photo: Victoire Avril)