Tea & Food

Discover how tea transforms into a culinary experience.

From Michelin-starred collaborations to curated pairing events, explore the harmony of exceptional teas and gourmet dishes. Dive into stories and insights that elevate tea in gastronomy.

Tea & Food Pairing Personalities

Kwok Ying von Beuningen, Leona De Pasquale & Mariëlla Erkens

Interview with Kwok Ying von Beuningen

A Journey Through Tea, Culture, and Culinary Pairing

Interview with Mariëlla Erkens

Revolutionizing Gastronomy: A Conversation with Mariëlla Erkens on the Art of Tea and Food Pairing

Interview with Leona De Pasquale

Bridging the Worlds of Wine and Tea

Past Tea and Fine Dining Experiences

A Symphony of Tea and Food Pairing Experiences

Tea & Food Pairing - Fine Dining Experiences

Oukan, Berlin / Ikoyi, London / Opera, Torino / Casa de Chá da Boa Nova, Porto

Oukan

Vegan Fine Dining

Berlin

Experience done on 24 May 2024

Ikoyi

** Michelin Stars

London

Tea & Food Pairing on 18 April 2024

Red Mullet & White Penja Peppercorn

Red Mullet
Rolled and set at 50C for 4
hours then poached in
butter

Citrus Beurre Blanc (using
changing varieties of
citrus)
Steamed Clam Emulsion
Emulsion made with
steamed clams and
Combawa leaf
Pumpkin Soup (Shellfish)
Salad
Lobster or Crab that has
been dressed in a mixture of our efo emulsion made with spice oil base (gola,
verbena verry, ehuru, Sichuan peppercorn),
parsley, lovage, Dijon
mustard, lavender vinegar,
cucumber, tarragon,
Worcester sauce, crème
fraiche, wok hei.
Piedmont Hazelnut
Blended hazelnut & water

Sorghum Crêpe & Dark Beer Fondue

Sorghum Crepe
Made with Sorghum (a type
of grass) and Rye flour.
Warmed in pan and finished
on the grill.
Filling
Creamed greens, Galician
octopus (confit then grilled)
& dark beer fondue
(Montgomery cheddar,
spices & dark beer).
Burnt Honey
Blow torched before dusting
with raspberry salt.
Veal Sweetbreads
Brined in salted milk, then
confit, caramelised and
finished with a chicken
barbeque spice mix.

Turbot & Egusi Miso

Turbot
Fish is cured and aged for 3
-5 days. The aging and
curing remove moisture
from the body of the fish for
cleaner grilling, more intense taste and firmer
texture. Brushed with Crab
Butter (crab shells, white
wine). Finished with caviar salt.
Brown Crab Bisque
Made from the meat and
shells of crab seasoned with white penja pepper. Mixture includes spices (gola, penja, red chili, paprika, baobab, red Sichuan), fish sauce,
crab, crab dashi, butter.
Carrot Pudding
Sauce of carrot and
carraway. Mixture of carrots,
honey, pumpkin seeds,
black garlic, whipping
cream, porcini, saffron, and
caraway.
Pumpkin Seed Miso Egusi
Squash seed brown butter,
baobab, miso, honey
Seasonal Vegetables
Green beans that are grilled
in plantain miso marinate
(dried plantain, red bean
miso, garlic, honey).
Finished with pistachio oil
and wakame. Along with
sliced kabu and carrot.

Aged Mutton & Sauerkraut

Beef
Aged by Phillip Warren for
3-4 months then aged
further in-house. Seared
then rested to medium rare
in a bath of beef fat.
Finished on the BBQ while
being glazed in beef tamari.
Served with onion caramel
(onion, butter, rosemary,
sherry vin, rapeseed oil) and beef jus (reduction of the bones of the beef and peppercorn).
Fresh Kampot Peppercorn
Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
Caramelised Chanterelle
Radicchio Salad
Leaves dressed in buffalo
dressing with Cevenne
onions and sumac.

Smoked Jollof Rice

Smoked Jollof Rice
BBQ Vegetables and Spices
on the grill (notable spices
are cumin, ginger, chipotle,
garlic, penja)
We then steep this into a
stock which is used to cook
the rice
We sear the rice in a pan
with Beef fat & “Wok Hei”
(paste of scotch bonnet,
garlic, ginger & spring
onion)
Topped with Lobster
Custard and Chantarelles
Smoked with Hickory wood
chips and covered
Lobster Custard
A custard made using a
blend of head/claws of
lobster with spices (egg
yolks, ginger, garlic, scotch
bonnet, whipping cream)

Dayi 7572 Shu Puer 2011 Yunnan, China

Half ripe pu’er showing
funky aged Pu’er with savoury characters.
Half-post fermented tea
from Menghai, Yunnan
province in China, aged
since 2011 as a cake in
Hong Kong traditional
storage.
Funky and rich, deep earthy
and mushroomy notes.
Made through Shu processing which involves
wet piling to speed up the
ageing process, this one
was wet piled for half of the
time to give it the balance of raw and ripe flavours which has been accentuated by
the funky wet storage.
We serve a 3rd infusion at
100C that is less dusty and
the flavours are more
pronounced.

Golden Yunnan, Yunnan China

Golden Yunnan

A malty, sweet and floral
black tea from Yunnan in the southern China, made using only the first buds which have downy white hairs which when oxidised turn a bright golden colour.
Brew in a particular way to
extract more sweet aromas
rather then astringency
tannins, 80C then the water
is removed after 10 seconds
and the same water is
added again when is about
70-75C, temperature that
will not extract any
astringency, bitter tannins.

Opera

Ingenio & Creatività

Turin

Experience done on 8 Nov 2024

Casa de Chá da Boa Nova

** Michelin Stars

Leça da Palmeira, Porto

Experience done on 9 Oct 2024

Tea & Food Pairing Tasting

Artistic ApéroTè: Tea, Honey & Art, 8 November 2024, at Camellia, Il Tempo del Tè, Torino

In collaboration with Camellia, Il Tempo del Tè, and Lorenzo De Laugier (an expert local honey producer), ten participants joined us in tasting amazing teas and honey. Below, you can find the details of tea and honey pairings.

They also enjoyed some art dedicated to tea, created and interpreted by a local artist, Marta Motta.

Tea & Food Pairing Tasting

Contemporary Art Afternoon Tea - Tree of Life Collection, 11 November 2024, GAo ShAn Gallery, Helsinki.

In the heart of downtown Helsinki, within a historic building infused. with an artistic atmosphere, experience an exclusive fusion of art and gastronomy at GAo ShAn Gallery. Tea pairings by TeeMaa Tea House.

Tea & Food Pairing Tasting

European Tea & Local Cheese Tasting, Sunday 24 November 2024 at Bar Schwips, Berlin

🌿 Odenthal, Germany – May 2024 Green Tea by Tschanara Teagarden paired with cow milk cheese - gouda type produced by Thomashof Burscheid
🌿 Pyrénées, France – 2024 Yellow Tea by L'Arrieulat paired with Ossau-Iraty Fermier (sheep milk cheese PDO)
🌿 Soerendonk, Netherlands – Pan-fried Green Tea, made by me in August 2022 at Het Zuyderblad, paired with Machedoux, soft goat milk cheese produced in the Netherlands
🌿 Fornelo, Portugal – 2024 Pipacha (semi-oxidised organic oolong matured in Port wine pipes by Cha Camelia paired with Amarello cheese (raw sheep and goat milk) by @queijariadapraca
🌿 Scotland, UK – 2022 Black Tea by Tea Gardens of Scotland paired with Blue Shropshire (blue cheese, pasteurised cow milk)