Pairing Food + Tea Inspiration

Tea gastronomy is a fast-growing trend, which Dilmah has been behind for years. We asked New Zealand’s resident Dilmah tea geek to explain why tea and food are a match made in heaven and challenged him to pair a tea with Barefoot’s Sri Lankan Black Pork Curry.

“First of all you have to remember tea covers a very broad variety with black, green, oolong and white tea, and all the numerous styles based on origin, climate and processing techniques. Like wine, tea has an incredibly diverse range of taste and character to discover.

“A low-grown black tea can be dark and heavy with good chewy tannin structure like a cab sav, a crisp riesling might be aligned with a high-grown green tea or a buttery chardonnay to a floral high mountain oolong. Think of the main ingredients of a dish first and choose your tea based on them. The idea is to complement or contrast the tastes found in tea / food using the following.

Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Salty, Umami Flavours (i.e. fruity, herbaceous, nutty) Textures (i.e. smooth or course) Temperatures (physically hot or cold) Body/weight (thick or thin feel) Sensations (i.e. heat of spice or cooling menthol)

A Sri Lankan Black Pork Curry would be a perfect match to our Dilmah Earl Grey. The fresh and fragrant citrus of bergamot in an Earl Grey pairs nicely with the spice, while the firm tannin-like structure of this strong black tea would balance well with rich meltin-the-mouth pork. In this instance you’d definitely take the tea without milk but a little slice of lemon could help it become a great palate cleanser, and temper down the heat if you have too much coconut sambal.