This week, Fumie, our Japanese stockist {who's even opened a shop in Tokyo} came to visit. We gave her a grand tour of Tea HQ, got her packing some orders and played Killer Pool. We didn’t want to send her away on an empty stomach, so we decided to combine our two favourite things and do a tea and cheese pairing session. Here are the best of the bunch.
CHEESE FIRST, THEN TEA.
1) English Breakfast and Red Leicester.
Red Leicester was the big winner with its nutty and creamy notes complimenting our robust English Breakfast. However - the rest of us were big fans of Cheddar cheese with English Breakfast. Malty and cheesy in combination? No wonder it tastes like cheese on toast.
2) Earl Grey and Manchego, or was that Bavarian Smoked?
We had a draw on this one, four votes to Manchego, four to Bavarian Smoked, from seven people.
8 votes for seven people? We should have said that voting twice was against the rules… The Bavarian Cheese had a smokey flavour which complimented the citrus in Earl Grey and enhanced the fruity and delicate notes of the Ceylon. The tang and nuttiness of the Manchego with the floral Earl Grey was also a winning combo. Try both and let us know what you think.
One vote each, please.
3) CO2 Decaffeinated
4) Green Tea with Brie.
You’ll find Goat’s Cheese on our blend cards as our go-to pairing, but a previously undiscovered dark horse took the biscuit in our pairing session- Brie. Creamy cheese is always a winner with Green Tea, but Brie also brings out the tropical notes in the green tea and has an awesome mouth-feel as a pairing.
5) Jasmine Green with White Stilton and Apricot.
Jasmine Green tastes awesome with Port Salut because of its creamy and slightly sweet notes. White Stilton and Apricot came a close second - but avoid Brie with Jasmine Green at all costs. {Note Halah's tasting notes: "BLEH"}.
6) Chai and Port Salut.
We thought that spicy chai would not go down well with cheese - we were wrong. Creamy, mild Port Salut mixes with the cloves and vanilla in the chai to leave a lasting, milky, sweet, spicy and all round deeeeelicious taste - not too far away from the taste of a chai latte, actually.
