Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Get Your Cheese on at Tea Time! One of the similarities between wine and tea is that, with a bit of trial and error and some tips from your friends and folks like us, you can pair them very well with cheeses. And, just like with wine, how you pair tea and cheese can be a true art. That’s why we wanted to present some pairing recommendations – both our own and ones that tea connoisseurs (also known as sommeliers and aficionados) have presented. Who knows, you may be inspired to invite over friends and family for a tea and cheese tasting party! A Natural Combo Cheese and wine are a natural combination. In some people’s minds, they go together like apple pie and ice cream, hot dogs and baseball games, or even SUVs and Soccer Moms. Beer is getting more into the act, too, which isn’t surprising with all the microbreweries around. And home brewing is on the up- swing, from what I have seen online. Lately, though, cheese is becom- ing a bigger part of tea time with pairings becoming the rage. Some pros are so successful at pairing teas and cheeses properly that they are being sought after by restaurants and party givers. Get ready to go exploring the wonderful world of tea and cheese pairings! Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Contents Pairing Basics By Tea Type White Teas Green Teas Oolong Teas Darjeeling Teas Black Teas By Cheese Tea and Cheese Short Chart About Us Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Pairing Basics You don’t have to be a pro, or even hire one, to put your own pairings together. There are some basics to keep in mind, and you can do your own experiments. Firmness/Texture A big factors is cheese firmness (texture). If you prefer spreadable, runny, or soft cheeses, your tea choices are different than with firm-to-hard cheeses. For example, soft cheeses like Brie and Camembert both go well with Dragonwell, and crumbly hard feta goes with Assam. If your taste goes more to firm-to-hard cheeses such as cheddar or Edam, some tea options are Autumn Darjeeling, Tung Ting Oolong, Keemun, Chun Mee, a black Ceylon, and White Peony (Pai Mu Tan, Baimudan). However, Sencha can mellow out a sharp hunk of Manchego. Flavor and Aroma Flavor strength is another consideration. Limburger is truly odiferous, so you need a stronger flavored tea to go with it such as the rich smokiness of Lapsang Souchong. Milder cheeses like Asiago need a more delicate tea taste like you get in Kukicha or Sencha. Tea/Cheese Pairing Setup Line up your teas, labeled with their names, along one side of the table. Line up your cheeses along the other side, with little labels proudly declaring “Stilton,” “Parmesan,” “Havarti,” “Feta,” etc. Be sure the cheeses are room temperature so their true flavors come out. The teas should be served at the temperature that is suitable for them. For example, Assams are great served fairly hot while Oolongs and greens can be more flavorful when they have cooled slightly. Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. White Teas White Peony (also known as Pai Mu Tan or Baimudan) …with Buffalo Mozzarella A mildly salty cheese and a tea with a delicate nectarine flavor combine to give you a subtle and smooth pairing. …with goat cheese and honey The honey in the goat cheese brought out some really nice honeysuckle nectar-like notes in the White Peony. …with any of these: Goat’s Milk Cheese: Chevre (Fr.), Feta (Gr.) Marieke Gouda (info) Hooks 3-Year Cheddar Hooks Blue Cheese Sarvecchio Carr Valley Mobay Asiago cheeses The tea complements the distinct flavors of these cheeses. About White Peony Tea White Peony (Baimudan, Paimu- tan) has a plucking standard of one bud and a leaf. It is considered the 2nd grade of white teas, after Silver Needle which is all buds. White Peony ranges from top, to middle, to low quality rating. All have good flavors and the better ones produce a lovely yellow col- ored liquid when steeped. Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Green Teas Hou Kui, Kukicha, or Sencha …with Asiago Pressata A very mild cheese to go with green teas with a low amount of tannins. Sencha with Manchego About Manchego Cheese A delicate green tea that mellows out the A cheese from Spain, sharpness of this hard cheese. made from the milk of Manchega sheep. They graze on the La Man- cha plains (and there is no one tilting at wind- mills there, just quietly tending their flocks and making delicious cheese. This cheese originated when Iberi- an civilization was still in a relatively primitive Bronze Age. The sheep’s milk gives Manchego cheese a nuanced taste and connects you back through thousands of years to ancient Iberian shepherds! Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Mao Feng (Fur Peak) Young Tips Green Tea … and Triple Cream Brie This tea has a distinctly creamy aroma followed by a light grassy flavor. The cheese is soft white and creamy, making the pairing quite dramatic. The fresh leaves for making Mao Feng tea need to be tender, clean, and neat. It is a high quality tea which looks beautiful and smells pleasant. The straight and somewhat twisted leaves are blackish green, having an aroma resembling fried dry beans mixed with refreshing but faint flower fragrance. Its liquor is bright yellow-green and has mellow, immediate sweet mouthfeel followed by an aftertaste that lingers. About Triple Cream Brie A cheese that is delicious, slightly sweet and has a creamy texture. It goes with well not only with this tea but also with delicate fruits such as strawberries as a dessert cheese (often a tradition in many European countries). Both double and triple-crème cheeses have extra cream added before the curd is formed. According to French law, a double-crème cheese has 60-75% butterfat, and triple-crème cheeses are required to have a butterfat content of 75% or more. Triple-crème cheeses made an appearance roughly 75 years after the first double cream called Petit Suisse (1850). They are sold under names like Brillat-Savarin, Gratte Paille, Pierre Robert, and Délice de Bourgogne. Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Lung Ching / Longjing / Dragonwell …with any of these: 2-yr Gruyère (fatty, salty) Walnut Cheese (nutty) Emmenthal (nutty, salty) Brie cheeses The nutty, sweet tea makes it a good match for these cheeses. Prized aspects: bright greenish color elegant, long-lasting fragrance refreshing, brisk, mellow flavor, sweet aftertaste overall pretty appearance Categorized into these groups: 狮 (Shi) 梅 (Mei) 西湖 (Xihu, means West Lake) Zhejiang Longjing from other places of Zhejiang Province Gruyère Walnut Cheese Emmenthal A hard yellow cheese, named after Not an actual cheese. More of a A Swiss cheese known for its grand Gruyères, Switzerland. Creamy and cheese recipe, based on a variety of size and handmade quality, using nutty when young, earthy and com- cheeses, but cream cheese is best pure cow's milk and a maturation plex when aged. here. period of at least four months. Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Gyokuro …with Lost Lake Cheese This spinachy, kelpy, astringent, and vegetal tea cuts through the fat of this goat cheese (from Fifth Town Artisan Dairy, Ontario, Canada). Lost Lake is a soft cheese with a wrinkly white rind and semi-firm centre, encased by a creamy layer beneath the rind when aged. It has slightly yeasty aromas with pronounced mushroom notes. The texture is silky with rich, creamy flavors and a long, complex finish. Accompany the cheese with young, lighter reds such as Gamay and Pinot Noir. Gyokuro (Jade Dew), grown in shade, has the most subtle flavor (reflected in the prices it commands), high- Made from pasteurized sheep's milk er caffeine content and chlorophyll, and is regarded as Country of origin: Canada the highest grade of tea made in Japan. The tea is only Region: Prince Edward County, Ontario produced in Uji located southeast of Kyoto. Type: fresh firm, artisan, soft-ripened Texture: creamy, semi firm, and soft Rind: mold ripened The first flush (period of growth) needs shade for 3 to 4 Color: white weeks to reduce build-up of tannins (catechins) in the Flavor: creamy, mushroomy leaves and increase amino acid theanin production, Aroma: rich, yeasty making it sweeter and milder than tea leaves that are Producers: Fifth Town Artisan Cheese not shaded (used to make Sencha). Where there is no natural shade the plants are covered with a shade cloth. The highest grade is grown under cloth suspended to give leaves room to grow. The lower grades have cloth draped over them so the leaves don’t develop as well. Pairing Fine Teas and Cheeses presented by JAS-eTea © 2015 JAS-eTea. All rights reserved. Jasmine Green Tea (or Even White or Oolong) …with any of these: Goat’s Milk Cheese: Chevre (Fr.), Feta (Gr.) Marieke Gouda (info) Hooks 3-Year Cheddar Hooks Blue Cheese Sarvecchio Carr Valley Mobay Just like White Peony, Jasmine scented tea complements the distinctive flavors of these cheeses.