What Tea Do You Have with Your Meal?
Do you choose Black, Green, White, Herbal or Fruit Tea to accompany your meal?
There are so many different teas available that it can be a little confusing trying to decide which would be the best. Drinking the wrong tea can lead to an unpleasant experience that can put you off trying different foods or different teas. Ultimately, it all comes down to preference, based on taste, but it helps to have a starting point.
Black Teas – Camellia Sinensis.
Africa, India and Sri Lanka are three of the world’s largest tea producers in the world, with India producing half of the world’s tea. It differs from other teas as the leaves have undergone an oxidation process that causes the leaves to be a darker colour. Needless to say, each area will grow teas that have a different flavour depending on the terrain, climate, other crops grown in the area or whether fertilisers, pesticides or chemicals are used in the soil or on the plants. Generally, black teas are stronger than green or white teas, and may have earthy, metallic, spicey, astringent even nutty flavours. You can frequently taste the tanning in black teas that may leave you in mind of leather.
Types of black tea include English Breakfast Tea, Ceylon, Earl Grey to mention a few.
Black Tea pairs well with rich dishes, so consider it with roast meats such as Beef, Lamb or Venison. Works well with heavier pasta dishes such as Lasagne or a rich Cannelloni.
Green Tea – Camellia Sinensis.
Green Tea has its origins in China, but production has spread to East Asia and it can now be found in Japan and Korea. Unlike black tea, the leaves and buds used for Green tea have not undergone the any withering or oxidation process. One benefit of this is that the antioxidants that help defend your body against free radicals are more prevalent in Green Tea. When brewed Green Tea is typically green, yellow or light brown in colour, with a sweet, grass like flavour that is mildly astringent.
Serve your Green Tea with a vegetarian meal, salads, light chicken or some milder curry dishes, whether vegetable, chicken or even fish.
White Tea – Camellia Sinensis
Young or immature leave and barely opened buds are picked and left to dry, being subject to minimum or no processing. This creates a lighter, sweeter flavour and yellow colour when brewed. As such it is best paired with lighter foods such as white fish, bream or hake for example. It is also delicious served with mild cheese or light desserts.
Fruit Tea
With a large variety of hot or iced fruit teas to choose from, there is no shortage to serve with your choice of dessert, whether it is chocolate or fruit based, simple or complex. You can even consider using the fruit teas to actually create accompaniments for the desert such as iced-pops or ice creams, just add fresh fruit. A great way to get something healthy into children.
Health and wellness are key to the teas developed at Clean Tea. Pairing them with meals is a great way to get children involved in preparing a healthy diet. Go ahead, have some fun, especially with teas such as Blue Byron. The children not only love its colour changing abilities but the lemony flavour too. A much better option than carbonated drinks or those loaded with sugar.