While studying tea in New York, I became friendly with the owners of a great tea shop in SoHo called In Pursuit of Tea. And besides having an amazing selection of high quality teas, they also host some pretty unique tea events. I recently went to a tea and cheese tasting – YES, tea and cheese! And I was astounded at how much better the tea brought out the flavour in the cheese than a glass of wine.
The evening included six tea and cheese pairings, hand selected by Melanie Franks, Chef Instructor at New York’s French Culinary Institute. The pairing of a fragrant White Peony from China or Dong Ding Oolong from Taiwan highlighted the sweetness and pineapple sub-notes of what would otherwise be some pretty salty cheese. And a beautifully mellow Pu-erh from Yunnan China paired with a Vaquero Blue cheese (normally so hard to pair with a wine) made the cheese melt like butter in my mouth. So why is cheese a better mate? Melanie explained that the acidity in wine doesn’t have the same ability to cut through the ‘fatty taste notes’ like tea does. I can attest to that!
Tips for pairing tea and cheese:
- Try to balance sweet and salty flavours, for example a floral tea goes well with a salty cheese
- Always try to match the ‘sub-notes’ in the cheese – you want the tea to bring out new flavours in the cheese, not just replicate the same taste
- Cut the ‘fattiness’ with a tea to bring out a cheese’s sweeter notes, for example the Japanese Sencha tea complimented a creamy Adith Mae Chevre goats’ milk cheese nicely
