The Beginner's Guide to Culinary Tea

So, how do you like your tea? Strong or light?

The next obvious question – what would you like to munch on while sipping a cup of tea – biscuits, cookies, cakes or pakoras?

Each type of tea tastes best with a particular kind of food. Tea and food pairings work on similar principle as wine pairings - lighter tea goes best with lighter foods and stronger tea is paired best with strongly-flavoured or spicy foods.

Black Tea: Try your cup of steaming black tea with strong flavour such as curries, nuggets or even desserts including chocolates. We recommend trying Classic English Leaf or Handmade Bliss Nilgiri Black Tea. You can also pair black tea with richly-flavoured cuisines like Mexican, Italian or Indian.

Green Tea: Green teas go well with foods that are paired with white wines. Most types of green teas are hydrating and delicate and so they are perfect to team up with savory foods. Salty snacks, sandwiches, spicy foods like Asian dishes, go perfectly well with this tea.This tea also goes well with seafood, fruit salads and rice dishes. Green tea is known to go well with fried foods as they cut through the oil and help with digestion. Drink a cup of green tea with lunch and dinner instead of water. Try the Green Twirl Nilgiri Green Tea or our Darjeeling Green Tea. 

White Tea: White tea contains a natural sweetness, which gets emphasized when shared with foods that lack natural sweetness. Combine a cup of Moonshine Darjeeling tea with an undressed basic salad that helps enhance its sweet taste. White teas are mild in flavor so pair very well with raw foods and desserts.

Oolong Tea: Oolong teas go well with spicy foods and light desserts. Light oolongs like Sparkling Oolong Tea have a unique flavor compared to dark oolongs and are excellent to have with foods that enhance the floral and sweet character of the tea. Try to pair it with food that has little or no fragrance and is very light in sweetness. Also, lightly salted snacks like salted fried foods, plain salted chips and crackers would go well with it. Dark oolongs like Darjeeling Oolong go well with different types of pancakes, pastries, desserts.

Rooibos Tea: Either drink Rooibos tea by itself or combine it with other flavored teas like herbal, fruit or floral. Couple them with blue cheese to experience its full flavour. Also, hot rooibos tastes great with fruits. Try rooibos blueberry blossoms and gingerbread pumpkin red tea with fruit and cheese platter.