Tea Cuisine | The Tea Stylist

A Sensual Feast of Tea And Chocolate

January 16, 2020

An Extraordinary Experience I have just experienced an adventurous evening of tea and chocolate pairing at Soma Chocolatemaker, in downtown Toronto, organized by The Tea Guild of Canada. We were met by Soma’s guide Samantha. As she lead us through the tasting of each morsel, she explained its place of origin and the close relationship the chocolatier had with their farm sources, confirming for me that specialty chocolate sourcing has parallels to direct-sourced fine tea. Curiously, some of the chocolate […]

Gifts for the Discerning Tea Lover

November 28, 2017

There are still some good suggestions on the previous post (2013), but so much has happened in the tea world and my tea life that I thought it deserved an update. curati.co I’m often asked which teas I can recommend and where to buy them. “Where can I find fine quality tea that is fresh and that I can trust to be sourced directly?” Since I don’t sell tea, I provide names of vendors I trust, but inevitably people […]

Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

Tea & Oranges

February 15, 2017

I have always been captivated by the line in Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne “She feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China”. I recently learned that this line was inspired by Cohen’s introduction, by his friend Suzanne, to Constant Comment®, an orange spice tea blend from Bigelow. Constant Comment was one of the few teas (all loose leaf) that sat on my shelf when I set up house in a garage in Banff, Alberta (housing was scarce […]

Tea and Travel, Tea Cuisine, Tea Knowledge, World Tea Expo

World Tea Expo: The Matcha Effect

June 24, 2015

Matcha seems to fit the mood of the moment. It’s electric greenness reflecting the colour that we associate with health and nature. It was seen everywhere at World Tea Expo, 2015 or was it just that I was experiencing The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon! Matcha’s Origins Matcha’s use has strayed somewhat from its original ceremonial origins. Ceremonial matcha grades of Usucha (thin) and Koicha (thick) have been available in select tea shops for many years. Matcha was originally a throw back to […]

Social History of Tea, Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

Revising Afternoon Tea

March 3, 2015

Tiered cake stands, white linen, dainty sweets and bone china teapots are well-worn symbols of Afternoon Tea, – the popular, more formal approach to serving a cuppa. To that end, hotels and other venues have dreamed up all kinds of themed afternoon teas – the edible garden, Asian-inspired and ultra chic! Afternoon Tea is often erroneously called “High Tea”, a name which originally defined the meal that was served at a high (dining) table close to the supper hour. In […]

Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

Cheers! Tea with Spirit

December 31, 2014

In Celebration of a Good Year The events of my 2014 were exciting and life-changing. Work in the tea world was plentiful, which explains dear reader, why posts have been spotty at best. One of the projects I’ve been working on has allowed me to explore tea mixology (the craft of cocktail blending using tea as a flavour ingredient). I’m not actually a fan of spirits, but I have loved learning about the interplay of flavours to create the right […]

Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

Tea-Infused Korean Sweet Mochi

February 2, 2013

Mochi Fusion A favourite treat around my household is a sweet rice cake known as Korean Chapssalddeok or Japanese Mochi. It’s texture is soft, silken and slightly gooey (in a good sort of way). Traditionally it would have taken many hours to make as it required steaming and pounding of rice, cooking and mashing of red beans or lotus root. In today’s kitchen it can be prepared in under an hour. All you need is some fine sweet rice flour […]

Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

The Jellification of Tea

March 1, 2012

Tea cuisine is still very much experimental. There will be successes and failures. The point is to keep trying. Since it is a relatively new culinary category, good ideas will eventually emerge and become part of tea’s repetoire. Coffee has been used for decades in baking and alcoholic concoctions, but I believe that tea performs much better than coffee in savoury dishes. Could you imagine coffee encrusted fish? – I didn’t think so. This time out though, I’m playing with […]

Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

My very own Matcha Grinder

February 1, 2012

I first heard of this little wonder when I attended Cynthia Gold’s workshop “Making a Final Statement – Tea and Dessert Pairing” at World Tea Expo. While discussing methods for infusing foods with tea, she showed us a small Matcha Grinder. Her suggestion was that it could be used to grind other teas besides Tencha (the dark green leaf used to make Matcha) and the powder mixed into batters, sauces, etc. The thought of grinding other teas fascinated me and […]

Tea Cuisine, Tea Culture

Recipe: Matcha Popcorn Topper

August 26, 2011

I’m always on the lookout for new ways to experiment with culinary tea. I think I’ve hit upon a popcorn topper that is quite good. You have to like the taste of Matcha powder to appreciate this recipe, but for those of you who do, you’ll be surprised at how tasty this is. Matcha is the fine powder of Japanese green tea. The tea leaf is de-veined and de-stemmed. This leaf, known as Tencha is put in a Matcha grinder […]