Pairing for Beginners

When I discuss the importance of pairing tea and food in foodservice environments, I always stress that the best that can be offered is a guideline—a helping hand to achieve a nicely balanced list of tea that complements the food offered by your establishment. Whether your menu consists of foie gras or bagels and cream cheese, I don’t believe the process has to be any more complex. Rather, pairing tea with food should be an enjoyable step in designing your overall menu.

Before you begin, you must realize that tasting doesn’t require an extremely sophisticated knowledge of food or tea. If you already enjoy food on any level, then you probably have a tasting vocabulary, however expansive or limited it may be. Never be afraid to express what comes to mind when you are tasting tea, because no impression is too slight, and all observations lead to Rome, so to speak.

So what does it all mean? Well, now that you have broken down the complex profile of a single tea you should understand how important it is to match that profile with complementary smells, textures and flavors of food.

From Planet-Tea.com