Tuesday 16 October 2012

World Tea East Expo

Recently I attended the World Tea East Expo in Philadelphia, PA.  As I am currently heavily involved in preparations for opening a gourmet bakery, coffee and tea bar with my pastry chef daughter, I brought her along to participate in some of the seminars.  I wanted to immerse her in my "tea world".

We attended a seminar hosted by Cynthia Gold, a chef and tea sommelier at L'Espalier restaurant in Boston.  The seminar was about pairing teas with foods, just like you would pair wine with foods.  The hands-on experience was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing this with my daughter.

It is amazing how the aroma and flavors of foods, spices and teas can compliment, annul or clash with each other.  There are no hard and fast rules for which ones work or not, you simply need to evaluate and determine.  I did conclude that Japanese teas seem to go best with seafood, Indian teas seem to go best with more spicey foods, but these are not all encompassing.

Take the time to choose a selection of foods that are sweet, spicey, fruity, several different cheeses, salmon, etc. and a number of teas from different countries then, do your own tea pairing experiments.

Are you are a caterer, have a tea room or restaurant or would like to host tea tasting events?  This will add dramatically to your menu and options for additional event venues.

Happy Tea Times,
Lady Kelly