Today, I got the chance to go for another tea-related workshop! I’d previously gone for the Theanine! Tea Pairing Workshop, but wanted to refresh what I learnt. The workshop has been split into three, with the Tea Pairing with Chocolate and Cheese being one of them (the other two are Tea Pairing with Alcohol and Tea Pairing with Savoury and Spicy food).

The workshop is designed for anyone interested in tea and starts with an introduction to the types of tea. After that, we sampled six teas, representative of the six types of teas, and then we sampled six types of chocolate and cheese. After that, it was time to pair them! We were encouraged to try our own pairings and share them with each other.

The teas we tried were:

• White Tea: White Blossoms – This is a tea made from the buds of the tea plant. It’s got a natural floral sweetness to it, although I felt that it had peppery notes when cold.
• Green Tea: 六安瓜片 (Liu An Gua Pian) – This green tea is from Liu An in Anhui. It’s a tribute tea made without any buds, which is quite rare given that buds tend to be more highly prized. There’s a legend that the Dowager Empress Cixi was only allowed to drink this tea after she had given birth to Tongzhi, who later became the Emperor.
• Yellow Tea: Huo Shan Yellow Shoot – This was less astringent that green tea with slightly more nutty notes. It was, unfortunately, one of the less popular teas for pairing, as nothing seem to go very well with it. It’s a delicious tea on its own, though.
• Oolong: Jin Guan Yin – This oolong is a cross between the Tie Guan Yin and Huang Jin Gui cultivars. It’s a really nice oolong, with a fragrance that’s almost like perfume. It’s a bit heavier than the three teas above and very smooth too.
• Red: Dian Hong – This is made from the 凤庆 (Feng Qing) cultivar and it’s a very sweet red tea that’s great for people who want to get into straight teas. The word ‘dian’ is a reference to the Dian kingdom that used to be where Yunnan currently is.
• Black: 六堡 (Liu Bao) – Liu Bao is a dark tea (aka post-fermented tea not made in Yunnan). It’s history dates back to the Qing dynasty, where it was a tribute tea. That makes it much older than Puer, which only took its current form in the 1970s.

The foods we tried were:

• Milk Chocolate
• Dark Chocolate – This chocolate was surprisingly sour, which made it a little hard to pair
• Brie
• Blue Cheese – Which I’m very happy to report I managed to eat
• Red Leicester – White tastes a lot like cheddar
• Goat cheese – which was extremely creamy

There were two principles of pairing that we were taught:

• By aroma: If the food and teas have same aromas, they’re probably a good match. However, I’m terrible at identifying aromas and flavour notes so this was very hard for me
• By taste: You can choose the pair like with like, but you can also pair foods with different tastes to amplify or reduce certain taste notes.

I realise that this post consists of lists, but this is a surprisingly effective way to write the whole thing. I’ve also got one more list coming – that of the pairings we tried:

• Oolong + Blue Cheese: This pairing is supposed to heighten the aromas of the blue cheese, because they are both pungent/extremely fragrant.
• Green Tea + Red Leicester: This tea was initially very divisive, as my colleague and I really liked it, but the instructor felt it tasted chalky. However, after we made a fresh pot of green tea, we all found that the hot green tea helped to enhance the aroma of the cheese. In general, it seems like hard cheeses tend to pair well with hot green tea.
• Dark Tea + Brie: I thought that the dark tea would be a good match for the creamy brie, but it ended up taking all the flavour away from the cheese.
• White Tea + Blue Cheese: This results in a peppery taste and a less salty blue cheese. It’s an example of how tea can help to enhance the taste of food.
• We didn’t try this, but after the white tea with blue cheese, the instructor gave us the example of how food can help patch up a badly brewed tea. A green tea that has been steeped too long will be astringent, but if you pair it with a creamy brie, the brie can help mitigate the astringency of the tea.

I really enjoyed this workshop because it was so hands-on. It definitely helped that everyone in the group was very willing to try pairings and give their opinions on theme – it would have been so awkward if everyone kept silent. I guess that’s also one takeaway – that the company present is just as important as the food and tea pairing.

For more info you can check out Parchmen Academy of Coffee and Tea’s Website.