Cheese and wine is a classic combination, cheese and crackers are perfect for any occasion from a dinner party to a late night snack. Then, of course, there have been recent trends such as pairing cheese with beer and real ales. The latest cheese pairing trend to take off is cheese and tea. Don’t believe us? Just Google it. You’ll be amazed how many people are blogging about which cheese they should be enjoying with a nice cup of Darjeeling or Oolong.
We drink a lot of tea. In fact, after water tea is the most consumed drink in the world so perhaps it is about time we started experimenting with matching tea with something other than cake and biscuits!
Tea has a great deal in common with wine and apparently, the warmth of hot tea can release underlying flavours and aromas in the cheese.
Some combinations to try
- Try traditional breakfast tea, (without milk) with nutty cheeses like Gouda and Comté.
- Earl Grey with its floral bergamot tones pairs well with sharp, salty cheeses like a mature Cheddar or a strong goat’s cheese.
- White teas work with fresh, mild cheese such as ricotta or mozzarella.
- Russian caravan’s complex flavours pair well with Edam or Gouda.
- Lapsang souchong is smoky and should work well with any smoked cheese or maybe try it with a blue cheese like Stilton.
- Green tea with a fresh, young goat’s cheese
Of course, these are just some ideas. Part of the fun of cheese pairing is experimenting and trying new combinations. The possibilities are endless; the thing to remember is there are no right or wrong combinations just different flavours and personal preference.
At J S Bailey we’re big fans of a nice cup of tea and obviously, we love cheese. We’ll definitely be giving this new trend a try. We suspect though that the team here will be sticking to biscuits with their morning cup of tea and crackers with their cheese!
If you try the cheese and tea pairing we’d love to hear your thoughts. You can share them with us on twitter @JSBaileyCheese.
