Pair Your Cake With The Right Tea

Feeling sinful with high calorie sweet cakes and pastry?  How about going along with some tea to balance the rich taste.  I am sure you’d feel better as tea is well known for weight control.  Now that comes serious questions.  There are so many types of tea in the market. Each of them carries unique scent and taste.  How do you pair your beloved dessert with the right tea?

Simple guidelines as rule of thumb to go for any cakes or pastry..

Black Tea

is a type of tea that is more oxidized than oolongyellowwhite and green teas. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor than other teas. Unlike green tea it does not taste grassy or fresh, but rather has a deep aroma, a bit nutty and definitely bold.  Black tea indeed seldom goes wrong with any dessert type.  Good examples like Earl Grey, Darjeeling and English Breakfast, stands out with citrus desserts.  They go well with majority of the desserts with dark chocolate too.  If you are eating a piece of rich New York cheesecake or Italian Meringue Macaron with chocolate filling, the slight astringency of earl grey, Darjeeling or English Breakfast will further enhance the overall taste, leaving a good finishing.

Green Tea
Green tea does not go through the same oxidation process like oolong tea and black tea.  It is less bitter and some green tea even carries floral aroma.  Generally Japanese green tea for example Gyokuro is a good companion for dark chocolate pastry like chocolate banana tart, Double Chocolate Fudge Cake, etc.  This is because Japanese green tea carries subtle saltiness in them and naturally make the dark chocolate favors pop.  If you prefer a more harmonized taste, try Jasmine Pearls or Jasmine Needles.  Both will bring out the fruity and earthy flavors of the dark chocolate.  On the other hand, Dragonwell tea also known as Longjing is sweet, mellow and rounded. You may want to pick a few varieties of Dragonwell which carry roasted chestnut and butter flavor to pair with a piece of nutty cheesecake to bring out the bean-style aroma.

Oolong Tea

is a traditional semi-oxidized Chinese tea.  Different types of oolong tea vary widely in flavor.  They can be sweet and fruity with honey aromas, or woody and thick with roasted aromas, or green and fresh with complex aromas, all depending on the horticulture and ways of production.  Da Hong Pao is a type of oolong tea which have a complex aroma, earthy, woody but a tint of sweetness.  It pairs well with all light pastries like cookies, scone, pear crumble, and many more.  The most impressive point is oolong tea helps burns fat.  With oolong, you can fully indulge in heavenly dessert world with no worries.

White Tea

Its name originated from the harvested fine silvery-white hairs on the unopened buds of the tea plant, which give the plan a whitish look.  White tea is not rolled or oxidized, therefore it is lighter in flavor compared to the tea types above.  Never pair white tea with strong flavor dessert like chocolate tart, Chocolate Symphony cake, New York cheesecake and so on which will cover its light aroma.  Instead, goes with fruit tarts and pies will definitely complement white tea beautifully.

Regardless which is the right cup of your tea, a good mood definitely goes perfectly with your cake!